Agricultural management

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The Farm Management is a company specializing in the agricultural sector business administration and part of the field of agricultural economics .

Research subject

Object of knowledge of farm teaching is the farm and thus the micro-economic level of the economic sector agriculture. The main task of farm management is to show principles that lead to an improvement in profitability or to the realization of additional entrepreneurial goals in the farm. The operations manager should be able to make the right decision for the operation on the basis of business law and taking into account changing requirements.

historical development

Farm management is a relatively young science . It began at the beginning of the 19th century with the work of Albrecht Daniel Thaer and Johann Heinrich von Thünen.

Albrecht Daniel Thaer is considered the founder of agricultural science. In addition to setting up the first agricultural research and teaching institutes, he also published the first treatise on farm management ("Principles of Rational Agriculture", Berlin, 1806). In it, he puts the economic aspect of trading in agriculture in the foreground and gives priority to achieving the highest possible profit over the highest possible production.

Johann Heinrich von Thünen , student and contemporary of Thaer, continues Thaer's thoughts in his four-volume work "The isolated state in relation to agriculture and national economy" (4th edition, Stuttgart, 1966). He assumes that agriculture is consistently geared towards achieving the highest possible net profit and tries to determine the change in agricultural production as the market approaches. The result are the so-called Thünensche Rings. In addition, v. Thünen with the marginal analysis, which is still an important methodological tool in agricultural management and economics as a whole.

In the scientific debate of the 19th century, however, questions of natural sciences and technology gain the upper hand.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that agricultural economists like Friedrich Aereboe and Theodor Brinkmann took up Thunen's work and developed it further. They outline the holistic view of the company by showing the relationships and interdependencies between the individual branches of the company. They also see agriculture in its macroeconomic context and recognize the influence of economic development on this sector.

The period after the Second World War is characterized by the systematic endeavor to penetrate the agricultural business through arithmetic: Based on the limit value principle, calculation methods are developed that enable the farm to be assessed in its organic entirety. By adopting and developing linear optimization, this is even better. The further developments in agricultural management are characterized by the increasing striving for further quantification. However, the focus of the investigations is still on the farm and farm management as an applied science should offer farmers decision support in solving their existential problems.

In addition to quantitative planning methods, qualitative planning methods (such as SWOT analysis or scenario technology ) currently play a role in agricultural management. They are used as tools for operational planning and strategic decisions.

Content

literature

  • Hugo Steinhauser, Cay Langbehn, Uwe Peters: Introduction to agricultural management. 5th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8001-2656-7 .
  • Peter Bach, Heinrich Hüffmeier: Agriculture / Economics. 12th edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16439-7 .
  • Stephan Dabbert, Jürgen Braun: Agricultural Management - Basic Knowledge Bachelor. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8252-2792-8 .
  • Friedrich Kuhlmann: Business studies in the agricultural and food industry. 3. Edition. DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-7690-0312-3 .
  • Oliver Mußhoff, Norbert Hirschhauer: Modern agricultural management. 1st edition. Verlag Vahlen, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8006-3684-6 .