Create the Farm or Ranch of Your Dreams with our Getting Started Online Learning Series
Why online learning from HMI?
HMI has been helping farmers, ranchers and land stewards develop and manage sustainable, profitable enterprises for thirty years. We accomplish 
this by teaching Holistic Management Whole Farm /Ranch Planning, which addresses the environmental, economic, and social issues farmers and ranchers face today.
Whether you are a beginning farmer or a rancher with years of conventional agricultural experience, you’ll benefit from this series. Holistic Management is an effective, adaptive system built upon a value-based decision making process that has proven to be effective regardless of production focus or geography. Graziers with thousands of acres, as well as vegetable farmers with less than an acre, have all reaped the benefits of practicing Holistic Management. You can too.
“I am so glad to have done this course. My wife and I are planning to go farming very soon and it has helped us articulate and consider our resources and ideas in a really clear and structured way. We also really like how the processes encourage creativity, and respect for our ecosystem and our community.” – Neil Johnson, Great Britain
Now you can learn Holistic Management from anywhere in the world. Our innovative Getting Started Online Series will teach you the skills you need to build the farm or ranch of your dreams. The series consists of five individual courses.
If you’re interested in a more comprehensive learning experience, you might consider our Individualized Distance Learning program. It offers more intensive personalized experience.
How Online Education Works
You’ll learn from the most qualified instructors in Holistic Management without having to drive for hours to take a workshop. Our course takes place over the span of several weeks, allowing you to apply what you’ve learned and receive feedback and support from your instructor and fellow students.
“This course answered my questions perfectly and I’m confident that I now have the knowledge to start a sustainable cow/calf operation on my small acreage.”- John Mayer, USA
Each course in the series is seven weeks. You should plan on about 2 – 4 hours each week participating in the webinars and completing the assignments. While the webinars are scheduled at a particular time, you’ll be able to complete the assignments at any time during the week. Don’t worry if you miss a webinar, we’ll be recording them and you can view it before the next scheduled webinar. Assignments may include watching videos, reading, and written exercises.
Ease of communication between your instructors and the rest of your class will give you a sense of camaraderie. You are encouraged to contribute to class discussions (either on the webinar or online forum). You can build relationships with other students from across the country, and maybe even the world.
With real-time audio, video and whiteboard capabilities our learning environment allows you to stay connected for a more engaging learning experience. You’ll also receive a FREE one-year introductory electronic subscription to IN PRACTICE and a certificate upon completion of the course.
Technology /Language Requirements
- Computer (PC or Mac are fine)
- Reliable high-speed internet access
- Internet browser (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari will do)
- Microsoft Word and Excel
- Telephone (cell or land line) OR Microphone
- E-mail address
- All classes are taught in English
Financial Assistance
HMI is pleased to announce that our Holistic Grazing Planning and Holistic Financial Planning courses, as well as a number of our other courses qualify for FSA Borrower Training Credit. Find out More.
All our Getting Started courses are eligible for the HMI Terry Gompert Memorial Scholarship. Find Out More.
If you are a qualified beginning farmer/rancher and a Nebraska resident, you may receive a one-time Nebraska state income tax credit (up to $500) for completing Getting Started Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning AND Getting Stared Holistic Financial Planning See the Next Gen website for details and an application.
Our Five Getting Started Courses
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Introduction to Holistic Management® Whole Farm/Ranch Planning
This course focuses on key Holistic Management planning concepts and principles to help you manage your farm/ranch for the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial sustainability) and more effectively manage resources. Learn how to improve your ability to observe, understand, and make decisions, based on what you can control. Through these new skills you can improve your ability to work with nature and to increase your productivity
Fee: $199, Register Now
Scholarship Deadline: February 29, 2016
Registration Deadline: March 7, 2016
Instructor: Holistic Management Certified Educator, Larry Dyer
**Hurry and register for March! The January 2016 class sold out.
| Topics | Outcomes | Webinars |
|---|---|---|
| Eight principles and practices for effective resource management | You’ll develop a whole farm (Holistic) Goal which clearly articulates the vision for your farm/ranch, the organizational structure, and the resources available. | March 9, 2016 |
| Goal Setting for effective decision-making, planning, and management | Incorporate a triple bottom line analysis filter to help you make decisions more effectively (particularly in a group setting or where there are conflicts around key issues) | March 16, 2016 |
| Management Inventory | March 23, 2016 | |
| Four ecosystem processes & how to work with them | March 30, 2016 | |
| Seven testing questions for prioritizing actions | April 6, 2016 | |
| Tool basics & their influence on ecosystem processes | April 13, 2016 | |
| 10:00 - 11:00 am mountain time |
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Holistic Grazing Planning
This course provides key grazing planning principles and practices. This simple approach to grazing planning will help you hone in on critical grazing considerations, determine forage inventory, animal needs, and grazing and recovery periods before putting all these calculations into a written grazing plan.
Fee: $199, Register Now
Scholarship Deadline: March 4, 2016
Registration Deadline: March 11, 2016
Instructor: Holistic Management Certified Educator, Ralph Tate
| Topics | Outcomes | Webinars |
|---|---|---|
| Key management considerations | You’ll develop a grazing plan which will consist of a grazing map and grazing chart that identifies key management issues, estimated forage production, actual forage utilization, and livestock moves to maximize forage production and animal performance | March 14, 2016 |
| Identification & mapping of grazing areas | March 21, 2016 | |
| Regenerative grazing principles | March 28, 2016 | |
| Animal carrying capacity and herd makeup | April 4, 2016 | |
| Plant recovery periods and grazing periods | April 11, 2016 | |
| Written planning to maximize productivity and profitability | April 18, 2016 | |
| Implementing and monitoring a grazing plan | 5:00 - 6:00 pm mountain time | |
| Feed needs for grazing and non-grazing periods | ||
| Grazing plans that work with Nature | ||
| Basics of using animal behavior with grazing |
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Holistic Financial Planning
This course provides key financial principles that help you learn how to work on your business, not just in your business. This simple approach to financial planning will help you understand the big picture view as well as make critical production decisions based on a clear sense of cost of production for different enterprises. You will develop a financial plan and identify ways to implement and monitor that plan. You’ll learn the key economic analysis tools for improved financial decisions for both annual budgets and for long-term investment.
Fee: $199, Register Now
Scholarship Deadline: May 9, 2016
Registration Deadline: May 17, 2016
Instructor: Holistic Management Certified Educator, Phil Metzger
| Topics | Outcomes | Webinars |
|---|---|---|
| Distinguishing between financial planning, managing, and accounting | You’ll develop a financial plan which will consist of a yearly cash/flow, determination of current net worth and projected net worth at year end, enterprise analysis for one enterprise, expense and investment allocation strategies and a determination of return on investment | May 19, 2016 |
| Benefits of a holistic approach to finances | May 26, 2016 | |
| Integrating financial decisions with your whole farm or ranch goal | June 2, 2016 | |
| Prioritizing expenses to achieve your goal | June 9, 2016 | |
| Planning for profit | June 16, 2016 | |
| Improving profitability with enterprise analysis | June 23, 2016 | |
| Analyzing net worth and tracking progress | ||
| Writing plans to maximize profitability | ||
| Creativity in planning and marketing | 1:00 - 2:00 pm mountain time |
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Holistic Land Planning
This course provides key holistic land planning design principles and practices to allow you to more effectively manage all your resources. This simple approach to land planning will help you explore key infrastructure/land improvement projects in the context of your whole farm/ranch goal to better analyze design possibilities for improved return on investment. You’ll develop management consideration lists, land plan options and explore tool options and the return on investment of the different land planning options using the Holistic Management decision making framework and considering how such options will affect land productivity.
Fee: $199, Register Now
Scholarship Deadline: March 8, 2016
Registration Deadline: March 8, 2016
Instructor: Holistic Management Certified Educator, Phil Metzger
| Topics | Outcomes | Webinars |
|---|---|---|
| Mapping a future landscape description | Your land planning documents will consist of a land planning map that denotes current key infrastructure, as well as overlays of potential infrastructure/land development to invest in, a completed Key Land Planning Issues Worksheet to help you prioritize options, and a determination of return on investment for one land planning investment option. You’ll hear about a variety of examples and stories of how this process has helped countless farmers and ranchers to create profit through careful investment in their businesses. You’ll also get questions answered about potential land planning investments you are considering. | March 10, 2016 |
| Defining key natural resource, production and social issues | March 17, 2016 | |
| Designing for resilience and flexibility | March 24, 2016 | |
| Increasing creativity in the design process | March 31, 2016 | |
| Effective producer resource base use in land planning | April 7, 2016 | |
| Holistic and permaculture design principles | April 14, 2016 | |
| Strategizing land planning implementation | 1:00 - 2:00 pm mountain time | |
| Land plan monitoring to overcome roadblocks and achieve the desired results | ||
| Financing your land plan | ||
| Integrating a whole farm goal and land plan with other farm plans | ||
| Preparing maps and overlays |
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Our Instructors
Our instructors are knowledgeable, accessible, and approachable. Our lead instructors are Holistic Management
Certified Educators. Many of them farm or ranch themselves, and all have a proven track record teaching practical skills you can really use. Holistic Management Certified Educators go through a rigorous training program and are dedicated to maintaining the highest professional standards. You can rest assured knowing your teacher will be there for you.
Ann Adams, HMI Certified Educator & Director of Programs, HMI
A Holistic Management Certified Educator since 1998, Ann was instrumental in designing and implementing the USDA funded Beginning Women Farmers & Ranchers Program, our Open Gate On-Farm program and our Ag Educators Professional Development Program. Ann regularly teaches both onsite and distance learning classes and offers consulting in Holistic Management for family farms and ranchers with a particular focus on goal setting facilitation and financial planning. Ann has also written countless articles on Holistic Management, and has helped to develop agriculture-based software for financial planning and grazing planning for farmers and ranchers. Ann is the author of “At Home with Holistic Management” and is the Managing Editor of HMI’s “In PRACTICE” journal.
Larry Dyer, HMI Certified Educator
Larry is interested in Organic Agriculture, four-season farming, hoop house (passive solar greenhouse) management, ecological pest management, whole farm planning, local community-based food systems
Ralph Tate, HMI Certified Educator
R
alph became a Certified Educator in 2010 and has a passion for teaching Intro, Financial Planning, Grazing Planning, and Biological Monitoring. he developed a software version of the grazing plan and enjoys helping stockmen learn how to use the tool.
Calley Hastings, HMI Certified Educator
Calley grew up in rural Vermont on her family’s homestead. She spent time in college working on an environmental project in the Brazilian rainforest and later majored in Environmental Studies with a focus on Education and Sustainable Agriculture at The University of Vermont. In 2007, she started a goat dairy called Fat Toad Farm, with her family that produces farmstead goat’s milk caramel that is sold at specialty food stores nation-wide. In addition to her own farm, Calley has been involved in agricultural education for the past 10 years and now works as a farm consultant and as a Certified Educator for Holistic Management.
Phil Metzger, HMI Certified Educator
Phil Metzger is a natural resources development consultant having recently retired from a 32-year career as a resource conservationist for the USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He has extensive experience working with an array of public, private and non-profit partners in natural resources conservation and rural economic development. He instructs on various topics including: farm/personal/business/organization goal setting, customer service, resource delineation, improved decision making, financial/business/land/grazing planning, biological monitoring, and reading the land. He is a Certified Educator in Holistic Management, currently serving as an instructor for the Beginning Women Farmer program.
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Classes require a minimum of 10 and are restricted to a maximum of 25 participants. Cancellations received before or within 7 days after the course begins will receive an 80% refund. No refunds will be given otherwise. This policy is required due to financial obligations incurred by HMI in planning these courses. We appreciate your understanding.
Wondering about the results our courses achieve and the impact they make on our students? Find out.
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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.
