HMI offered a suite of online courses in the first trimester of 2023. In the winter we held the Holistic Cropping Planning Course which helps producers to plan their crop systems and rotations to address natural resource and soil health issues while making a profit. This course was taught by HMI Certified Educators Elizabeth Marks (NY) and Preston Sullivan (MS). There were 18 participants from 4 different countries in this course influencing 3,432 acres. Evaluations showed that 100% of the participants were satisfied with the quality of the course and would recommend the course to others.
The next course up was the Holistic Grazing Planning course with participants learning how to assess forage quantity and quality, develop pasture maps, and work on draft grazing plans and discussing grazing strategies. This course was taught by HMI Professional Certified Educator Linda Pechin-Long from Kansas. There were 45 participants from 18 states and 3 countries influencing 36,291 acres. Evaluations showed that 89% of the participants were satisfied with the quality of the course and would recommend the course to others.
HMI works hard to find scholarship support for those interested in taking these online courses who wouldn’t necessarily afford all the registration fee for these courses. Hear from Kyler Nottveit, one of scholarship recipients, about what these scholarships meant to him.
Kyler Nottveit
Manitoba, Canada
Course taken: Holistic Financial Planning & Holistic Grazing Planning
I grew up on a conventional cow/calf operation doing the traditional chores and hay making. It was not for me and through a decade of different professions, I began to get into cattle again in a different way and that led me into custom grazing. I’m quickly becoming more of a grass man and am trying to grow more grass and build soil to stock more cattle.
What I learned from the online grazing course was the relationship between graze period and recovery period. Step by step each year I will implement strategies to better learn my environment and its strengths and weaknesses. I also learned how to utilize stock days as a unit of forage production and data recording. It will be extremely helpful in determining stocking rate for the grazing season.
Thanks to the L&L Nippert Foundation for funding the Regenerative Agriculture Scholarship Fund that helps people like Kyler, as well as our other funders who provide scholarship support!