Why the countryside needs “lean managers”
Brazilian agribusiness continues to stand out as increasingly fertile ground for opportunities. In 2023, the sector recorded impressive growth of 15.1%, the highest since 1995. Last year, growth was more modest, at 0.3%, driven by a solid 6.2% advance in livestock. For this year, an increase of more than 7% is expected, with the sector moving more than 1.43 trillion reais. These striking figures reflect an expanding market that demands qualified professionals to fill strategic positions, such as that of “farm manager.”
A recent survey by PageGroup, a specialized recruitment consultancy, identified the farm manager position as one of the professions in high demand for 2025, indicating growing demand for this professional. The shortage of farm managers stems from the rapid expansion of agribusiness, which requires professionals trained to deal with advanced technologies, sustainability and increasingly complex legislation.
In addition, the sector faces challenges such as a lack of qualified labor, the aging of experienced managers and the difficulty of attracting young people to work in rural areas, often far from major urban centers. The growing pressure for modern farming practices and the need for professionals prepared to lead in a competitive and changing environment further widen this gap, which is amplified by the migration of talent to other sectors and the limited availability of specialized training.
Farm managers are often the link between rural landowners and the daily operations on the farms, for which they are responsible for ensuring that everything is carried out with efficiency, quality, profitability and sustainability. To do so, they must work on planning, coordinating and supervising the stages of cultivation or breeding – in the case of livestock –, integrating the phases and managing resources. They also need to take care of administrative processes and financial management, mitigate risks and make important decisions all the time. Day to day, they juggle coordinating teams, take part in and/or directly carry out strategic planning, and deal with suppliers, service providers, customers and so on.
This brief description gives a glimpse of this multifaceted professional, who must be willing to handle a range of distinct activities, all of them highly relevant and with great potential impact. Being willing, however, is not enough. This position also requires excellent preparation. That is why it is worrying to see that a portion of these professionals in Brazil still follow a conventional view of management, basing decisions more on feelings and life experience than on facts, data, sound analysis and structured methods.
Obviously, there are a number of particularities and challenges associated with managing in the field, such as climate variables, biological vulnerabilities and commodity price swings. Perhaps for that very reason, the factors that can be controlled need to be part of an efficient management logic that makes it possible to see deviations quickly, correct course and prevent recurrences. All of this involves another fundamental aspect of this manager, which is the ability not only to coordinate, direct teams and “hand out the work,” but to develop the teams' skills, engaging people in a more collaborative, participative environment of constant learning. For these and other reasons, we believe that the strength of Brazilian agribusiness will increasingly need “lean farm managers.”
It is important to stress that this is not about breaking with the past or abandoning traditions and learning built up with so much effort across generations. Quite the opposite: it means honoring and keeping the good roots, while paying attention to the new layers of technical, human and social development that can determine the professional success of managers, employees and the company.
We can mention some practical capabilities that “lean farm managers” need. For example, being with the teams every day to lead, learn, support and carry out Daily Management (DM), discussing, right at sunrise, the important indicators, the previous day's problems and how to avoid them in the day that is beginning. DM is crucial in the field for organizing and monitoring operations continuously, making it possible to identify problems quickly, make agile, fact-based decisions and prevent waste of resources. In addition, it promotes the alignment and development of teams, creating a sense of responsibility and continuous improvement. In a dynamic environment subject to variation, such as agriculture, DM makes it easier to adapt to change, connects strategy to daily actions and ensures operational efficiency, reducing costs and maximizing results.
This is the professional who needs to know how to listen to the team's difficulties, understanding deeper causes in order to make decisions. Alongside maintaining stable performance, this is the person who gets directly involved in developing the teams' capabilities, giving people a voice and room to grow and contribute more and more. This is the leader who needs to give time and energy to set an example. And, whenever possible, act as a mentor. They must also value transparency and practice clear and respectful communication, creating a safe environment in which to expose problems and ask for help.
For this to happen, in a broader sense, there needs to be, especially in the field, a change of mindset and in the way of seeing and practicing working relationships, since lean management presupposes greater closeness between managers and teams, bringing clarity to the purpose of the activities. And this leadership must go far beyond being an “owner's representative” or someone who leads solely on the basis of “command and control.” The lean farm manager must contribute to the development of processes and people, providing conditions for them to express their full potential in results. And must also be the support needed to understand pain points and challenges, helping to resolve failures so as to generate reflection and lessons learned.
For some people, this new stance may represent a paradigm shift, but we are convinced that the effort is worth it. Rural properties with managers who think and practice lean invariably show better and more consistent results. Processes become clearer, more agile and more efficient. One sees intelligent standardization of work, greater engagement of people, errors being avoided and risks anticipated more efficiently. The use of inputs becomes more rational, reducing unnecessary inventory and costs, contributing to the financial and also environmental sustainability of operations. All of this ensures that work is carried out with quality from start to finish, with greater productivity, competitiveness and less effort. And without the need for investment, except in dedication, discipline, resilience and learning. We have repeatedly observed all of this on rural properties in the lean transformation projects we have been directly involved in over the past few years.
However, we have a lot of work ahead. Although the concept is already known to some, its practical application is still quite limited. Most owners and professionals in this sector have not fully grasped the urgency and the benefits of this potential transformation. That is why it is essential to invest in raising awareness and engaging people, emphasizing that adopting the lean way of managing is not limited to superficial adjustments but demands deep structural and cultural changes. It is about replacing a predominantly intuitive and emotional approach with a management model grounded in scientific principles, oriented toward efficiency, effectiveness, continuous learning and the generation of sustainable value.
