Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities, with significant contribution to food security, job creation and gross domestic product (GDP) in many countries. Due to the historical inequalities in the distribution of farming land, agriculture in South Africa has been divided into commercial agriculture and subsistence agriculture. The end result are inequalities in the distribution of land, skills and wealth, with the majority of South Africans living in poverty, being illiterate and with no skills. The newly elected democratic Government has since 1994 attempted to address these inequalities. Among the programmes introduced to skill farmers was the launch of the Agricultural Education and Training (AET) Strategy. The aim of AET was to improve Agricultural production through quality agricultural education and training, and thereby addressing the needs of the country’s economy. Adult in-service training was introduced at agricultural institutions. It is now mandatory for the management of agricultural institutions providing in-service training to skill their workers. Yet there is still no clear understanding of how the farmers, managers and supervisors benefit or do not benefit from their employees’ in-service training. This lack of information has been of concern to the farm managers, training providers, sponsors and other stakeholders. Apart from frequent discussions, little has so far been written on the subject. In particular, there is little known about the role of management of the adult in-service training at the agricultural institutions. The aim of this research was to explore the role of the management of in-service training of adult learners at an agricultural institution with the objective of providing the needed information. The qualitative research approach, using grounded theory, was employed because of its suitability to the study. Information was collected from the participants using both in-depth open-ended questions and focus groups interviews. The data analysis was achieved by using the ATLAS ti. The aim was to provide an in-depth understanding of people’s experiences in the agricultural industry, especially at the two sampled agricultural institutions, both situated in Gauteng. vi The lack of evaluation of the Adult in-service training project was found to be the main reason why there is still no clear understanding of how the farmers, managers and supervisors benefit or do not benefit from their employees’ in-service training. The problem of lack of evaluation was related to the level of literacy of the adult in-service learners, who preferred practical training to theoretical training. At the same time, the farm managers, training providers, sponsors and other stakeholders are anxious to know the training progress results. The knowledge of training progress is also needed for the implementation of improvements or financial sponsorship. This research therefore recommends, among others, that evaluations be carried out among the adult in-service learners in such a manner that both the adult learners and the other stakeholders are satisfied. It is, therefore, essential that the role of management of the Adult in-service training agricultural institutions be well defined, so as to fulfil the purpose of these in-service institutions of skilling the trainees to be productive agricultural farmers for the benefit of agricultural production in South Africa.