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HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL

Holistic Management Decision Making in

Diverse Environments

Resource Management Services LLCKirk L. Gadzia

Phone 505-263-8677 Email: [email protected]: www.rmsgadzia.com


Holistic Management

Holistic Management® is a whole farm and ranch planning system designed to:

• Help land stewards better manage agricultural resources

• Obtain sustainable economic, environmental, and social benefits


Holistic Management Practices

1. Define what you manage

2. State what you want

3. Aim for healthy soil

4. Consider all tools

5. Test your decisions

6. Monitor your results


Practice One:Define What You Manage

(your inventory)

Defining your unique management boundaries means you are better able to manage your

inventory.


CIRCLE OF CONCERN

Reactive

Adapted From: The 7 Habits ofHighly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey 1989.



Adapted From: The 7 Habits ofHighly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey 1989.


CIRCLE OF CONCERN

CIRCLE

INFLUENCE

OF

Reactive

Proactive


Practice One: Define What You Manage


Define The Asset Base Being Managed

Management Team -People:

•Decision Makers: Tamara and Kirk•Todd and Kathy GGVLLC•Children, Relatives and Extended Family•Friends, Neighbors and Community•HM Network, Quivira Network, Regenag Network,Permaculture Network, Clients, +++ •Bankers, Advisors, Mentors

Assets: •Home and Land•Rental Properties •Current and Potential Clients•Friends and Bartering Network•Client Properties and Goodwill

Financial

Assets:

•Savings, Retirement, Investments, SS?,•RMSLLC Income •Home, Land, Vehicles, etc.•Rental Properties Income - Debt on properties•Good Credit


Current Concerns and ProblemsWith The Asset Base Being Managed

•Time to visit family, friends•Travel time away from home•Health issues with family members –estate plan•Time to build connections and networks with our neighbors and local community

Asset Base:•Pasture, orchard and garden diversity and productivity•Rental property mortgage balances •Independence from the grid and town water –•Security of irrigation rights and water

Financial:•Adequate savings for “retirement” income •Health Insurance, long-term care, •Economic downturn effect on property values

People:


Holistic Management Practices

1. Define what you manage

2. State what you want


Practice Two:State What You Want

Elements of the Holistic Goal

1. Quality of Life and Values

2. Behaviors and Systems

3. Visions


State What You Want

The real power of the Holistic Management framework is found in creating and using your holistic goal

• Progress not Perfection

• Create common ground and move toward it


Mission Statement for the James Ranch

The integrity and distinction of the James Ranch is to be preserved for future generations by developing financially viable agricultural and related enterprises that sustain a profitable livelihood for the families directly involved, while improving the land and encouraging the use of all resources, natural and human, to their highest and best potential.

Practice Two: State What You Want


Holistic Goals are Unique

• Perspective: Immediate needs AND long term vision

• Holistic View – triple bottom line

- people (social)

- profit (economic)

- planet (environment)


Elements of the Holistic Goal

Start with Quality of Life (values)

What do you want in life?

Behaviors and Systems (forms of production)

What do you have to do?

Vision (a picture of your world – LONG TERM future)


Quality Of LifeWHY?

STATEMENT OF OUR VALUES

HOLISTIC GOAL / CONTEXTINTERACTING ELEMENTS CONTAINED WITHIN A


WHAT?

HOW?

HOW THE FUTURE MUST LOOK TO SUPPORT AND SUSTAIN BEHAVIORS AND SYSTEMS

WHAT IS PRODUCED

TO SUPPORT EACH VALUE

Quality Of Life

Behaviors and Systems

ECOSYSTEM SUPPORT FOUNDATION

WHY?



Visions


WHAT?

HOW?

HOW THE FUTURE MUST LOOK TO SUPPORT AND SUSTAIN BEHAVIORS AND SYSTEMS

WHAT IS PRODUCED

TO SUPPORT EACH VALUE

Quality Of Life

Behaviors and Systems

ECOSYSTEM SUPPORT FOUNDATION

WHY?



Future Vision


Holistic Management and Holistic Management International/Healthy Land/Sustainable

Future are registered trademarks of Holistic Management International. Copyright

©2012 Holistic Management International. All rights reserved.

Kirk and Tamara Holistic Goal / Context


Values: (Why)

• Healthy lifestyle

• Work that helps improve our planet and peoples lives

• Balance of work, play and responsibilities

• Security – Relationships, Financial, Personal

• Time for family, friends, and those less fortunate

• Enjoyment of different places, cultures, and the natural world

• Honesty and forthrightness in dealings with others

• Freedom of choice in what we can control

• Increased role in community


Behaviors and Systems (What)

• Plan for eating nutritious food and regular exercise.

• Manage stress by effective time management and imposing limits on work.

• Create a yearly financial plan that is monitored and controlled.

• Do good work and enjoy it. Every client is important.

• Test potential work, activities and expenditures towards the values we want.

• Strive for increasing self-sufficiency in our life style and home based living.

• Celebrate our accomplishments and progress.


Future Vision(How to sustain behaviors and strategies)

• Lifelong learning in matters of health, work, relationships, and finances.

• The basis of future work is satisfied customers.

• Our work increases the health and productivity of the land.

• Create a plan to meet our goals, and review it often.

• Save and share (time & money) with others.

• Invest wisely and monitor investments closely.

• Minimize “inescapable” expenses

• Seek the advice of others with experience and wisdom.


Practice Three:Aim for Healthy Soil

The Four Ecosystem Processes

Water Cycle

Mineral Cycle

Community Dynamics

Energy Flow


A Paradigm: University of Wyoming, Engineering Building

Most Ranchers and Farmers Fight Nature

Nature Always Wins

For Long Term Success, Understand, Work With, and Mimic Natural Systems

Ecological Rules Will Not Change

Water Cycle

Mineral Cycle

Community Dynamics

Energy Flow


Sustainable Agriculture, A Definition:

“A sustainable agriculture doesnot deplete soils or people.”

Wendell Berry


Water Cycle

Effective Water Cycle Requires:

• Soil covered with plants or litter

• Soil surface permeable to water

• Soil well aerated with high organic matter content

• Runoff and evaporation losses are minimal


Mineral Cycle

Effective Mineral Cycle Requires:

• Soil covered with plants or litter

• Biological breakdown of old material

•Diversity of soil organisms and roots

• Minimal erosion by wind or water


Community Dynamics or Succession

Sustainable Communities Are Characterized By :

• Many species of plants and living organisms

• Complex interactions between organisms in the community

• Stable soils and low frequency of drought, flood, or outbreaks

• Diversity of annual, perennial, herbaceous, and woody plants.


Energy FlowHigh Energy Flow to Create New Wealth is Characterized By :

• Wide leaf area of plants and diversity of species

• Deep root systems of varying types

• High plant density and high % soil cover

• Diversity of soil, plant and animal communities –cool and warm season, annuals and perrennials


Tools for Managing the Ecosystem

Grazing & Animal Impact


Livestock Can Improve Land Health

Grazing“Nature Never Tries to Farm Without Animals” Sir Albert Howard 1943 An Agricultural Testament


Major Advances in Understanding Grazing Management


Grazing Can Have a Positive or Negative Effect on Land Health. This Depends on the Timing, Intensity and Frequency of the

Grazing.


Increased Need to Control Livestock Placement, Timing,

Density and Duration


The Predator/Prey Behavior Connection


Time Not Numbers

Overgrazing of plants and damage from trampling has less to do with the number of animals on the

land, and more to do with amount of time the plants and soils are exposed to animals.


Time Is More Important Than Numbers


Control overgrazing by controlling time.

1 Cow for 100 days

=100 Cows for 1 day


Grazing in Natures’ Image• Control overgrazing by controlling time.

1 Cow for 100 days

=100 Cows for 1 day


Practice Five:Testing Your Decisions

Holistic Management Decision Testing Matrix

Proposed

Action:

Pass Fail Doesn’t

Apply

Don’t

KnowNotes / Red Flags

Root Cause

Weak Link – Social

Weak Link –

Biological

Weak Link – Financial

Comparing Options

Gross Profit Analysis

Input Analysis

Vision Analysis

Decision:


1. Root Cause

Does this action

address the root cause

of the problem?

Forces you to identify the underlying issue

Avoids addressing only symptoms.


2. Weak Link

Three types

• Social

• Biological

• Financial


Social Weak Link

Are there any socialconcerns regarding this action?

Avoids misunderstandings

or personal obstacles


Biological Weak Link

Does this action address the weakest point in the life cycle of this organism?

By identifying an organism’s point of greatest vulnerability, you are better able to address it.


Financial Weak Link

In my enterprise, what single thing will have the greatest impact on my ability to generate income?

By investing funds to give the greatest return, maximize ROI


3. Comparing OptionsHolistic Goal

Where is the biggest bang for your buck?


4. Gross Profit Analysis

Which enterprise(s) contribute the most to overhead costs?


5. Input Analysis


6. Vision Analysis

Are you headed toward or away from your future vision in your holistic

goal?


7. Gut Check

Does the decision feelright?


8. Suggested Justification Test

Can I honestly say I looked at these tests objectively?


Decision Testing example

• Should Kirk and Tamara buy grassfed beef from their client or raise it themselves on their pasture?

• Problem: Time to manage livestock is limited, and they love the product they have been buying for over 10 years.

• They also barter grazing on their pasture to friends who bring in at least 4 X the number of animals for a much shorter period of time = high impact / low frequency. This would have to stop.


Holistic Management Decision Testing Matrix

Proposed Action: Pass Fail Doesn’t

Apply

Don’t

Know

Notes / Red Flags

Root Cause

Weak Link – Social

Weak Link – Biological

Weak Link – Financial

Comparing Options


Input Analysis

Vision Analysis

Decision:

DECISION TESTING MATRIX Possible Tool or Action


Weak Link

3- Social2- Biological1- Financial

Vision AnalysisLand Health

Root Cause

Input Analysis

Comparing Options

Testing Guidelines

Justification

Buy and Raise Calves for Food on Our Pasture

Provide Grazing for Neighbors Cows, Buy

Grassfed Beef

Pass - makes money

cyclical, non addictive

Pass - tax savings, cyclical,

relationships, non addictive

Fail: no real $ income

Fail: rest is main tool, little impact on

pasture health

Pass: manage grazing and impact,

pasture health

Fail: maintains isolation, and

increases time commitmentPass: builds relationships and

manages time

Fail: not leading to social aspects of

our goal

Pass: leading to social aspects of our

goal

Pass: not MY initial choicePass: we thought it would go

2 Fail: low animal impact

3 Fail: Lose on relationships

2 Pass: high animal impact

3 Pass: Gain on relationships

Fail: high labor ad time Pass: choice of labor/ time

1 N/A Not weak link 1 N/A Not weak link

Pass: makes / saves money if

costs controlled

Social Health


We Love Our Ranney Ranch Grassfed Beef!!


We and Our Neighbors Love Having the Scottish Highlanders Improve Our Pasture!!


Our Pasture Diversity gets better every year –over 125 species recorded to date!!


The Bees Approve of the Pasture Diversity!!


Garden Harvest and Making Salsa!!Note: Pasture Between Garden Beds –Grazed in Video –Clover Dominate


Monitoring Your Decision

Lets you quickly know if your plan goes off

track.


Holistic Management Framework

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