This winter and early spring, HMI offered Interactive Online Courses in Holistic Financial Planning, Holistic Grazing Planning, Holistic Cropping Planning and the Holistic Management Foundation course. Let’s unpack what was covered in each course, the knowledge change they reported and what skills participants gained!
The Winter Foundations course, taught by HMI Certified Educator Christine Martin and Educator Trainee Steven Franz, was focused on helping people not only see the interconnected relationships between soil health, biodiversity, and human well-being, but also provided the tools to help participants make better decisions to support these different aspects of their lives. The 23 participants who influence 8,263 acres and who were from the USA, Canada, Lithuania, and Lesotho gained insights into holistic goal setting and decision-making, empowering them to create thriving ecosystems on their land. They were also equipped with practical tools to monitor ecosystem health and assess the effectiveness of their own management practices. In fact, 100% of those completing the evaluation for this course felt like they were better able to integrate social, economic, and environmental factors in their decision making.
The Holistic Financial Planning course materials are crucial for long-term success in agriculture. The 16 participants who influence 10,835 acres learned how to integrate financial strategies with key decisions for business investments, quality of life, labor, and much more through holistic land using their holistic goals and the decision testing questions to guide them in their decision-making. Participants also created resilience through risk management; identifying risks and using the tools they received to make critical production decisions to mitigate those risks. Certified Educator Phil Metzger facilitated this course.
Here are some of the key outcomes for that course:
The Holistic Cropping Planning course, taught by HMI Certified Educator Preston Sullivan and Whole Farm Trainer Sarah Williford, offered students a comprehensive exploration into cropping practices focusing on optimizing soil health, enhancing biodiversity and increasing resilience to environmental changes and challenges. The 19 participants who influence 1,437 acres in the USA, Canada, and Senegal left with a more thorough understanding of soil health management, crop rotation strategies, water conservation techniques, permaculture tools and livestock integration tips as well as how to incorporate these strategies and techniques into their own unique ecosystems and cropping plans.
Some key outcomes from this course were:
In the Holistic Grazing Planning Course, taught by HMI Certified Educator Linda Pechin-Long and Educator trainee Laura Velasquez, 20 participants influencing 3,893 acres in the USA and Germany explored the importance of mimicking natural grazing patterns, and strategies for improving soil health and biodiversity through grazing management. They learned practical techniques for planned grazing, paddock design, assessing available forage and monitoring ecosystem health, enabling them to implement regenerative and holistic grazing strategies effectively on their own land.
Here are some of the key outcomes from this course:
Participating in any of these courses alone can offer valuable insights and tangible results for land managers. However, students that couple them all together receive a comprehensive toolkit for regenerative agriculture, using the holistic goal and decision testing practices to promote ecological health, financial resilience, and long-term sustainability. Whether optimizing financial performance, deepening ecological literacy, or refining grazing practices, these courses offer practical insights and guidance for a more regenerative future with Holistic Management at its core.
Here are a few testimonials from some of our participants.
Regan VelasquezConejos County, COGoose Meadows Ranchhttps://goosemeadowsranch.com/
Holistic Cropping Planning Course
Regan was motivated to take this course after his daughter commented upon arriving on their ranch one October: "Papa, I've never seen the ranch look so bad!" That’s what got Regan and Laura Velasquez into learning about soil health. “That started a soil health/grazing management learning process that continues today. The desire to introduce some crops other than grazing into our operation is what got me interested in the Cropping Planning class,” says Regan.
What Regan found particularly helpful about the course was the step by step approach to solving problems and implementing projects. “It is very similar to the discipline of mathematics which I studied in university; start with a question and work your way through to a solution via planned processes. At every step of the process I learned something about the land/process that helped me understand the next steps and process. On future projects I will use the processes outlined in the class to accomplish the task because the chances of success are much higher than ‘winging it’!”
Leigh KennyStone Steps FarmWhidbey Island, WAhttps://stonestepsfarmwhidbeyisland.com/Instagram/Facebook: @stonestepsfarmwhidbeyisland
Holistic Grazing Planning Course
Leigh Kenny has been using sheep and goats since 2015 to manage small acreage, first in Northern California and now on Whidbey Island. “We've moved our animals frequently using electronet from the beginning, but we've had loads to learn about proper grazing and we've made lots of mistakes,” says Leigh. “We finally started comparing grazed/ungrazed areas at our prior farm (measuring organic matter and carbon sequestration at different depths, taking photos to track plant diversity and density, and playing around with overseeding different cover crop mixtures in our pastures). Even on a small farm, we found that better practices made an enormous difference within a few years. We're still beginners and trying to figure things out in a new climate, and taking the HMI grazing planning course was a huge help!
“The most valuable part of the course was learning how to complete the HMI Grazing Plan & Control Chart. We now have a detailed grazing plan in place and are tracking how we're following the plan and how (and why) we're making changes along the way. Having all that information on a single page is invaluable--no more digging through pasture maps and making notes in the margins, and no more searching through photos on my phone to monitor different areas of the pasture at different times. I also really enjoyed talking with other participants in the course and learning about their operations.”
Thanks to the L&L Nippert Foundation for their scholarship support in HMI’s programming.