Skills
Farm Manager Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in farm managers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do farm managers need?
Farm Managers need technical skills such as crop and livestock management, farm equipment, and farm finance, plus people skills like decision making and resilience. They also use tools such as Tractors and combines and GPS and precision ag software.
Technical (hard) skills
- Crop and livestock management
- Farm equipment
- Farm finance
- Marketing and commodity pricing
- Precision agriculture
- Regulations
People (soft) skills
- Decision making
- Resilience
- Leadership
- Problem solving
Tools, equipment and technology
- Tractors and combines
- GPS and precision ag software
- Farm management software
- Irrigation systems
- Livestock equipment
- Spreadsheets
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how farm managers put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Crop and livestock management” and “Farm equipment.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “decision making,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Private pesticide applicator license near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our farm manager glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Farm Manager training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.