What is Holistic Management?
I find that when people hear Holistic Management®, they think of one of two thoughts:
“This is all about alternative health and thinking (i.e. unconventional practices)”
or
“This is all about rotational/mob grazing”
Both these thoughts are not wrong.
What is Holistic Management®?
At a very high level, Holistic Management is a decision framework that takes into consideration the whole (i.e. it doesn’t look only at a part of a business or problem- it looks at the entire business or problem)
Typically, Holistic Management is associated with farming and ranching, but it can also be used in one’s personal life and any industry or sector.
“Holistic Management is a whole farm planning system that helps farmers, ranchers and land stewards better manage agricultural resources in order to reap sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits. This ‘triple bottom line’ of benefits can be achieved by maximizing the management of current resources.
Whether land is used for ranching, food production or public land conservation, it can be returned to health and/or its productivity greatly increased without large infusions of cash, equipment or technology.”
Holistic Management International
The whole farm planning system tests, monitors and adjusts decisions and actions against a Holistic Goal.
This Holistic Goal is a goal, agreed upon by all the decision makers/players, which includes defining resources, values, outcomes and the processes/ systems/tools needed to achieve those outcomes.
The cornerstones of the whole farm planning system (AKA managing holistically) are: financial planning, grazing planning, land planning and biological monitoring.
Why should we care about Holistic Management?
The reason I fell in love with Holistic Management was the systematic approach to achieving a goal that looked at the big picture!
I had a journey to get where I am today. That journey would have been a lot smoother if I had known about Holistic Management earlier in my life! I would have done a better job of formulating my Holistic Goal and every decision would have been tested against that goal, and maybe some of my actions that led me down a undesired path could have been prevented (but all experiences can be used and learned from).
With respect to the ranch/farm, the benefits of applying Holistic Management are numerous!
· enhanced profits and livelihoods
· more productive rangeland or cropland
· more biologically active soils
· removal of existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
· less new carbon dioxide production
· reduced costs/inputs
· increased carrying capacity
· maximum benefit from rainfall
· reversal of desertification
· protection from drought
· improved wildlife habitat
· better food security
· improved economic viability for organic production
· clean water
· healthier environment
· stronger family relationships
More importantly (especially as I get older and see the new generation taking charge), Holistic Management creates land sustainability for generations to come!
We’re leaving our children, grand and great-grand children a better place than what we started with!
So why are the above mentioned two thoughts not wrong?
Everyone has their own personal values, and the benefit of creating your own Holistic Goal (as explained above) is that it’ll include your values.
If you value alternative health (homeopathy, crystals, herbs, etc…) you can most certainly include that in as a tool in Holistic Management.
If you have livestock, and want to use them to improve the soil and grasses, then planned grazing will be a tool in Holistic Management.
Holistic Management looks at the whole, and that whole will be different for everyone, and different tools will be needed and used to accomplish the individual Holistic Goal!
Want to know more?
Make sure you’ve joined the email list. I’ll be posting/emailing regarding classes/workshops/events where Holistic Management will be discussed.
And I’m happy to work with you one-on-one- just send me an email via the Contact Page
