January 17 was the start of two Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning series in the Northwest—in California and Oregon.These programs will continue through the beginning of March as participants learn goal setting, decision testing, financial planning, marketing planning, and business planning.
In California, this series is being held at the Grange School in Willits, California. This Introduction to Whole Farm/Ranch Planning was facilitated by Holistic Management Certified Educator Richard King, who taught the class of 30 participants. Those participants manage 23,141 acres and are both large scale livestock producers and small farmers, many with years of experience as well as beginning agricultural producers. Participants learned a great deal from the program as well as from each other, giving the program a 90% satisfaction rating. HMI would like to thank the Christano Family Fund for their support of this program and for scholarship funding.
Here's what the participants had to say:
When participants were surveyed about the the most useful things they learned in the session, some of the key take homes were:
Holistic goal setting, systems thinking
The need to work more with the tools and techniques.
Root causes. Richard told a story about gopher problems. The root cause as the story unfolded was lack of predators not gophers. That was an "ah" moment.
Overall framework, applicability of Holistic Management approach to my operation.
Some good aha moments about our vital, taken for granted partnerships.
Holistic goal or vision, factoring in personal & social criteria.
There will always be a weak link.
To slow down, to focus.
Group brainstorming and time for reflection
Testing matrix decision making framework.
Organizing decision-making process, writing plans.
Meanwhile on the same day in Central Point, Oregon, Holistic Management Certified Educator Rob Rutherford was teaching the same class. We were offering this Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning series in collaboration with the Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District who did a wonderful job with the facilities. This class was also sold out with 30 participants. 97% of the participants rated this program as good or excellent. This group is currently managing 4,169 acres.
When participants were surveyed about the most useful things they learned in the session, some of the key take homes were:
I feel more confident because I am actually starting decent planning procedures.
This will help my husband and I see things from a different point of view.
I feel less doubtful about addressing problems/symptoms.
I’m rechecking my focus back away from linear, reductionist thinking.
The testing questions are a great way to look at the big picture.