It is exciting and diverse. It is changing quickly. It relies on the weather, uses an incredible

Table 2.1.2.
Farm value and the marketing bill for consumer food expenditures,
2004–2019

*Source: Canning 2019.
All other sectors suggests that the impact of the food and agribusiness sector as defined in Figure 2 is undervalued. Yet without the contribution of transportation, energy, or packaging, the product would not reach the end consumer.
The UZB food production and marketing system, for purposes of discussion in this text, is divided into three sectors: the food sector, the production agriculture sector, and the input supply sector

2.2. Agribusiness management process

Management is both an art and a science. Managers must efficiently combine available human, financial, and physical assets to maximize the long-run profits of an operation by profitably satisfying its customer’s demands. Management requires individuals be technically knowledgeable about the organization’s product and/or function. They must be good and effective communicators. The ability to motivate people is also essential. They must be proficient in the technical skills of management such as accounting, finance, forecasting, and so on.
In addition to a strong background in management, agribusiness managers need a strong understanding of the biological and institutional factors surrounding the production of food and fiber. In other words, not only must they excel at the normal concerns of business management, agribusiness managers must also factor in the uncertainty of the weather, the perishable nature of many of agriculture’s products, government policies, and the rapidly changing technology employed in agriculture. They must possess the ability to quickly adapt to changes in market conditions that result from changes in these uncertain factors of weather, product perishability, government policies, technology, etc. Managers must be able to mix each of these skills and perspectives in the right proportion to deliver the greatest long-run net benefit for the firm.
Successful managers feel like managers, see themselves as managers, and are both ready and willing to play the managerial role. When successful managers look in the mirror, they see a leader, a person who is willing to accept the responsibility for change and become the catalyst for action. The success minded manager is comfortable with this managerial role, and accepts responsibility and authority as a challenge rather than as a curse. Nicholas Murray Butler, the longtime president of Columbia University, once placed managers in three classes: “the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the majority who have no idea what has happened!” We define management in this text as the art and science of successfully pursuing desired results with the resources available to the organization. Several key words in this definition are italicized to stress the elements of successful management. Art and science are the first two key words, and as mentioned above, management is both an art and a science. Because management deals largely with people, management principles must be viewed as imperfect, at best. Yet many management principles and tools can help us make better decisions in an imperfect world. Everyone cannot become the top manager for a firm, but everyone can use management principles to foster continual growth and progress toward their personal managerial potential. The third key word is successful.
Whatever else good management is, it must be successful in meeting desired and predetermined goals or results. Managers must know where they are headed in order to achieve such success. Finally, consider the resources available. Each organization possesses or has at its command a variety of resources financial, human, facilities, equipment, patents, and so on. Successful managers coax the highest potential returns from the resources available. They recognize the difference between what should be and what is. At the same time, they know how to expand the firm’s resource base when resource constraints hamper potential. They use what they have to get what they want and need, and deal in the realm of the possible. A manager can be defined as that person who provides the organization with leadership and who acts as a catalyst for change. He or she is responsible for the management of the organization. Good managers are most effective in an environment that permits creative change. Such managers live to make things happen. Success as a manager, then, necessitates the ability to understand and be comfortable with the managerial role, to accept responsibility, and to provide leadership for change.
Distinctive features of agribusiness management In many ways, management principles and concepts are the same for any business. Both the largest business in the country and the smallest one-person agribusiness are guided by the same general principles. The differences between managing large and small businesses, between agribusinesses and other kinds of businesses, rests in the art of applying fundamental management principles to the specific situation facing the business. In this chapter many general management principles will be applied to the unique context of agribusiness and agribusiness management. The eight points that distinguish the agribusiness management environment:
1. Food as a product
2. Biological nature of production agriculture
3. Seasonal nature of business
4. Uncertainty of the weather
5. Types of firms
6. Variety of market conditions
7. Rural ties 8. Government involvement
Thus, agribusiness is unique, and requires that the agribusiness manager use the principles of management in a distinct way. The four key tasks of agribusiness managers Management has been described using as many concepts as there are authors in the field. Some describe management as a division of four areas of functional responsibility, such as finance, marketing, supply chain management, and personnel. Others view it as coordinating resources, such as money, markets, materials, machinery, methods, and manpower. Still others view management in terms of approaches or processes i.e., industrial engineering, organizational, and behavioral concepts. Finally, some consider management as a series of four tasks, the perspective we will take in this book. The functions of management discussed in address four key areas (marketing, finance, supply chain management, and human resources) of the firm. Any food or agribusiness firm must make decisions in all four areas. While these management functions are important to understand, they don’t tell the whole story of what management is all about. We use the term manager to describe a wide swath of individuals, from chief executive officer to district sales manager. What does a manager who runs a small, independent crop consulting firm have in common with a senior executive in a multi-billion dollar food company? The answer is simple. In each of these agribusinesses, it’s what these managers do that makes their jobs similar. All effective agribusiness mangers execute four principal tasks in their work:
• Planning
• Organizing
• Directing
• Controlling
Each of these tasks plays a part of the agribusiness manager’s overall role in managing the people and events within his/her power to generate the best possible outcome for the organization. Each task deals with a specific aspect of what agribusiness managers actually do as they manage.
Illustrates this task-oriented concept of management as a wheel. The four tasks of management are the spokes that connect the manager with the goals, objectives, and results desired by the organization. It is only through planning, organizing, directing, and controlling that the firm’s (and manager’s) goals are achieved. Overall, management can be no stronger than the weakest spoke in this wheel. Now add motivation as the torque, or speed, or effectiveness, with which the tasks are accomplished. Motivation provides the motion by which the wheel either moves forward or reverses, but it is not another task. Strong motivation results in speedy, efficient, successful and forward-moving management. On the other hand, a lack of motivation can result in a discouraging reversal. The axle on which the entire wheel of management turns is communication. Again, this is not another task, but without effective and timely communication, the wheel of management soon begins to wobble and squeak.
A manager in one situation may be heavily involved in planning activities and have little or nothing to do with controlling or directing. Another manager’s job might be heavily involved in the directing task, while still others are involved in all four tasks. Regardless of which tasks are prevalent in one’s job, it is critical for agribusiness managers to understand what goes on in each of the four areas planning, organizing, directing, and controlling since someone, somewhere in the organization must undertake these tasks to get a product or service to market. The manager that fully grasps the total picture and where they fit in will have greater success at carrying out their tasks effectively.
Planning can be defined as forward thinking about courses of action based on a full under- standing of all factors involved and directed at specific goals and performance objectives.