Agriculture is not a list of farm words. It is the business of deciding what to grow, how to look after the land and the animals, and why.The GOAT Notes™
A farm is a business. It turns land, water, seed, animals, labour and money into food and income, but none of these resources looks after itself. Someone has to decide how they are used, and that task is management.
Why a farm needs management (the reasons):
What good management gives (the benefits):
A reason answers “why do we need it?” and comes before the work. A benefit answers “what do we get?” and comes after it. “Resources are limited” is a reason; “a bigger profit” is a benefit.
The five management principles. A manager does the same five jobs on every farm. CAPS calls them the management principles.
Planning is deciding in advance what must be done, how, when, by whom and with what, so that the goals of the farm are reached. A good plan has a clear goal, a time limit and a list of the resources it needs. It saves money, prepares the farm for risk and tells every worker what is expected.
Control is checking whether the results match the plan and correcting what does not. Without it, a plan is only a wish. Control runs in four steps:
Co-ordination is fitting people, tasks, resources and time together, so that jobs happen in the right order and nothing is wasted or left waiting. A farm can have a good plan and still fail if the seed arrives after the planting team has gone home.
Motivation is giving workers good reasons to work well and willingly. Workers who feel valued work harder, stay longer and make fewer mistakes. A farmer can motivate in several ways:
Communication is passing information on so that the person who receives it understands it and can act on it. It has a sender, a message and a receiver, and it is complete only when the receiver has understood. A farmer can communicate by speaking, in meetings, by phone, by notice board, or in writing and with pictures. On a farm where workers speak different languages, a message may have to be given in more than one.
Questions give a short farm story and ask which principle it shows. Look for the clue words, name the principle and quote the clue. The grid below puts all five principles side by side with an example in crop production and one in animal production.
Mr Dlamini grows maize. In August he wrote down that he would plant the north land in November, order seed in September and hire four workers for planting. In January he walked through the lands, saw that the maize was behind the target he had written down, and repaired a leaking irrigation pipe.
One mark for each principle and one for each clue. A principle with no clue earns one mark, not two.
Build every definition as: what it is, what the farmer does, an example. Each part is one tick.
Ms Pretorius keeps dairy cows. (A) Every Friday she writes the next week’s jobs on the notice board and reads them out in Afrikaans and in isiXhosa. (B) She pays a bonus to the milkers whose milk is the cleanest each month.
Do not call (A) co-ordination: nothing is being fitted together in time, information is being passed on. Do not call (B) control: nobody is correcting a gap.
Which sentence is the best definition of management on a farm?
A farmer says: “I use my land, labour and money as carefully as I can so that the farm reaches its goals.” What is the farmer doing?
Which of these is a reason why a farm needs management?
Which of these is a benefit of good management?
Farm A sets goals, gives every worker a job and checks the results. Farm B does none of this. After three seasons Farm A has a higher profit and less waste. What does this show?
Which sentence describes planning?
Which of these is an example of planning in crop production?
Which of these is an example of planning in animal production?
Which question does planning answer?
Mr Naidoo kept no list of jobs, ordered the seed the day before planting and then found there was no fertiliser. Which principle did he skip, and what would it have done?
What is control as a management principle?
Which of these is an example of control in crop production?
Which of these is an example of control in animal production?
Which list shows the steps of control in the right order?
A farmer finds that the cows give less milk than the written target and changes their feed. Which principle is the farmer using, and why?
What is co-ordination?
Which of these is an example of co-ordination in crop production?
Which of these is an example of co-ordination in animal production?
The planting dates were written down and every worker was told, but the tractor, the seed and the workers arrived on three different days. Which principle failed?
Which statement correctly tells co-ordination apart from communication?
What is motivation as a management principle?
Which of these is a way of motivating farm workers?
Which of these is an example of motivation in animal production?
Workers on a fruit farm leave after one season. Wages are paid late and nobody thanks them. Which principle should the farmer improve first?
Which action is most likely to lower the motivation of workers?
What is communication as a management principle?
Which of these is an example of communication in crop production?
Which of these is an example of communication in animal production?
Why must a farmer make sure the workers have understood an instruction?
Workers sprayed the wrong land because the instruction was shouted across a noisy field. Which principle failed?
Define management and give TWO reasons why a farm needs it. (4)
Management is using the resources of the farm, such as land, labour and capital, in the best possible way to reach the goals of the farm. A farm needs management because its resources are limited and must not be wasted. It also needs management because farming is risky, since weather, prices and diseases change.
Thandi grows soya beans. In July she wrote down the planting date, the seed to order and the number of workers needed. In December she measured the plants, saw that the north land was behind her target and ordered extra fertiliser. Name TWO management principles shown in the story and quote a clue for each. (4)
Planning. Clue: “wrote down the planting date, the seed to order and the number of workers needed” in July. Control. Clue: “measured the plants, saw that the north land was behind her target and ordered extra fertiliser” in December.
A learner writes: “Control means deciding in advance what the farm will do.” (a) Is the learner right? (b) Name the principle that the learner has described. (c) State what control really is. (d) Give ONE example of control in crop production. (4)
No, the learner is not right. That is planning, which decides in advance. Control is checking the results against the plan and correcting any difference. For example, measuring plant growth every week and repairing the irrigation if the plants are behind.
Explain to a Grade 8 learner what management is and why a farm needs it.
Explain to a friend how planning and control are different, using a farm you know or can imagine.
Explain to someone new on a farm how co-ordination and communication help a team work well, and why they are not the same.
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Box breathing: 4 counts in, 4 hold, 4 out, 4 hold. Do it four times.
Look at the worked example below first, then make your own. Tick off each topic as you finish it.
Example (already filled in)
| Date | Subject | Topic | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 8 Jul | Life Sciences | Your weakest topic, notes + summary | ✓ |
| Tue 9 Jul | Life Sciences | Next topic + 10 practice questions | ✓ |
| Wed 10 Jul | Life Sciences | A full past paper under time | – |
| Thu 11 Jul | Life Sciences | Mark the paper, revise weak spots | – |
Your plan
| Date | Subject | Topic | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
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Every system you can classify, every practice you can explain and every term you can spell right is a mark you have already banked. Go and collect them.