What actually is Holistic Management? The thought crosses my mind while sitting in the field and harvesting vegetables. As I still get asked this question, and keep refining and adding different aspects to the answer, here is a current take on it.

Holistic Management is in its origin a land management approach that aims to balance economic, social, and environmental goals in order to create a sustainable and resilient land use system. 

How does this look like in practice?

By using holistic decision-making, producers and farm teams can make better decisions together. Coming from what you truly want to see happening within your lives and beyond, context checks help to get hierarchy and endless discussions out of the way and the focus back on moving forward as a whole. 

By using planned grazing, you define your grazing strategy to move livestock in a way that improves soil and animal health while increasing forage growth integrating them into other cropping practices.

With financial planning, you evaluate the economic viability of different land use options and make decisions that balance economic, social, and environmental goals. Putting your energy, money and time there where you will get the biggest leverage on your way forward towards your Holistic Context.

It is a field approach to working with complexity and takes into account the specific characteristics – the context – of each farm, land, and community. And all the other helpful frameworks that are out there.

Can this be used also in non-agricultural enterprises? Of course! Context, decision-making and financial planning are aspects of an approach for anyone.

Is it the only good framework out there? Of course not. There are many good approaches out there, some more helpful than others. 

The question with all of them is, do I have the dedication to actually put in the practice of doing it?
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