RANCH MANAGER TRAINING

The Ranch Manager Training project will design a comprehensive, interdisciplinary curriculum to train and certify a cadre of qualified and employable specialists for 21st-Century farm and ranch management and land stewardship. The project will advance the occupation of “Certified Ranch Manager” as a viable life vocation for young people who are grounded in and committed to rural agricultural community and lifestyle.

In 2005, The Rural Landscape Institute received a two-year matching grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to develop a curriculum and implementation process for a university undergraduate degree in Ranch Management.

Dramatic forces of change have driven the need for a new kind of skill-set for successful farm and ranch management. More than ever, even family-scale operations demand technical, legal, business, human relations and communication skills that were not contemplated a generation ago. The 21st-Century ranch manager is an innovative, multi-faceted professional with complex skills beyond crop and livestock production. Further, there is an emerging sector of career opportunities as resident managers for the increasing number of absentee-owned ranches. These positions can be very rewarding for “native” ranch-bred young people.

Initially, the Rural Lanscape Institute is working on a demand analysis based on extensive surveys of existing ranch managers, significant landowners, realtors and other stakeholders. From these surveys we will develop an innovative list of necessary and marketable characteristics of a successful ranch manager to serve as a foundation appropriate to developing a draft curriculum.

• NEW! Take our Needs Assessment Survey! - This survey will help us determine the need in the marketplace for a 21st-Century ranch manager. Choose the online version or PDF version
(PDF version to be printed out and faxed or mailed back.)

• NEW! Take our Skills Survey! - This survey will help us determine which skills are essential to the success of a 21st-Century ranch manager. Choose the online version or PDF version
(PDF version to be printed out and faxed or mailed back.)