Management styles of Canterbury farmers : a study of goals and success from the farmers’ point of view

Abstract

A review of literature on success and goals in farm management shows that farmers seek to achieve a number of goals and have different management styles. Since farmers combine both business and way-of-life goals in complex and personal ways we use methods which focus on the subjective aspects of the farmer in order to describe styles of farm management. The Q method, along with interview transcripts, provide a detailed account of three distinctive management styles in a non-random sample of Canterbury farmers. The results show that when farmers are given free rein to indicate what goals are important to them, they generate three distinct styles of management. Within each style there are different ways of achieving goals and different meanings given to apparently similar goals. The management styles have some similarities with the results of other studies but in this study the types are not described in terms of a single dimension and each type contains successful farmers.