21 April 2022New book shows farmers how to be more decisive

It also show how they can be improved.

The Decisive Farmer follows Associate Professor Nuthall's recent book The Intuitive Farmer. Both are written as novels and cover farm business management.

It tells the story of a group of farmers who take part in an expert-guided experiment designed to test approaches to improving management skill.

They meet at each other's farms to learn about their issues and develop solutions to improving what is called their 'management style' with the aim of removing any identified decision system biases. 

Each chapter is devoted to one of the common issues defining management approaches.

One has the farmers sorting out problems around succession planning, another covers farmer anxiety, while they also learn skills on self-critiquing. Overall, there are 15 chapters covering both general and specific issues.

The characters appearing in the first book continue in the second, together with some new researchers and farmers necessary for the research. 

"The farmer is always the key to farming success as he or she decides what will be done with the resources available no matter what environment the farm is found in. If the farmer makes the right decisions for the resources available under the weather and market conditions faced, relative success is guaranteed," Associate Professor Nuthall said.

Research he carried out showed farmers largely made decisions utilising their well developed intuition. This was significantly influenced by variables such as the farmer’s intelligence, personality, experience, training, decision and technical knowledge.

The book is designed for all farmers but is also a valuable resource for students of farm management and agribusiness.