The agriculture industry is facing significant challenges, and one of the most frustrating is labor shortages. We’re struggling to attract and keep high quality people.

Your ability to attract, train and retain staff is a competitive advantage. The biggest factor that you can control is the quality of your managers. They need to have the essential soft skills and the confidence to manage teams that will be engaged and productive.

To be effective, leadership training in the agriculture sector needs to develop the skills managers need when they need them. Seasonal industries, like agriculture and horticulture, have fluctuating demands on time, labor and other resources so it’s important that management training is adaptable, cost effective and doesn’t take much time out of the day.

While our programs are applicable to any organization, they’ve proven to be very successful for companies in horticulture, including kiwifruit and vegetable producers in the field, in the packhouse and in post-harvest.

Solutions for effective leadership training for agriculture

Developing leadership and management skills in the agriculture sector can be challenging. Seasonal industries have a different dynamic from year-round businesses and training has to follow this arc. Training has to be done in the off season but the skills are needed the most during the high season.

A better solution is to design learning so it can be continuous throughout the year, with the learning formats varying to adapt to the demands of the seasons. Use the time during the off season for essential leadership skills training. Use the peak season to reinforce skill practice in daily work.

Leadership and management training programs that focus on core skill learning applied in daily work situations are the best way to ensure behavior change, consistency and accountability across your organization.  

Our Active Learning approach develops the essential skills managers need most and we've solved the problem of how to make learning stick.

Leadership skills health check

We know regular health checks are crucial for wellbeing. Yet we often don’t check in with managers if they’ve been given the necessary skills and training to become strong leaders.

Use this quick check to get a pulse on the vital signs of good leadership.

The Breakthrough approach to leadership training 

The management training programs we offer have been adapted specifically for the agriculture and horticulture sector to reflect the time demands of peak season. Traditionally, despite being the time of greatest need, this has been the time of lowest access to training. Our programs are designed to operate across a whole year covering peak and off season.

Core leadership skills for agriculture managers

Developing the core skills of your managers will lift performance at every level - their individual contribution, their team’s contribution and the whole organization is inspired to excel.   

Managers doing our Active Manager program: 

Clients’ Breakthroughs