Farm household successors eventually become independent farmers by gradually taking over farm management authority and responsibilities from their predecessors. In contrast, newcomers to farming businesses have to assume authority and responsibilities regarding all farming domains as soon as they establish their own farms. Therefore, it is important for new farmers to obtain quickly the skills of independent farmers to improve their farm management. Targeting newcomers into strawberry farming, this study analyzes the growth process of new farmers.
Farm management by newcomers in strawberry farming is classified into six domains, while their managerial growth is divided into two stages. Then, those farmers’ priority targets in farm management are identified based on the degree to which they emphasize different farm management domains, which are represented as an “awareness score,” and the relationships between priority targets and performance are analyzed. At the same time, comparison of the awareness score between the managerial growth stages and a time-series comparison using panel data are also performed to analyze the patterns of changes in farm management priority targets.
As a result, a correlation is observed: the higher the awareness score, the better farmers performed regarding a particular farm management domain. This indicates that farm management is improved in domains that farmers prioritize.
There are three types of processes through which farm management domains become priority targets: one is to consistently prioritize domains regardless of the managerial growth stage, one is to prioritize following the shift of a growth stage, and one is to prioritize continuously within each growth stage. The analyses of priority targets in farm management by newcomers into strawberry farming identified the following growth process stages: first, cultivation, work process and financial management, next sales management, third employment management, and, finally, cost management.

View full abstract

As an ever-higher number of family-run farms become incorporated and female entrepreneurs develop businesses, the role played by agricultural business managers has become increasingly important. Thus, understanding the traits of such business leaders is vital to the industry’s future growth. Investigating the characteristics of farm managers who achieve sales of 10 million yen or more, this paper (1) establishes multiple indices for measuring the wide range of traits of agricultural business managers; (2) evaluates features such as sales, management model, and the number of employees; and (3) makes generalizations about the traits of agricultural business managers. From this evaluation, the following three points emerge.
First, agricultural business managers can be characterized by 15 traits that can be measured on the basis of 70 indices. We performed a factor analysis and identified three significant factors. Factor 1, which is labeled Strategic Management Ability, encompasses the following traits: “vision and strategy,” “ambition and daring,” “time management,” and “insight and decisiveness.” Factor 2, which is labeled Leader’s Charisma and Humanity, includes the following: “leadership,” “faith and ethics,” “magnanimity and character,” and “sense of responsibility.” Finally, Factor 3, which is labeled Sociability and Networking, encompasses “ability to network,” “sociability,” and “care for employees.”
Second, education and the size of staff and total sales had a substantial impact on the ratings for the agricultural business managers’ traits. Better-educated managers gave high ratings to the traits “faith and ethics,” “vision and strategy,” and “insight and decisiveness,” which could be categorized as professional qualifications for managers. On the other hand, managers who had a large staff and high sales gave high ratings in the personnel and labor management categories, namely, “leadership,” “sense of responsibility,” and “magnanimity and character.” This evaluation confirms that many of the managerial traits under consideration can be acquired through education and experience.
Our third and most important finding was that farm managers should have a large social network in order to be successful.

View full abstract