An Action Learning Approach to Farm Management and Agribusiness Education

Farm Management as an academic discipline has lacked cohesive direction in the last decade. Concurrently, in developed economies farm numbers have continued to decline and physical, political and commercial environments have experienced increasing turbulence. This is unlikely to change. It is argued that education of farm and agribusiness managers of the future needs to be directed towards developing managerial skills which enhance abilities to cope with uncertainty. This paper briefly reviews literature relating to the evolution ofparadigms of agricultural science and farm management. The question of what constitutes good management is considered. Evidence that managerial ability depends largely on conceptual ability raises the question of whether conceptual ability can be enhanced by formal education. This question remains unanswered, but educatiojial methodologies which foster deep rather than surface approaches to learning, and the principles of Action Learning, appear to be potentially useful in developing a conceptual and operational framework for the effective preparation of rural managers of the future. The conceptual model developed by a group of rural management educators is described, and some problems associated with its implementation disaissed. Areas of research which could be pursued are noted.