Holistic Management International
Healthy Land, Sustainable Future
A few of our Future Farms: Rappahannock County program participants talk about their involvement in the HMI program, as well as the experiences and results they have achieved in their first year of practicing Holistic Management. They are a pretty impressive group. If you live in Virginia, and you’d like to find out about our 2012 Future Farms: Upper Piedmont program, be sure to attend out Town Hall reception on May 31, 2012
All videos by Steven Schwartz, www.localflavor.tvAs you know, HMI is a non-profit organization and we rely on donations from people like you to support our mission to educate people to manage land for a sustainable future. We know that you care about sustainable agricultural practices and we encourage you to view a short video of a producer whose land and operations benefited from our one of our programs.
Photo credit: Molly Peterson
Cowboy Joe joined the 50 3rd graders from Christ King School in Dallas, Texas, recently for a Kids On the Land day at a local land steward’s ranch about 70 miles north of Dallas. The ranch was a beautiful spot where the students could participate in a day-long event learning all about the Blackland Prairie Eco-Region of Texas.
I am writing a poem in my naturalist journal. The poem is about the plant I chose for the specimen to study. My plant was rye grass.
We were learning how a seed germinates and grows when Cowboy Joe joined in. We were having so much fun we forgot we were learning at the same time.
We were making wildflower seed balls, but Cowboy Joe didn’t want to get his hands muddy.
Cowboy Joe and I have just picked a winecup. I’m going to draw a picture of it in my naturalist journal.
Julie, Karen, and Natalie, three of the volunteers for the day’s activities, asked to have their picture taken with Cowboy Joe.
Julian, Luke, and Jack R. summed up the day by saying, “All the stations were wonderful. Everybody at a station did an excellent job. This was the best field trip this grade has ever had.”
Ann Adams, Director of Education for HMI, gave two presentations about Holistic Management this spring. In April, she presented “Healing the Land with Livestock” to a group of veterans interested in farming. This presentation was part of a “Boots & Roots: The Veteran Farmer Training Project” that is a collaboration of the Albuquerque Veteran Affairs, La Montanita Coop, and the Downtown Action Team.
She also gave a presentation on “A Holistic Approach to Watersheds” for the Rio Grande Advisory Council (RAC). The RAC is a network of citizens—educators, students, professionals, land owners, federal, state, and local governmental agencies, and other stakeholders—who share a common concern for the conservation of 
the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo watershed. The RAC provides a communication tool for groups and organizations on both sides of the international border, which are actively engaged in Rio Grande/Rio Bravo watershed issues and concerns.
If you’d like one of the experts from HMI to speak to your community about sustainable agriculture, please contact us.
Last week I found myself justifying to my neighbor that my responsibility to my land includes grazing. Now, we are both environmentalists and we both love the land and respect nature’s way, but she sees nature’s way as untouched and I see nature’s way as stomped on, pooped on and bitten off.
So she asked just how I considered putting my horses out on grass so newly recovered from the 2011 drought to be good land stewardship. I invited her to come over for a hike around the land to see what I have learned from my years in Holistic Management.
• Tilling the Soil – Due to the drought and other reasons, I had not grazed this land in three years. I showed her the hard, capped soil and we found a hoofprint so she could see how within it the soil was softened and there was a tiny catchment for the next rain to have a chance at soaking in and softening whatever seeds might be lurking.
• Planting the Seeds – Just walking on the Earth allows those hooves to push plant-tosssed seeds into contact with the soil so they have a chance at growing.
• Applying the Mulch – I showed my neighbor tons of gray, petrified grass—still standing but brittle and oxidized and doing nothing at all except preventing the sun from nourishing the new growth. The horses knock those decadent stalks over and trample them into the soil where they can do some real good – shading the soil and beginning to feed it during times of moisture.
• And the Compost – Then comes the real gift – the poop and pee of it. She is already familiar with the benefits of organic fertilizer, so I showed her the dung beetles carrying all those nutrients deep into the soil.
• Pruning – Biting the tips off the grasses and forbs stimulates them to grow more leaves and more roots. The bite causes the root to die back a little, and in so doing it excites and feeds the soil food web around those roots, which in turn facilitates more growth and creates new soil.
• A Little Massage – As they walk, run, roll and yank at bites of grass, the horses are putting kinetic energy into the ground and massaging things around a little. The Earth likes it.
• And a nice long nap – Plants need time to recover from being grazed. Roots and leaves grow back at different rates, based on time of year, location and moisture. It takes a little awareness to match grazing and growth cycles.
“OK, OK, I get it,” she says, “but why do you have to have so many fences?”
“Predators! Or rather the lack of them.” I responded. “In nature, predators keep the herds bunched and moving on so they don’t bite the same grass twice. They might not make it back to this spot for a year. I do that with the fencing.”
Her favorite view was of my hillside. She liked it wild and free.
“Sorry to ruin your view……and it IS just temporary.”
“Not at all!” she said, good neighbor that she is. “I am now seeing that fence in a whole new way—as a beautiful electric-streamlined work of art housing the most beautiful of gardeners.”
• Mutual Aid – So many benefits for all come of this grazing process. The mulch & compost on the ground improves the water cycle and the mineral cycle. The roots are pulsing and growing deeper to store water and carbon deep within the soil. Wildlife thrives on the diversity attracted to the health of the ecosystem. The horses are healthy because they move away from parasites and pests and because they have fresh healthy salads to eat and freshly oxygenated air to breathe. And I am happy not to be buying expensive hay.
It’s a win-win-win. How clever of Nature to have thought all this up.
The Weatherford Democrat recently published this article, which explains how the foundation, which manages several ranches in Texas, practices Holistic Management. The Dixon Water Foundation is no stranger to HMI. Our board member, Clint Josey, is also on their board and they have supported HMI over the years. Their Bear Creek Ranch raises Red Angus and crossbred hair sheep – which don’t produce wool – on native grasses alone, producing meat that is certified organic – without hormones, antibiotics or other feed additives. The article gives really great explanation of how Holistic Management grazing planning mimics nature and the benefits it brings to the soil, the animals and the ranchers who practice it.
How do you connect urban kids to the land around them? That was the challenge for the Kids On the Land(KOL) program when a school in Dallas requested the KOL program for its 3rd graders.
When parents of students at Christ the King School called and wanted me to prepare a program, I said that first we needed a site. They already had the land steward’s permission to have the event on his family ranch about 70 miles north of Dallas. My next concern was who would help me with the event. Many of the Texas regulars, NRCS agent, Ricky Linex of Weatherford and Dr. Paul Martin of Seguin, Bryon Haney of Whitney, Katherine Dickson of Maryneal, Charlie and Suzie Davis of Sweetwater, and Karen McGinnis of San Angelo wanted to be a part. There would need to be training for the other volunteers. I call these folks LINKs (Learning In Nature with Kids). In all there were 20 parents involved, plus my regulars, and Peggy Cole, program director for HMI .
When April 27th arrived, everyone was ready for the 50 students who came by chartered bus. The program was called “This Land Is Prairie Land.” Students began the day by creating a timeline of historical events of the Blackland Prairie eco-region beginning 10,000 years ago. The theme of prairie land was designed to connect the urban students to the land beneath their feet, whether in Dallas or on the grasslands of the ranch. There was emphasis on the value of the once vast grasslands known as the Blackland Prairie which included much of north central Texas. The rest of the day was spent in different activities that included: learning about native plants while walking on the prairie and ending with a hayride back to the headquarters to continue the other activities; making wildflower seed balls after learning how nature disperses seeds; creating Native American talking sticks and learning about the Caddo Indians; and doing the work of a naturalist by creating nature journals about Blackland Prairie vegetation. Lunch time included a sing-a-long of songs of the prairie by Charlie Davis.
I was very pleased with the result because once again, the event showed how KOL program can go anywhere. The KOL program began in the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas where my husband, Joe, and I managed Holistic Management International’s Learning Site in Crockett County. We have expanded the program for students in the Western Cross Timbers, Rolling Plains, and now to the Blackland Prairie Eco-Region of Texas. It has worked with students from rural schools and now students from an urban school in Dallas,Texas.
KOL is unique among environmental programs because it is designed to teach children about their place where they live, using the property of local land stewards and since children have an innate need to be in nature and nature needs a new generation who are reconnected to the land to take us to a more sustainable future, we hope to see the program continue to evolve as it adapts to meet new environments. Since its inception in 2003, over 2450 students have been participated in the program. The KOL booklets for the Trans-Pecos Eco-Region are available as Free Downloads. There is also a guide called, “How To Develop Your Own Program” available. The program continues through the generosity of land stewards offering their property as a site, from in-kind donations for supplies and mileage, to the continued support of Holistic Management International.
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) is a mathematical concept that states for many events roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It was developed by Italian economist Vifredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. To state this principle simply in terms of 80-20 is, however, somewhat misleading. The distribution ratio could easily be 90-10, 75-25, or, as well shall see, 50-8. The important point to keep in mind is that this principle is one of unequal distribution, where the analysis is designed to identify key points of intervention to improve management effectiveness.
In my observation of natural landscapes, I have found the Pareto principle to be a useful concept. For whatever reason, natural systems often express unequal distributions, in what certainly seems to be a corollary to the principle of spatial heterogeneity. Learning to view a landscape through the lens of Pareto distributions can help you to optimize your effectiveness as a decision maker.
Moving from the abstract to the specific, I highlight an example from some work HMI did on the West Ranch, a location outside of Ozona Texas that was under HMI’s management for about a decade. Characterized by shallow, rocky, upland soils and low-lying, ephemeral riparian draws, the West Ranch offers a classic example of a Pareto distribution in soil types, as 8% of the total soil coverage is of the low-lying type.
HMI used the USDA soil survey data from the West Ranch to calculate three key soil characteristics by soil type: soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (SOC), and available water capacity (AWC). To conceptualize the dataset, the reader must imagine that the soil behaves at least in three-dimensions. Soil horizons extend well below the soil surface; on the West Ranch, the primary soil types (ERD and ERG) cover the vast majority of the two-dimensional ranch surface, but are steep, shallow, and rocky, with a maximum depth of between 8 and 18 inches. The two low-lying soil types with greater depth (RdB and DvB) cover 1 and 7 percent of the two-dimensional soil surface respectively, but have a maximum depth of up to 80 inches. This, combined with more favorable soil characteristics, has significant ecological and management implications. RdB and DvB, which again only account for 8% of the ranch’s soil surface, account for 49% of the ranch’s total soil organic matter capacity, 49% of the ranch’s total soil organic carbon capacity, and 49% of the ranch’s total available water capacity.
A graphical representation of this distribution is presented below.
Presented in a summary table format, the data is as follows:
Pareto Analysis by Soil Type
| Map Symbol | Soil Series |
% of total area |
SOM |
SOC |
AWC |
| DvB | Dev Very Gravelly Loam |
7% |
40% |
40% |
39% |
| RdB | Rio Diablo silty clay loam |
1% |
9% |
9% |
10% |
| ERD | Ector Rock outcrop 1-15% slopes |
61% |
24% |
24% |
30% |
| ERG | Ector Rock outcrop 15-60% slopes |
31% |
29% |
29% |
21% |
This distribution led us to conclude that the potential for brush clearing, improved grass production, and ground water recharge were best served by focusing our attention on these relatively small areas on the landscape. The economic and production implications of this data proved critical in assisting our decision-making, and in designing further areas for research and investigation.
Once you begin to view the world through the the lens of a Pareto distribution, you will notice that these disproportionate relationships exist everywhere: 80% of your profit may come from 20% of your product line, 70% of your water may come from 30% of your wells, 90% of your time may be spent on 10% of your land area, etc. While these observations may or may not lead to items of direct action in your decision process, your awareness of these patterns will improve your ability to manage complexity with optimum results.
When I first began reading The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips, I was struck by his ability to distill down to the essence the paradigm by which we must view orchards to work with them holistically. He explains that the orchard ecosystem (forest edge ecology) is best served by listening to tree wisdom. It seems rather obvious, but most common sense ideas are. Just as many holistic managers are learning to listen and observe the ecosystem processes at the soil surface, the holistic orchardist must do so as well.
Phillips talks about how the soil food web needs to be fungal dominate for healthy fruit production. We must focus on a healthy mineral cycle rather than appearances. Feed the soil with wood chips, rotted hay, compost, and shredded leaves. He notes that not all wood chips are alike. Most commercial wood chips are from soft woods, like pine, that are high in tannins and suppress the healthy growth of deciduous trees. Likewise he advocates that people not use weed barriers as they negatively impact the ecosystem function.
This book is not only a great resource of knowledge but also has great pictures of practices and microscopic views of leaf surfaces and illustrations of below the soil surface that bring these ideas alive. He covers individual chapters on all the major tree and berry fruits with great details on numerous other topics including varieties, horticultural skills, companion planting, and techniques for building soil.
Phillips is able to inspire the beginner and still offers the experienced grower in-depth information and new research on ways to address pest and disease issues. My one criticism is that he does write predominantly from a less brittle perspective, but most of his knowledge can be applied across different eco-regions. In fact, he includes case studies/success stories from different climates.
His second chapter is all about orchard life and considering the timeframe of the management of the orchard. Of even greater importance is the big picture thinking of how much is enough so that we balance production/profit with quality of life.
I was particularly interested in the “Orchard Dynamics” chapter where he explores the concept of community dynamics within an orchard into play. As Phillips notes, “Stewarding what needs to be right while intelligently setting limits on what might go wrong describes health-based orcharding to a tee.” [emphasis added by author]. This means building system health within the orchard and moving beyond the focus of weed and pest to look at the orchard dynamics. Diversity of plants and animals (including bugs) is key. In fact, he also suggests integrating livestock as holistic approach to orchard health.
With a focus on the importance of biodiversity and building on system health, The Holistic Orchard is an essential book for any holistic manager who manages an orchard, big or small.
The why: People are hungry – they need food and they need jobs
Residents also would purchase more processed foods from local manufacturer, buy more of all kinds of food from local grocery stores, and eat out more selectively in local restaurants.
Why does that matter? It’s the ripple effect – and there are extensive studies- One simple example:
New Mexicans spend $124 million on fresh vegetables, but well over 90% of all vegetables grown in the state are exported. Expanding the vegetable sector by 90% to meet local demand, while continuing to produce for export, would create 700 additional jobs.
I’m not here today to argue food localization vs. large, so called “industrialized” agriculture – although many people question the sustainability of that industrialized food system — pointing to:
- It consumes vast quantities of natural resources
- It is heavily dependent on fossil fuel to produce synthetic fertilizer and process package and transport food
- It consumes huge volumes of water
- It degrades soil
Many of my best friends are big ranchers and farmers, currently enjoying record farm/ranch income and one of the strongest agriculture markets in decades. The Big farming and ranching folks are happy right now — and they are nervous.
Talking to a big rancher just yesterday he feels the “bubble” – the money won’t last, the drought is driving people out business, mad cow, pink slime, tagging and and other regulations make it challenging – in addition to the cost of transport to feedlots — the challenges of a beef diet – it goes on and on.
That said — realistically — big production is not going away anytime soon. It may change and adapt – but it will be there as part of the agricultural landscape, in one form or another.
With the smaller and medium sized guys, however —- The question is one of sustainability, not just of the land or cattle – but of the people.
The average American farmer is 58 years old. The average cattleman is 61 years old.
And, oh, by the way —- according to Beef USA, 90% of all U.S. cow herds have less than 100 cows. So there is a declining population of people, with small herds, with growing challenges – and despite the current bubble — a disincentive to carry the ranch forward another generation, in the face of hunger and a growing demand for food.
That is why Secretary Vilsack says we need 100,000 new farmers and ranchers in the next 5 years.
We have a shrinking supply of production , that is farmers/ranchers – with a growing demand for output – that is, food.
The good news is there is a new generation coming on that wants to farm and ranch and they are exploring new paradigms – problem is they often can’t afford the land, and there are programs with land trusts, USDA and others to assist — and they desperately want training — not only in production but management to run a smaller, efficient, profitable healthy enterprise. And interestingly many are doing it. Many of them are women – 30% of the 3 million farms are operated by women – today, women are twice as likely to take over an existing enterprise or starting a new one than men.
Whether it is in New Mexico, the greater U.S., or internationally in food insecure nations —- smaller, local, sustainable agriculture can— and should — be a major contributor to the local economy, to solving the local hunger problem with more planet friendly approaches to the land. It is not just a nice idea, it is a critical part of the world’s future.
