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2. What is Holistic Management?
A whole farm/ranch management process
It’s a way of making decisions
 How to decide what’s important
 How to plan for sustainability
 How to prioritize
It’s a collection of tools
 Financial priority analysis
 Land planning
 Grazing management
 Monitoring

3. Holistic Management:
Managing for Success
 Sound, achievable goals - Sustainability
 Holistic goal
 Future Resource Base Description
 Create the plan
 Land Plan
 Financial Priority Plan
 Grazing planning
 Monitoring
 Feedback to planning
 Re-plan, if necessary

4. 2004
Monitoring Transect Results in Dry Country 2005
2006
2007

5. How Does HMI Work and For Whom?
 HMI helps farmers to achieve critical goals…

6. Holistic Management Can:
Significantly increase annual profits
Enhance the natural health, productivity and
profitability of land
Provide a framework for family, owners,
managers, and other farm stakeholders to work
together toward a common future
 Helps identify priorities
 Helps resolve conflicts

7.  Shift from linear to holistic decision making
 Financially, socially and environmentally sound
 Manage short and long-term
 Address problems by
 Root cause versus symptom
 Shift from “problem/fix it”
 Don’t adapt management to the problem
 Manage for what you want and the whole
 Leave no fertile ground for problems

8. Why Bother to Practice
Holistic Management Whole Farm Planning?
 Become a working partner with Nature instead of fighting
against it
 Improve profits and production
 Benefit farm family relationships
 Improve wildlife habitats

9. Success Stories
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10. Erin Pearson
Natural beef, goats, pastured poultry and horses
 Trained in Whole Farm Planning as
part of HMI’s Rappahannock Future
Farms program
 Goal was to maximize her forage,
improve the property and make a
profit
 “My pastures are looking lush,
more filled, much less water
travelling and much more forage-I
expect to have pasture well into the
end of January or beyond. “
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11. Erin Pearson
 Costs of the operation is down-
due and almost zero grain
usage.
 Decision-making is saving
labor and time.
 Using portable netting fences
will allow multi species grazing
where it couldn’t be otherwise.
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12. Key Lessons From the Training
 Do the holistic questions before
adding new ventures and when
managing decisions.
 Work the financial information-
face the reality of the facts.
 Grow the operations that can
feed and/or make money and
reduce the hobby aspects to a
“fun” and manageable level.
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13. Cliff Miller and Mike Peterson
Mount Vernon Farm
Grass finished beef and lamb, pastured pork and pastured
eggs
 Year One of HMI’s Future Farm
Program
 Goals were to create a strong
management team for the
future of the farm and to
improve productivity
15 Photo by Molly Peterson

14. Cliff Miller and Mike Peterson
Mount Vernon Farm
 Because of our planning, we did not
take as much off (grazing) of our
fields this fall as we did last year.
 When I last measured our stockpile
one month ago, we already had 20
additional days of grazing than we
did last year. I’ve projected to feed
half the amount of hay that I did last
year.
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15. Key Lessons from the Training
 “Our communication is so much
better, and it wouldn’t have happened
without going through this process.”
 With one full year of training under
our belts, I think we will view our
entire annual plan differently. We are
actually going to make a budget,
project sales, project expected
expenditures, etc. Which is
something that we have never done.
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16. Anita Ramos and Reid Folsom
Native tree and shrub nursery and horse boarding
 Year One of HMI’s Future Farm Program
 “Our quality of life values helped us to
decide to drop one flower show because
of the stress and strain; personal
satisfaction of life has taken a higher
priority.”
 “We’re taking advantage of fun
opportunities when they come up now.”
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17. Dick McNear
Black Angus Cattle Farm
 Year One of HMI’s Future Farm
Program
 Goal was to create a profitable farm
operation for his heirs
 “My daughter seems more
interested. I’m spending more time
on management.”
 “Cut my fertilizer cost more than half
and cut fuel cost by 1/3.”
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18. Dave and Wooz Matthews
Devon Cattle Operation
 Goals were to cut costs and get
information on improving their
conservation programs
 “We think we’re seeing more bird and
small animal life. Grass definitely
thicker… and we have more stockpile
than ever before.”
 “We’ve saved about $800 on diesel
and $1000 on fish oil fertilizer.”
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