Strategic Agribusiness Management

Dr. Larry Martin believes that Canadian agriculture has the potential to be a world leader. The market for food is ever-changing, volatile, and bashed by wonky world government policies, yet it is growing rapidly because of both human population growth and rising prosperity. Canada has the land, water, climate, and entrepreneurial spirit to play a major role in supplying that market.

A dynamic market gives opportunity, but also risk from both local and international conditions. How does one make the right strategic decisions to navigate the emerging market environment and grow successfully within it? Agricultural markets require extraordinary management skills to make that entrepreneurial spirit successful.

The training offerings of our group are based on the concept of Strategic Management, a concept well defined and discussed in general business management. For example, the recruiting company, Indeed Inc., defines it as:

“Strategic management is the planned use of a business' resources to reach company goals and objectives. Strategic management requires ongoing evaluation of the processes and procedures within an organization and external factors that may impact how the company functions.”

This definition means there are three major components to the concept:

• Measurable goals and objectives are planned and established with a written operating plan.
• Managers continuously evaluate the business’ performance against its goals, as well as evaluating information on changes in its external environment. Managers have a plan, but planning is not a single event. Rather, it is a process that includes feedback from the ongoing evaluation.
• The plan may be changed in response to the ongoing evaluation if either internal or external circumstances change.

In the recent past, the latter concept has become well-known as “pivoting” - many businesses, both inside and outside agriculture, have survived, or even thrived, during unforeseen circumstances because they learned to pivot as a result of measuring and understanding changes in their external or internal environments

Larry and his colleagues are committed to helping farmers, ranchers, and agribusiness managers acquire the skills to develop strategic management processes that will lead to excellent strategic management decisions. He initiated the CTEAM, Price Risk Management, and Investment Analysis programs with Agri-Food Management Excellence from which many Canadians have benefited, with several saying their lives were changed.

Strategic Agribusiness Management Training Click below to learn more about how our course can help you take your business to the next level Read More

Risk Management Using Futures & Options Online Course This comprehensive on-line course focuses on understanding commodity based futures and options and how to use them to help your bottom line Read More