We are pleased to report on the results of our Comprehensive Distance Learning series. In 2015, 32 participants had individualized support from our highly qualified instructors without having to drive or fly to a workshop. Participants received 16 hours of personalized one-on-one guidance per course and all of them experienced significant knowledge and behavior changes that have resulted in improved ability to build sustainable farms and ranches. All participants had three months to complete each course and receive a certificate and credit towards a Holistic Management Certified Educator credential.
HMI’s Distance Learning series is designed primarily for land stewards, professional educators, and consultants who really are interested in getting a more in-depth understanding of how to practice Holistic Management. It’s also an ideal foundation for becoming a Holistic Management Certified Educator and help others learn and practice this powerful process. We offer five courses: Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning, Holistic Grazing Planning, Holistic Biological Monitoring, Holistic Financial Planning and Holistic Land Planning. To learn more about this program, click here.
Here is what these participants learned from these programs:
What Participants had to say about the training they received:
“This training has helped to reinvigorate our Holistic Management practices, and enabled us to check in and see where we’re at—as a family and as a business. We redid our holistic context (goal). This is something that always helps. Even if Holistic Management practitioners have read the books and done the courses, it’s always helpful to revisit these.”
“I am a big fan of HMI courses; they have really helped us and our business. We like to go through and relearn/review everything, in order to really, truly be living the life we want to live, according to our values. I recommend this to any farmer/rancher. Even if they learned Holistic Management 30 years ago, it’s helpful to every once in a while do a review. We are always changing, and there is always more to learn.
“Walking through the comprehensive introduction course with Craig was completely eye opening. I thought that I had a good base when considering the big picture of Holistic Management. However, there was so much practical application passed on through this course that I realized that I had quite a few pieces missing when it came to putting it into practice. I’d recommend the comprehensive intro course to any prospective educators as Julie and team are top notch!”
“Knowledge is power and changes lives. Thanks to your scholarship I was able to take this course. Would like you all to know, you are indirectly impacting communities, improving lives, creating a better world and ultimately saving our planet.”
Comprehensive Distance Learning Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning Course
HMI’s Comprehensive Distance Learning Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning Course allowed participants to practice and articulate the key Holistic Management planning concepts and principles. Participants had the opportunity to learn not only how to manage their farm/ranch for the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial sustainability) and more effectively manage resources, but also be able to ask questions of how to help them with that process. Participants learned how to improve their ability to observe, understand, and make decisions, based on what they can control and ask the right questions to facilitate that process for them. Through these new skills they improved their ability to work with nature and to increase their productivity and share those ideas.
Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning Results
Knowledge/Behavior and Confidence Increase | % Increase |
Ability to develop a Whole Farm Goal | 90% |
Ability to integrate social, economic and environmental factors into your decisions | 73% |
Ability to integrate social, economic, and environmental factors into your decisions | 88% |
Ability to make complex on-farm or ranch decisions | 72% |
Ability to assess ecosystem health | 58% |
Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Financial Planning Course
HMI’s Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Financial Planning course focused on key financial principles that helped participants learn how to work on their business, not just in their business. This simple approach to financial planning assisted them to understand the big picture view as well as make critical production decisions based on a clear sense of cost of production for different enterprises. Participants were able to develop a financial plan and identify ways to implement and monitor that plan. Participants were very excited to learn the key economic analysis tools for improved financial decisions for both annual budgets and for long-term investment.
Holistic Financial Planning Course Results
Knowledge/Behavior and Confidence Increase | % Increase |
Determining the weak link in your farm’s/ranch’s enterprises | 73% |
Identifying log jam and adverse factors | 78% |
How to increase your farm’s/ranch’s net worth after the course | 65% |
Determining viable profitable enterprises for your farm/ranch after the course | 65% |
Your skills in developing a whole farm/ranch financial plan after the course | 95% |
Assessing the cash flow of your plan after the course | 68% |
Prioritizing and cutting farm/ranch expenses to guide reinvestment in your farm/ranch after the course | 65% |
Determining your farm’s/ranch’s net worth | 65% |
Determining your farm’s/ranch’s projected revenue | 50% |
Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Grazing Planning Course
HMI’s Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Grazing Planning course focused on the key grazing planning principles and practices. Participants practiced the tools to hone in on such as critical grazing considerations, determining forage inventory, animal needs, and grazing and recovery periods before putting all these calculations into a written grazing plan.
Holistic Grazing Planning Results
Knowledge/Behavior and Confidence Increase | % Increase |
Ability as a grazier | 65% |
Assessing recovery periods | 73% |
Assessing quantity of forage in a pasture | 65% |
Determining the number of animals your land can support for grazing | 73% |
Calculating the number of paddocks for your system | 65% |
Determining how long animals will stay in each paddock (residency rates/grazing periods) | 80% |
Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Land Planning Course
HMI’s Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Land Planning course focused on the key holistic land planning design principles and practices that allowed participants to more effectively manage all their resources. This simple approach to land planning helped them explore key infrastructure/land improvement projects in the context of their whole farm/ranch goal to better analyze design possibilities for improved return on investment. Participants developed management consideration lists, land plan options and explored tool options and the return on investment of the different land planning options using the Holistic Management decision making framework and considering how such options will affect land productivity.
Holistic Land Planning Results
Knowledge/Behavior and Confidence Increase | % Increase |
Design strategies that can build resilient, diversified farms | 68% |
How to incorporate natural resources issues on your farm into land planning | 65% |
How permaculture methods fit into Holistic Land Planning | 73% |
How to assess management considerations to guide land planning | 88% |
How to incorporate social/legal/contractual considerations into land planning | 88% |
The ability to prioritize land or infrastructure improvements on a farm/ranch | 65% |
Comprehensive Distance Learning Holistic Biological Monitoring Course
This course provided key biological monitoring principles and practices to help facilitate conversations with producers about soil fertility and how production practices are influencing that fertility. Monitoring techniques for rangelands, pastures, and croplands were discussed. Participants mastered a simple approach to natural resource issue diagnosis based on monitoring data, past production practices, and potential new production practices that will address the resource issue profitably. The purpose of the course was to help agricultural educators and producers have a viable way to collect data and analyze their land. Participants learned to recognize the impact of prior decisions on the land and to observe and use ecosystem functions to increase land performance.
Holistic Biological Monitoring Results
Knowledge/Confidence Increase | % Increase |
Indicators of a healthy farm/ranch ecosystem | 60% |
Your ability to monitor your farm’s/ranch’s ecosystem health | 65% |
Your understanding of ecosystem processes on your farm/ranch | 73% |
Increased confidence in ability to monitor your farm’s/ranch’s ecosystem health | 88% |
Increased confidence in ability to improve the ecosystem health on your farm/ranch | 95% |
Increased confidence in how to build organic matter in your soils | 78% |
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