HMI completed our second online course as part of our Whole Farm Planning Program for Agricultural Educators funded by The Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE) Professional Development Program. The course began in March 2014 with 29 participants from 11 
different states. This course provides key land planning principles and practices to help participants facilitate conversations with producers about land planning decisions they are considering. This simple approach to land planning helps agricultural educators and producers explore key infrastructure/land improvement projects in the context of a whole farm/ranch goal. Participants developed management consideration lists, land plan options and explored tool options and the return on investment of the different land planning options.
After surveying the participants, a high number of folks experienced knowledge and behavior changes as noted below.
HMI thanks WSARE for their funding of this program.
Holistic Land Planning Evaluation Results |
|
| Knowledge/Confidence Increase | % Increase |
| How to prioritize land/infrastructure development/investments | 82% |
| How to assess management considerations to guide your land planning | 67% |
| Design strategies that can build resilient, diversified farms | 65% |
| How to incorporate social/legal/contractual considerations into your land planning | 63% |
| Behavior Change: | % of Participants |
| Ability to prioritize land or infrastructure improvements on your farm | 88% |
| Ability to incorporate farm natural resources issues into your land planning | 88% |
| Do you intend to complete or modify a written land plan as a result of today’s session? | 88% |
| Ability to incorporate social/legal considerations into your land planning | 75% |
| Do you intend to change any management practices as a result of this session? | 75% |
| Overall Satisfaction of the course | 100% |
Testimonials:
“Although I’ve worked with many of the techniques and concepts covered in the class, I found it very useful to review the concepts and hear how others approach the planning (especially land planning) process. I had several aha moments. I particularly liked learning more about using the testing questions in conjunction with the land planning to determine the best next step.”
“It was valuable to learn ROI-the ability to calculate it and practice working with it on the example worksheets. Prioritization and implementation strategies to use once the land plan is created like finding the weakest link and identifying priority investments.”
“I’m able to learn how to read the land better in terms of utilization of resources and what to consider in the overall design plan of the farm or property.”
“I learned that you should aim for creative solutions, use input from those whom are not familiar with your land-that you should try and not borrow money, but reinvest the profit you make from your operation/enterprise.”
“I really appreciated the hands on practice sheets such as the ROI fencing and developing a property. It was great to go back to the basics and focus on simple parts of the larger land planning decisions. I also really enjoyed how HMI included prioritization and implementation into the Land Planning Curriculum.”
“I hope to encourage the landowners I work with to incorporate these ideas. I already find myself incorporating them into our conversations and planning sessions.”
“I’ve changed my entire plan from a more conventional, straight rows, approach to a more permaculture integrated into my overall design.”
Featured Participant
Patty Madigan
“…the content of the Whole Farm Planning course is comprehensive and widely applicable to farm and ranch, even small ag settings. I never thought I’d enjoy “school” again, but it has opened up a whole realm of possibilities for working with our producers to improve and sustain working landscapes.”
For thirteen years Patty has been a watershed coordinator and then a conservation programs manager for the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (RCD). She serves as a technical peer reviewer for the North Coast Resource Partnership, as well as participant in the Wood for Salmon Workgroup. Patty’s at the RCD includes developing landowner relationships and restoration projects—as well as informing public policy and streamlining the permit process for landscape-level conservation efforts. She is involved in planning for the RCD’s ownership and management of the largest mitigation project ever conducted in northern California by the California Department of Transportation. Two years ago Patty attended a Holistic Management course and was intrigued with the possibilities of applying the principles to a wider audience, and its potential for building stronger families, communities, and ecosystems.
Adelene is a resident of Arkansas and loves exploring the state’s natural trails. Her passion for education and technology led her to earn a master’s in learning systems technology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With her professional experience managing student/client databases and instructional design, Adelene will bring skill and understanding to her role as Office Manager & Instructional Designer at HMI. Her focus on making education more accessible to diverse communities is evident through her volunteer work as an board member for a scholarship program. Adelene is devoted to creating educational opportunities that align with HMI’s mission to promote healthy, resilient lands and thriving communities.
Seth Wilner has been a Holistic Management International Certified Educator since 2005. For 22 years he has worked as an agent educator with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension where he specializes in farm business management with an emphasis on whole farm planning.
Dana was first introduced to Holistic Management in the 1990s while working in the Texas Hill Country. She strongly believes that Holistic Management can positively impact families that are on the land, the communities they are a part of, and larger landscape resource regeneration efforts.
Sarah Robertson grew up in Taos, New Mexico and has always been passionate about land stewardship, growing things, and nurturing others. After completing a BA in Communication from the University of New Mexico and working with local non-profits, she started her journey as a first-generation farmer. Since 2015, she has been learning and growing alongside her husband on various leased properties in Albuquerque, NM and running a small market farm with goats, chickens, and a CSA. In her role as Programs Assistant at HMI, Sarah brings her enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture, devotion to supporting others, and drive for lifelong learning and growing.
Jozua Lambrecht is from South Africa and divides his time between their home in Somerset West and their family farm in Sutherland, one of the coldest places in South Africa, where they farm with sheep. He is married to his wife Therese and they have two daughters.
Alejandro Carrillo is a fourth-generation rancher, and he is quite familiar with the challenges of running a profitable cattle ranch in the Chihuahuan desert. Because annual precipitation seldom exceeds nine inches, every drop counts when it comes to growing more grasses. Grazing year-round with only sea salt as an input, he is not willing to waste any water in such a brittle environment.
Jared L Talley was born and raised in Southwestern Idaho and now seeks to help rural communities adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, earning his PhD in Philosophy from Michigan State University and his MPA in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management from Boise State University. An environmental philosopher by training and an interdisciplinary scholar in practice, he seeks to better understand how communities relate to the land and how this relationship poses obstacles and opportunities for collaboration and governance. In doing so, he studies the role of science in collaborative policy, the role of place in environmental identity, and the role of the imagination in mediating both. Specifically, he studies grazing management and public land permitting, community-led conservation programs, rural education and entrepreneurship, place-based environmental governance, and the imaginative experience of our natural and built environments — all in the contexts of the intermountain American West.
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