Scholarships

Scholarships Provide More Training in Regenerative Agriculture

We are all part of the solution for healthy land, healthy food and healthy lives. We are dedicated to providing the best quality training programs to farmers and ranchers interested in learning Holistic Management. While we keep our course fees as low as possible, we know some folks need a little more financial support to help them get started on the path to regenerative farming and ranching. That’s why we created the Terry Gompert Memorial Scholarship through which we’ve awarded over $50,000 in scholarships since 2014.

Meet Some of our Scholarship Recipients 

“I love HMI’s graphic planning tools. Also, I found a great group of people! People from all over the country who are at different stages of development. Now I know more people going through the same process! It’s great to know that I have people to talk to when I am want support or advice. I am already helping a couple friends with their operations, sharing this process and creating a little community around these principles. Thank you so much Julie and HMI!” – Nick Livermont, South Dakota, USA

“I work as a specialist in integrated international development and climate change adaptation in the rural highlands of Central America. My team works to bring innovative solutions to pressing problems of watershed degradation, food insecurity, poverty, and crop loss related to a combination of human and climate factors. Our integrated approach includes necessary elements of generating adequate income and viable agricultural production; improving management of environmental resources; respecting local culture and participatory voice; and ensuring human well-being indices. We have determined that holistic practices have great potential application for five key problem areas related to water, soil, terrain, agriculture, and forest management in fragile, stressed environments. The course helped me learn vocabulary useful for talking to others about improving practices. The basics will be used to 1) generate a small demonstration plot showing the ability to optimize use of very small spaces; 2) design pilot projects in each of the five areas identified, among the first of their kind on all of Central America; 3) further my own studies into economic valuation of soils and biodiversity in community decision-making, and 4) we hope, start the process for bringing a research and practice hub formally to Guatemala to serve Central America.” – Rachael Shenyo, Guatemala

“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.” – Jude Tatabod, Massachusetts, USA

“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!” – Michael Come, Texas, USA

“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.” – Doniga Markegard, California, USA­­­­­­­­­­­

The Terry Gompert Scholarship

The scholarship funds training for farmers and ranchers currently practicing Holistic Management or who plan to do so in the near future.

Scholarships are both needs-based and merit-based and may be full or partial funding. By offering the scholarship, we hope to achieve greater diversity in the community we serve (age, race, sex, geographic location, etc). We are very proud to announce we have money in the scholarship that has been set aside specifically for people of color. We encourage interested applicants to apply. In 2015 we awarded over $15,000 worth of scholarships to farmers and ranchers.

The scholarship can be applied to any of the following HMI training programs:

• Getting Started Online Learning Series
• Individualized Distance Learning
• Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning
• Whole Farm/Ranch Land Management
• Beginning Farmers & Ranchers

Application Process

If you would like to be considered for a scholarship, fill out the Scholarship Application Form and return to our Scholarship department by the program scholarship deadline. Please note that scholarship applications must be submitted BEFORE registering for a training program or class. Be sure to note which training program you are applying for on the application form. Please be detailed in your answers.

Preferred Criteria:

• Prior farming and/or ranching experience
• Past leadership experience
• Successful completion of a previous training or educational program
• Some previous knowledge of Holistic Management
• Willingness and ability to share what you have learned with others in your community

Terry Gompert

Longtime Holistic Management® Certified Educator Terry Gompert passed away in March of 2011. Terry was a tireless educator whose passion was to reach the next generation so that sustainable agriculture would grow and flourish. He dedicated his life to teaching others about the importance of locally grown foods, family farms and sustainable agriculture.

An Extension Educator for the University of Nebraska in Knox County as well as a knowledgeable grassfed beef producer, Terry was instrumental in the training of many other Holistic Management Certified Educators, as well as providing workshops and other educational events for agricultural producers throughout the Midwest. His work also included efforts on the Grassfed Exchange and the Carbon Coalition.

HMI Women’s Agricultural Leadership Scholarships

At HMI we believe that the regenerative agriculture movement is an equal opportunity employer because we are all working to create local sustainable food systems that feed our families and communities. Nature has shown that diversity is a critical piece for a healthy functioning environment. The need for more women to take a leadership role on our farms and ranches as well as in our communities has never been greater.

So HMI has made a commitment to support the growth of women’s leadership in the agricultural industry. Whether you are a female farmer/rancher, land owner, or government agency/NGO personnel and you want to increase your knowledge about a holistic approach to regenerative agriculture, we have resources to help you develop your leadership and management skills.

If you want to improve your leadership skills, we encourage you to learn more about how HMI has worked with hundreds of women farmers, ranchers, and agricultural educators to help diversify the regenerative agriculture community. If you need assistance to participate in one of HMI’s programs below, we encourage you to apply for a Women’s Agricultural Leadership Scholarship to attend one of our training programs:

• Getting Started Online Learning Series
• Individualized Distance Learning
• Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning
• Whole Farm/Ranch Land Management
• Beginning Farmers & Ranchers

HMI has 20 female Certified Educators trained to work with female agricultural producers and educators, to facilitate Holistic Management and help grow the new diversified workforce for 21^st century agriculture.

How Your Donation Can Help

Please help us fund the Terry Gompert Scholarship so we can continue to help farmers and ranchers, while also ensuring that Terry’s passion for education and sustainable agriculture will live on.