Whole Farm Planning - Holistic Management

Whole Farm Planning - Holistic Management

Summary

This three-year project is training and certifying 16 participants (9 Coop. Ext. / NRCS, 4 non-profit, 3 independent) to teach and facilitate Holistic Management. Concurrent with their training, each participant is teaching Holistic Management to a Whole Farm Planning Group (learning community) composed of farmers, and individuals from the participant’s sponsoring agency/community.

During 2002 the participants completed the remaining three (3) training intensives: Financial Planning (January 19-25, 2002); Biological Planning & Monitoring, including Planned Grazing and Land Use Planning (April 20-26, 2002); and Policy Analysis and Design (October 19-25, 2002). The first intensive, Introduction & Overview of Holistic Management was completed in October-November 2001.

Upon completion of each intensive the participants returned to their learning communities to facilitate what they learned in that particular session adding to the knowledge garnered from each of the previous intensives.

Additionally, each of the 16 participants is working with a learning community and beginning the work of creating documentation / profiles that will indicate the use of Holistic Management to form whole farm plans. Dale Johnson (who could not complete the program after the first two sessions) established Clagget Farm of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as his learning community. The facilitation of Clagget Farm is continuing with the assistance of both NCAT / ATTRA and Savory Center staff. Accokeek Foundation (Ecosystem Farm) is joining this learning community. Dale Johnson and Jim Hanson (UMD) have been invited to participate.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Activities:
· In January 2002 Educators attended their second intensive, Holistic Management Financial Planning and Generating Wealth. They covered topics including Identifying Logjams, Determining Gross Profit, Assessing Enterprises Holistically, Determining Financial Weak Links, Principles and Processes of Developing a Financial Plan and Monitoring the Financial Plan.

· In April 2002 Participants attended their third intensive, Biological Planning and Monitoring, which included Planned Grazing and Land Use Planning. They also covered the four Ecosystem Processes (Water Cycle, Mineral Cycle, Community Dynamics and Energy Flow).

· In October 2002 Educators attended their fourth intensive, Policy Analysis and Design where they were introduced to concepts including Holistic Policy Analysis, Diagnosing Problems and Designing Holistic Policies. In addition Educators gave presentations on their practice of HM and their teaching of HM to their learning communities. Additional discussions were held on ‘Biological Monitoring in Non-Brittle Environments’.

· Participants in the program also worked cooperatively to prepare three 4’ x 8’ posters highlighting what Holistic Management (HM) is and how it can assist small farms and rural communities. These posters were presented at the National Small Farms Conference held in Albuquerque, NM in September 2002. The posters were as follows: Poster #1 explained what HM is and how it is utilized; Poster #2 detailed the NESARE Northeast Training Program funded by NESARE and Cabbage Hill Farm; and Poster #3 gave examples of HM in action and described with pictures and words how HM had impacted the lives of small farm producers across the country. Eight members of the Northeast Training Class obtained funds from their agencies or used personal resources to attend the Conference. The three posters have also been used at another conference and will be used at additional venues. They will continue to be available for use by all Northeast HM training Educators. (See Posters #1 & #2 attached).

· The Participants in the states of NY and PA got together in September 2002 to provide needed mutual support and are scheduling another session for February-March 2003. Although all educators in the Northeast training class are invited the closer proximity of those in NY and PA has made this opportunity feasible.

Holistic Management in Action – Examples:
· Educator in New York –
This Participant is facilitating the Finger Lakes Organic Growers Cooperative. The organization has formed a Holistic Goal and is making decisions towards it. She is beginning to work with specific growers within this organization.

· Educator in Massachusetts –
He guided 30 undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and 25 adults through the process of forming a Holistic Goal and learning to test both long-term and day-to-day decisions against that Holistic Goal. Created a web page to introduce commercial vegetable growers in the Northeast to the practice of whole farm planning using the Holistic Management framework
(see http://www.umass.edu/umext/jgerber/hmpage/hmpage2/mainpage6.htm). He also is working cooperatively with the New England Small Farms Institute to create a course for beginning farmers on Holistic Management. The course will be offered both “live” as well as through a self-study guide on-line.

· Educator in New York-
In September 2002 this Educator looked at farms that are managed differently than the conventional model and conducted a learning community tour attended by six farm couples/operators, four educators and several others. Farms included were a large-herd grass based dairy, value added farm, that produces yogurt from part of its milk cow herd, and a sheep dairy. During the tour the host farmers explained how they made decisions, based on a triple bottom line, which considered financial, environmental and social factors, discussed their farm and family goals and how they monitored success.

· Educator in Vermont –
He has done a one-day introductory training and Holistic Goal creation with the Sustainable Living Network, a Randolph group of citizens practicing and promoting sustainability. Within the next few months, this group will do a financial planning session. He has been nominated to the Board of the Vermont Grass Farmers, and has offered to facilitate an update of the group’s Holistic Goal, and update training as necessary. He will soon convene a local management study club of farmers in his valley.

· Educator in New York –
He has been requesting each member of his learning community teach different portions of the HM curriculum at their monthly get together. For instance in August 2002 the topic, “The Four Ecosystem Processes”, was taught by the NBT Bank Ag Lender, a member of his local group. At the September meeting a USDA NRCS employee lead the discussion on communication and personal leadership and in October a Dairy Heifer Replacement Farmer lead the session on “Defining the Whole”, a key concept of HM. In November a non-profit employee (Central NY RC&D) lead the group on “Setting a Holistic Goal” and discussed her personal Holistic Goal (HG) and other members shared their experiences in utilizing a HG. The December 2002 session saw an accounting consultant lead the local group in utilizing the “Testing Guidelines” to help navigate toward your HG.

· Educator in Massachusetts –
This Participant is facilitating three farmers who farm at the New England Small Farm Institute. He will work with the organization’s Growing New Farmers Project staff to help them form a Holistic Goal for that project.

· Educator in Maine –
This Educator is providing assistance to the Sisters of Yarrow, an eight-woman farmer group that meets regularly and is all learning to manage holistically. They have all developed their Whole Under Management, a Holistic Goal and are testing decisions to enable them to move toward what they value most. They are in various stages of adopting Holistic Financial Planning and integrating Planned Grazing.

· Educator in Pennsylvania –
“The Northern Penn Holistic Management Network has been busy this season. We revisited our Holistic Goal, last written in 1997 and made some critical and much needed revisions to who we are and what we’re doing. And we are much clearer as to why we are doing it. We just completed a Financial Planning Workshop and have a Grazing Planning session coming up in February. The summer has four pasture walks scheduled that will include Land Planning, Biological Monitoring, Drought Management, and a
Graziers Roundtable in the fall. Several members of the group have asked for one on one coaching with the Holistic Management Financial Planning process, this will happen very soon. Two of the network conceded that it would be in their own self interest to participate in this process, not without some arm twisting and cajoling.”

· Educator in New York –
This Educator gave presentations to groups including NOFA – NJ, Endless Mountains RC&D, NY Ag Leadership Class of 2003, and the Schoharie County Cooperative Extension Board of Directors. He is scheduled to present at the National Audubon Farm Symposium, NESARE HM Workshop and at Hartwick College in February. He will also be at a Regional Farm & Food Project Workshop (NY) in March and at Tufts College in April.

· Educator in Connecticut –
“My learning community, “Our Group”, as we call it is made up of individuals and couples who farm full time and part time. Presently we are four farms and may become five as we had a new farmer at our last meeting. We have been meeting monthly since November 2001; we meet at a different member’s house each and always precede our meetings with a potluck meal. At this point we each have a Holistic Goal and at our last meeting which was in the beginning of January we reviewed our Holistic Goals to see how we felt about them and the whole HM model. We came away with a renewed commitment to the framework. We spent last fall and winter going over the model and the supporting literature. During the growing season we worked at each of the farms practicing biological monitoring. We all are animal keepers so our biological monitoring revolved around range land monitoring. At the end of the grass season we refocused on the planning procedures. Although we have reviewed financial planning and have talked about the need for it, we have not seriously done any yet, (using the HM procedure) but we are definitely getting closer, it will probably begin next month. This fall I posed the question; “What is the single thing that is keeping you from practicing HM more in your lives?” That question has sparked many good conversations and readings. At our last meeting when we looked at our Holistic Goals and took turns explaining what HM was to our new member we realized how our outlooks have changed with our practice of HM.”

· Educator in New York –
“A small farm couple in Sherburne, NY has been successfully making progress toward managing their farm holistically. To date they have completed their Whole Under Management, developed their Holistic Goal, began testing decisions and monitoring through the Feedback Loop. Their next step will be to develop their holistic financial plan with the help of an educator. Specific decisions they have made include what they grew/raised (organic greens & pastured poultry) and where they marketed (direct to restaurants & a farmers market). They feel they have been successful due to making good decisions, which has allowed them to maintain balance in their lives and operate profitably.”

· Educator in New Hampshire –
A family in New Hampshire has used their Holistic Goal and Holistic Financial Plan to examine their balance of work and personal time and this made one family member enact changes to his workload. This was accomplished to accommodate what they believe will bring them closer to the quality of life they desire.

· Educator in Vermont –
“My learning community has shifted from my original learning contract. Kaylie and I are building our new farm with the help of Holistic Management. We have a Holistic Goal and test important decisions towards it. We have a financial plan, and will be planning our grazing for the coming season. My work with Zach Leclaire, a high school student interested in pursuing a career in agriculture, is being helped along by Holistic Management. We are using our Holistic Goal to steer our development of an anaerobic digester feeding nutrients to a photobioreactor and a hydroponics unit.”

· Educator in West Virginia –
“I am working with a USDA NRCS Soil Conservationist in a field office in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, located in the south eastern part of the state. She has written her own Holistic Goal, tested decisions against it and is in the process of completing her holistic financial plan. She is enthusiastic about her practice of Holistic Management and appreciates that she now has more focus in her life. We have begun the process of learning holistic grazing management and she hopes to introduce holism to the agricultural producers she works with.”

“Another USDA NRCS Soil Conservationist I am working with is in a field office in Berkeley County, West Virginia, located in the eastern panhandle of our state. She has also written a Holistic Goal and is testing decisions against it. She has begun her own holistic financial plan. She likes having more direction in her life and planning her finances around her values. She wants to learn holistic grazing management NOW! She has much experience in forage and grazing management. She wants to expand this knowledge by understanding how all resources are connected.”

“These two and I meet as a learning group. We recently welcomed a new member who is an USDA NRCS Soil Conservationist as well and is located in Jefferson County, West Virginia, located in the eastern panhandle of our state. After an introduction to Holistic
Management some months ago she asked to participate in our learning community.”

· Educator in New York –
“Six farms have been participating in a learning community since November 2000, numbering about 15 people all told. The group has come together for monthly day-long meetings including potluck lunch. All farms have written Holistic Goal statements and have some proficiency in using them as a touchstone along with an understanding of ecosystem processes, to test decisions on their farms. Part of each meeting is devoted to practice of the Holistic Management testing questions with real decisions from participants’ farms. “

“Beyond the basic method of decision making the group has learned:
– an introduction to systems thinking,
– a holistic approach to grazing management,
– a Land EKG method of monitoring what is happening in the farm ecosystem, an essential skill in the Holistic Management decision making process,
– embarked on learning Holistic Management Financial Planning
The group is enthusiastic about the learning community experience. The group has visited and studied each farm in the learning community from the Holistic Management perspective, and found the visits unusually beneficial due to the common frame of reference.“

· Educator in Iowa –
This Participant is facilitating the learning of four colleagues. They all have Holistic Goals and are forming their financial plans. She is scheduled to begin working with two farms in February 2003.

“In working with my learning community, I have come to feel the importance of the individual goal. We have decisions to make independent of our spouses, partners, and
children. I finally completed a task that I assigned myself some time ago. I finally put down on paper my own Holistic Goal and compared it to the one I developed with my spousal unit. Pretty close, but some distinct differences. This will be a help for me as I make some personal decisions.“

· Educator in Vermont –
This Participant is facilitating learning with the Institute for Social Ecology’s Building and Land Use Committee. They have formed a Holistic Goal and are making decisions towards it. Along with two other Educators she gave an afternoon workshop for Plainfield Vermont area residents in April 2002. She is also working with two neighbor farmers who have a Holistic Goal and are learning the financial planning process. She will be facilitating learning with one nonprofit board in Vermont and the staff of a new college in New Mexico in the coming months.

“I just accepted an invitation to join the board of Rural Vermont, which has been reorganizing of late and would be a good venue to introduce some HM policy work.”

“My immediate plans (other than catching up on my own financial planning) call for 2 weeks in New Mexico in February to facilitate a session with EcoVersity in Santa Fe. I will be flying solo on this one. Will return to VT in time to speak at the Independent Organic Inspectors annual meeting in Burlington on 2/20.”

“We are also doing a revisit to the ISE Master Plan, and will be working in more use of brainstorming and testing questions, as well as more financial planning methods, as it seems to work. My two ISE students, Raymond and Lawrence, are eagerly developing a Holistic Goal for their intended project of starting an ISE-Ghana.”

· Educator in Minnesota –
“My sister has embraced the idea of Holistic Management since I began taking the classes. As she developed her Holistic Goal, she rediscovered what she really wanted her life to be about. When we went through the financial planning, she tested her desire to own her own home versus renting and as a result of the testing, determined she not only could afford to buy one, but that her financial well being would be improved by owning. She then tested whether to spend a bit extra to buy a duplex and become a landlord. The
result was she could afford to buy a home that brings in income as well. Recently, her diagnosis of cancer has caused us to revisit her financial plan and redirect parking fees for pre-paid health deductions (tax deductible, and available for those parts of her therapy not covered by insurance.) The testing questions helped her to calmly look at her finances versus her unexpected expenses rather than panic over her change in circumstances. Of course her Quality of Life description continues to be a beacon for her as she focuses on the LIFE she wants to have and makes medical decision towards.”

This Educator attended part of the intro session for the North Central SARE program and is/will be networking with that group.

· Educator in West Virginia –
“I reported on a new learning community a month ago. The learning community involved three organizations coming together to plan for another [including the three]. My intentions were good and I proceeded with some resistance. The first step was to come up with a Quality of Life Statement and to then look at the resource base. This was going well and they were willing to entertain my new fangled approach since we had to do the planning anyway. Several people had the assignment of going and digging up the resources. They did their job. A week later I had the resource base listed. Problem is it also revealed that the manager who was leaving had forged board names onto credit applications and had run up $20,000 in debt against the organization. The strategy changed at this time. We went from Quality of Life to War. The Aide Memoire and the process of structured diagnosis proved helpful but only as better information came available. A plan was suddenly in the works and we were in agreement. We are now going into Phase B and readjusting [due to our monitoring].

Prepared January 2003, by Phil Metzger, USDA NRCS, Norwich, NY.

The project is on track for all three performance targets. Eighteen participants, exceeding the target of 15, prepared for and attended the first residential training session from October 27 to November 2, 2001, “Overview of the Holistic Management Model.” In addition to learning and practicing facilitation of HM processes, the participants reviewed the requirements for their learning contracts, summaries of meetings with their learning communities, and case studies. To date, 15 of the 18 participants have submitted their learning contracts and identified their learning communities; 15 participants have had their first meeting and or initial session with their learning communities. The remaining three participants are working on finalizing their learning contracts, and two are working on identifying their learning communities.

Regarding Target 2, participants have begun initial written reviews of HM and learning group progress for the project mentor and project education director. Participants are receiving feedback for needed concentration of study and facilitation of whole-farm plans. Participants are also documenting experiences with their whole-farm planning groups and whole-farm plans for review and planned presentations at the 2002, 2003, or 2004 Central New York RC&D Annual Farm Diversity Conferences.

A total of 18 participants are off to a good start to satisfy target 3 and all 18 participants are on track to become certified HM educators.

Collaborators: