1. INTRODUCTION

A farm is a system made up of living and non living parts. How well these parts function together will determine what is produced on the farm. It is helpful to look at these parts like a jigsaw all fitting together.

Fig. 1. A farm system is like a jigsaw. It has to manage physical resources, financial resources and personal resources. The climate and weather component of the physical resources has a huge influence on the financial and personal components and ultimately the agricultural output from the system.

Financial resources such as profit, debt, equity …		Physical resources such as soils, plants, animals and water systems, the climate and weather…
		Personal resources such as labour, relationships of people working on the farm and in neighbouring areas…