Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
How’s Your Erosion Score? BY ANN ADAMS
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here was a recent article (https://bit.ly/2Iy15tY) by Tom Buman at On Pasture that honed in a one question in the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll: “Compared to other farm operations in your area, how well do you think your farm operation is performing in controlling soil erosion?” The response was: 17% rated themselves far above average and 52%, rated themselves above average. Of course, 69% of farmers can’t be above average. The inflated self-rating is typical of what is called “illusory superiority,” which is the bias that makes you think you are above average whether it is your looks or the way in which you drive your car. In this article, Mr. Buman notes the need for conservation planning to help farmers actually stop losing top soil. Given that we are losing top soil at 10 times the replenishment rate, clearly most farmers are not addressing soil erosion effectively. If we are losing top soil at the rate of 1% a year, many people would think that’s not bad. But if .1% is the rate of erosion that can be replenished by soil building practices, then the current erosion rate is really bad (10 times the rate of what would be theoretically sustainable). And what about the exceptional farmers who are actually building top soil and increasing their organic matter? What percent of farmers are in that category? How can we make building top soil an average rather than a far above average outcome? The questions (with potential scoring system depending on soil type) the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll people could have asked to help farmers really determine how well they are performing in the context of soil health and erosion are: 1. Have you increased the organic matter in your soils? (Yes=5, No=0, Don’t Know=-5) 2. What is your average percent of organic
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matter? (Points: 1%=1, 2%–3%= 5, 4% or higher = 10, Don’t Know = -5) 3. When you get a one-inch rain, how quickly does the water soak into the soil? (One hour or more= 1, 1/2 hour =5, 5 minutes or less=10, Don’t Know = -5) 4. How many months out of the year do you have a live root in the soil? (2-3 months =1, 5–6 months=5, 10–12 months = 10, Don’t Know = -5) 5. What percentage of your ground is covered with plant matter in the growing season? (0–30% =1, 31–60% = 5, 61–100%=10, Don’t Know = -5) 6. What percentage of your ground is covered with plant matter in the non-growing season? ( 0–30% =1, 31–60% = 5, 61–100%=10, Don’t Know = -5) 7. How many plant species do you typically have on your farm or ranch? (1–5=1, 6–15=5, 16+ = 10, Don’t Know = -5) Scoring 0=F 1–10=D 10–54=C 55–62=B 63–65=A Based on a Bell Curve, 84% of farmers/ ranchers would score in the average range or better, with 68% falling in the average (C) range. So the question is what does the
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REGENERATE
2018
Oct 31 - Nov 2, 2018
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average score (soil health indicators) need to be to have an agricultural system in which average performance yields a score that translates to monitoring criteria that shows that top soil is only being lost at the rate of replenishment. If we had government subsidy or conservation programs that paid based on this type of scoring, I suspect we would see a lot of changes in management practices that would improve soil health.
Value-Added Enterprises INSIDE THIS ISSUE Alternative and value-added enterprises can make a difference on farms and ranches who are looking to bring the next generation into the operation or address changing markets or development pressures. Learn more about Ferme Brylee Farm in Quebec (page 6) and how they added a dining and event enterprise or Cow Chip Ranch in North Dakota (page 11) who also renovated their old barn as an event center.
Inglewood Farm— Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.
In Practice a publication of Hollistic Management International
HMI educates people in regenerative agriculture for healthy land and thriving communities. STAFF Ann Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . Executive Director Kathy Harris. . . . . . . . . . . Program Director Mary Girsch-Bock. . . . . . Development Manager Carrie Stearns . . . . . . . . . Communications & Outreach Manager Valerie Grubbs. . . . . . . . . Accounting Manager Julie Fierro. . . . . . . . . . . . Education Manager Stephanie Von Ancken . . Program Manager Kimberly Barnett. . . . . . . Administrative Assistant
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Daniel Nuckols, Chair Walter Lynn, Vice-Chair Kelly Sidoryk, Past Board Chair Gerardo Bezanilla Avery Anderson-Sponholtz Kirrily Blomfield Kevin Boyer Jonathan Cobb Guy Glosson Wayne Knight Robert Potts Jim Shelton Sarah Williford
HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT In Practice (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by: Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2018 Holistic Management® is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International
Bringing Organic Vegetable Production to Louisiana BY ANN ADAMS
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his was the place that we considered our family home,” said Elisabeth Keller, President of Inglewood Farm. Inglewood Farm is a 3,500-acre farm (1,800 of which is in cultivation) in Alexandria, Louisiana in central Louisiana. Elisabeth’s father bought it from his father-in-law in the 1940s. “My parents had moved off the farm by the time I was born,” says Elisabeth. “We lived in Arkansas and came here every few months and spent vacations here. My father was very involved with the business of the farm. I loved coming to the farm as a child and this was where I learned to milk cows, herd cattle, and ride horses. It was a very positive childhood experience for me and my five older siblings. We all enjoyed the farm and it was definitely a place of shared family experience. I now live on Inglewood as do two older family members and their husbands. Our parents lived here in retirement and died on the farm.” It was that sense of place and passion to bring sustainable agriculture to Louisiana that has driven Elisabeth and her family to turn a conventional farm in Louisiana to a collaborative regenerative farming effort with others in the local farming community as they develop multiple direct marketing ventures.
soybeans in rotations. “But, my personal interest for many years was how to farm sustainably and organically,” says Elisabeth. “In 2012 our family made a commitment to do just that and find more support and information about how to make that transition here in Louisiana. In 2012 we began the transition to organic certification and developing a vegetable business and phasing out farm leases with the local farmers who were farming conventionally. “Then in 2016 I was invited to the “Lead with Land Conference” put on by the Globetrotter Foundation. I didn’t know what to expect when I went to that gathering and that’s where I met Sallie Calhoun, the owner of Paicines Ranch and the philanthropist behind Globetrotter. I also met Kelly Mulville, the Paicines Ranch Manager. I had heard about Holistic Management and was vaguely familiar with Allan Savory. At “Lead with Land” we had conversation specifically and presentations about Holistic Management. I realized that the concepts clicked with me. It’s how I understand life and the world and it made sense—how to support natural processes with plants and animals. “I believe everything we do we have to have
Transitioning to Holistic Management
Inglewood Farm was a typical conventionally-managed farm through the 1990s, growing cotton like other farmers and, more recently, corn and
The next generation of the Keller family comes together to help with harvesting vegetables during a freeze as the mission for Inglewood Farm as an organic farm remains strong.
FEATURE STORIES
LAND & LIVESTOCK
NEWS & NETWORK
Inglewood Farm— Bringing Organic Vegetable Production to Louisiana
Cow Chip Ranch— Growing Healthy Food
Program Round Up.................................................. 18
Ferme Brylee— Transitioning a Small Diversified Farm in Quebec
Designing Regenerative Vegetable Production
ANN ADAMS................................................................................. 2
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS......................................................... 6
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS....................................................... 11 GRAEME HAND .........................................................................14
East Brook Farm— No-Till Vegetable Farming to Improve Ecosystem Processes
ELIZABETH MARKS...................................................................16
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Board Chair............................................................. 19 Grapevine................................................................ 19 Certified Educators.................................................. 20 Market Place............................................................ 21 Development Corner............................................... 24
integrity whether in our families or our farms. I don’t believe we should compartmentalize. Holistic Management brings it all together. I found this understanding just made sense to me, and it would really help us with our family business. I was really drawn to the financial planning piece as we had already put some planning in place as we were transitioning our farm business. Holistic Financial Planning took us to the next level for planning for profit and looking at the larger whole and setting a holistic goal.
growing and our strengths and weaknesses. Kathy led us through those conversations and we got information from people who don’t normally speak up and that was really positive. It helped us with the setting of the holistic goal and all the brainstorming we did that day. Kathy also helped us address some of the challenges that emerged as some team members had trouble dealing with changes in farming practices.” Elisabeth also felt the goalsetting was creative and everyone at the meeting was involved. “When we got to the second day and began discussing enterprises and what we were doing, it was overwhelming because we had so many enterprise and we started to get off on tangents. One of the take aways from Holistic Management is you can see you are trying to manage too much. Then you can look at what you can do well and what enterprises can succeed and what you need to trim.”
Using the Holistic Financial Planning process, Inglewood Farm management decided that transitioning the organic grain operation to other local organic farmers best served them and their community. “When I got back from “Lead with Land” I got the book, Holistic Management, and read it cover to cover. I spoke to my two fellow managers Lee Weeks and Jonathan Gilliland and shared my observations about Holistic Management at Paicines and why we should also try it at Inglewood and they were open to the idea. Then we had a conference call with HMI to see how they might help us, and after that we decided to move ahead.” The consulting lead for HMI was Program Director Kathy Harris. She spent several days working with the management and farm team for Inglewood as they developed their holistic goal and learned the key principles and practices of Holistic Management including the process of testing decisions toward the farm’s new holistic goal. Inglewood’s Operating Manager Lee Weeks noted, “That first meeting provided a really strong beginning as it brought our team together and helped us discuss key issues. Previously, when we sat around the table as a board we didn’t include the key players because we didn’t feel that was right at the time. “The first time everybody was there at the HMI meeting, key players, including 10–12 family members, talking about everything, we had the opportunity to talk about how we are
Enterprise Analysis & Partnerships
have identified certain protocols for them to follow and they got the breeding animals from us so we have the Berkshire genetics we want.” Inglewood also got out of the direct production of eggs and have turned that enterprise around so it is now profitable. “We found a farmer who raises layers and is more productive and has the right scale,” say Elisabeth. “We are better at marketing and we can buy from him in a way that supports his operation but allows us to make a little profit. In 2015 our egg operation was running at an $8,000 loss and we were having trouble with predators. Now we have a reasonable profit from that enterprise to help us cover our overhead.” These types of partnerships with other farmers are creating a win-win for everyone involved. These farmers need a certain level of scale to be profitable and Inglewood Farms has resources (land, marketing staff, etc.) that allows them to pay premiums for quality farm products at different points in the value chain of numerous enterprises. “We made the investment to organic certification for our grain cropland,” says Elisabeth. “Our investment in that transition made it possible for our new lessees to farm grains organically and profitably.
In that meeting, the Inglewood management team didn’t make any decisions, but they began to look at their enterprises and financial investments in a new light. As Lee Weeks noted, “It made us look hard into economics and how relevant each enterprise was to our mission. We looked at whether we had the right labor on hand. We continued these conversations through 2017, which we had identified as a pivotal year for the farm. “Grains were the biggest part Inglewood runs Red Angus cows which they grass-finish of the farm and we had to decide through planned grazing and planting forage crops. what we were going to do with that enterprise. We finally decided that we were no longer going to actively manage the We had thought we would farm it ourselves grain business on the 1,000 acres we had been but it wasn’t working. Through the discipline using for that purpose. That’s definitely been the of Holistic Management we realized we had biggest decision. We decided to lease the grain overcapitalized with grain equipment and with acreage to two local farmers who are farming the amount of acreage we had we couldn’t scale organic corn and soybeans already. They are to make a profit. So we are selling off the grain good experienced farmers, interested in good equipment and winding down debt that we took soil management practices and they are taking on and leasing our organic land to farmers who on the risk of growing organic grain, not us. have other acreage and are at the right scale. “We’ve changed other enterprises by working “The lease we have with them requires that with other farms to help us produce and process they incorporate cover crops and that they products. For example, we were farrowing all maintain organic matter. We have tested the soil our hogs and we decided to partner by buying and they have to maintain organic matter and feeder pigs from one farmer we know well. We continue the organic certification and provide
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Inglewood Farm
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soil tests and plans to us. They are becoming interested with parts of Holistic Management and how they can increase soil fertility. When Kathy came to work with us, she had pushed the envelope regarding our tillage practices and how that fit into our holistic goal. We were pushing back and our farm manager questioned whether reducing tillage would work in Louisiana. Our new farmers also have those same questions, but they are educating themselves about soil health and they want to learn more about how no-till can work on this land. “What we are finding with these farmers is that more than the wording of the lease, it is the relationship we develop with them. We have conversations weekly with them sharing information and really talking about what this type of management means for the long term benefits for them and the health of the land. You can’t do this kind of collaboration with any tenant. “We are very grateful that they approached us. They live in the area and their father had been manager of Inglewood in 1990s so they had worked on the farm as kids. They had been watching what we were doing and they needed more land. As they observed us, they realized they were coming up against a wall regarding scale. They put a pencil to the economics and the numbers worked out if they farmed our land organically. They also understand soil health. You can’t just make someone care about that. They also offered us a lease rate that was competitive so we are very excited to partner with them. “Grains had been modeled to be the cash engine for Inglewood. But, after three years it wasn’t working out. The Holistic Financial Planning put even more of a magnifying glass on the grains and showed us we weren’t going to get there. It was tough to recognize it, but as
we came to terms with that reality the farmers came to us and the partnership fell into place.” Pecans are another enterprise for Inglewood which has not been doing well with poor pecan yields. “We’ve been discussing the issue with a local guy who has a background in pecans and has already done harvesting for us,” says Elisabeth. “According to Holistic Financial Planning, we should be cutting our losses with pecans because we can’t justify the cost of inputs we are using. We need to explore how can we increase soil health and make this enterprise more profitable. We are also looking at leasing the orchard but so far our partner is not willing to pay a cash lease so we looking at taking part of the crop Soil scientists from Louisiana State University partner with as trade for lease. Again Holistic Inglewood Farm to measure Management comes into play with soil health. this decision. If we do that kind of a lease it works for us on the market it. One change we haven’t done but still books and we are only collecting some revenue want to make for that enterprise is to have less or value. This arrangement is totally eliminating tillage practices and look at incorporating more our costs.” perennials. We do incorporate crop rotations and cover crops.” Staying Focused “The take away from Holistic Management One enterprise that Inglewood has kept was we were so focused on grain and within their management control amongst all investment in the grains so we weren’t doing these changes is their Community Supported well with our other enterprises,” says Elisabeth. Agriculture (CSA) vegetable program. “We’ve “Our vegetable part of business had a lot stayed on track with our vegetable model just of potential. As a standalone enterprise it is as we had decided to do in 2015,” says Lee. profitable. Now we can give more attention to “Holistic Management helped us to do a better the success of that operation, especially since job of allocating dollars where they needed to be it requires the most labor and management. It for the different enterprises. Previously we had would have been nice if the grains would have a big pot and used equipment across different worked because they were easier (less labor enterprises. We got clearer who was using what and marketing). The CSA is the most work, but equipment and the labor involved. Our CSA if we can get it right it is our sweet spot and we business model remains the same and how we are the only organic vegetable producer of any
The vegetable CSA and Inglewood Barn Market remain as a key connection between Inglewood Farm’s mission and their community as they provide local organic vegetables to this rural part of Louisiana as well as Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 4 IN PRACTICE
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significant size in our area. We are providing a product no one else is, and people love it. There is untapped potential for this enterprise if we can get the product to market efficiently and build our customer base.” The greatest challenge for them is their key markets are New Orleans which is 190 miles and Baton Rouge at 120 miles. The CSA program includes a 12-week share that costs $308. There is an additional option to tailor your box as well. The boxes are available for pick up in Lafayette, Alexandria, Lake Charles, or New Orleans. When Inglewood first began working with HMI in 2016 they were running at a significant loss. By 2017 they had cut that loss by 21%. The goal in 2018 is to break even by increasing profitability by 100% since their change in financial planning in 2016. Because of the refinancing they’ve done, Inglewood has significantly reduced their debt, but the winter was challenging with a tremendous amount of rain and freezing weather. Their leases have sustained them as they work to break even by the end of the year. Because they have worked hard to restructure their operation, Inglewood is in better shape than they would have been had
they not refinanced and decreased their debt by 50% in the last two years. They have faced major weather challenges with freezes and a tremendous amount of rain which has affected vegetable production and farmer’s market attendance. Luckily, they have reduced their risk with the changes they’ve made and the leases have helped them through this tough time. There is no doubt that Inglewood Farm has changed dramatically over the last two years. The organization is leaner, focusing on what they do best and creating partnerships with other farmers in the area who see the opportunity for such arrangements. In turn, the leases help Inglewood to be more stable as they work through this radical transition. “The family’s morale is very high and positive,” says Elisabeth. “They are aware of the long-term trajectory for the farm and they know this transition to a profitable, more focused farm is not easy. But, the mandate from the family is to make the farm work and we all know that will mean difficult decisions. I give the family a reality check every time we meet. I live here and talk with Lee daily and two of my nephews are involved. We did institute Holistic Management as a pathway to getting us there, and they want us to stick to that. We are including the
decision making and monitoring throughout the business.” “Part of our holistic goal is to inspire other farmers to farm with sustainable practice. That was the long-term aspirational part of the goal, but we reached that part much sooner than we ever expected. We now are working with three farmers in the area because we looked at what was best of us to focus on and began looking at options. “In addition, we have the NRCS and Louisiana State University (LSU) measuring organic matter and monitoring the various farmers’ management practices on our farm so that brings another element of collaboration to the farm. The technical assistance they provide is also a step forward as we didn’t have that before. We are glad we caught the attention of LSU because education is part of our holistic goal but we’ve been very focused on that part.” Inglewood Farms mission focuses on providing their community with high-quality, sustainably raised products. As their business continues to evolve, they will have more opportunity to influence the type of agriculture happening in Louisiana as well as provide the quality food they want for their families and their community—one decision at a time.
Lead with the Land Lead with the Land is a convening designed to expand the network of people of considerable means working to preserve and effectively steward farmland and ranchland, and to regenerate the soil to optimal health. They recognize healthy soil as a way toward healthy food, families, communities, economies, and a healthy planet. The focus of this gathering is to enable breakthroughs in how this network of landowners works with and reimagines the regenerative power of their land. The convening is designed for people who have several of these characteristics: • Own ranchland/farmland/timberland or intend to own land. • Have interest in affecting the whole ecosystem whether they have 100 acres or 100,000 acres. • Have a worldview that recognizes that how you tend the land can act as a leverage point for significant social and environmental change. • Have enough discretionary capital that they are not dependent on the land’s activities for livelihood and can innovate without risk of “losing the farm”. • Are interested in the regeneration of soil. • Have or want to have a vision for supporting their local food system. • Interested in equity, access and longevity for farmers working on their land. Some working assumptions for this collaborative project are: • There is a need to create a culture that allows us to foster and operate out of a different land paradigm, from exploitive and strictly marketbased to restorative and stewardship-based. • We need a range of strategies and models to create change, including land management practices, legal structures, contracts, policy, public support, and investment behavior. • The best way to accomplish our vision and missions of change is in community, and in active relationship with actual landscapes. • We need to cultivate a different investment mentality and practice with regard to land and food. • We need to activate what is not being used, what is lying fallow as unseen potential. • We want to pay attention to both protecting land from development pressures and tending to availability/access for new farmers. • We think that we have something to offer that others are not offering, given the combination of convening expertise, comprehensive view of the food/ farming/soil health landscape and accompanying resource base of innovative practitioners.
To learn more about “Lead with Land,” visit http://globetrotterfoundation.org/leadwithland/.
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Ferme Brylee—
Transitioning a Small Diversified Farm in Quebec BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
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rian Maloney and his partner, Lise, raise grass-fed beef, “meadow” veal (the calves spending all summer with their mothers on pasture), and lamb on their farm near Thurso, Quebec. Their farm is called Ferme Brylee, and has been in Brian’s family for several generations. Brian has been farming here for more than 40 years, and started with a dairy. “I am not a machine guy, so early on I decided I didn’t want to drive a tractor. Buying and repairing machinery was not my thing. With our dairy I was learning about grass management, so after we got our small herd built up a little more we made it into a seasonal grass dairy. This idea was unheard of in Quebec,” he says. “It wasn’t really a new thing; I was just doing what my grandfather did. By most people’s standards we went backward instead of forward,” says Maloney. He developed a crossbred herd of Ayrshire and Canadianne Jersey that did well on grass. “We did the grass dairy until 2002. I had Farmer’s Loan but at that time we lost our export contracts. During the years we had the grass dairy we’d been allowed to bid on contracts for our surplus milk, which enabled us to work fairly well within the quota system. After we lost the export contracts, I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t be able to go back to milking cows year round,” he says.
Making Decisions Holistically
“That was when I took my first Holistic Resource Management course, in 1996. [Certified Educator] Ed Marsolf from Arkansas was doing a three-day course in New York, so I went there for the three days. It became very clear to me that simple goals, such as my physical health, and the health of the animals
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and the soil were all very much inter-related,” says Maloney. A farm functions and depends on seasonality. “If we start in the springtime, that’s when the soil is coming alive again. In nature, that’s when the babies are being born, so that’s when we were calving,” he says. Seasonality affects people, too. “It doesn’t bother me working sunup until sundown when days are long; I have a lot of energy and we work hard all summer long. Then as fall comes and the days get shorter, my energy reserves
Darragh, Lise, and Brian Maloney go down and by winter it’s quite low. I wanted to have everything in sync—the people, the land and animals—to where everything is working together. This is why we chose not to go back to milking cows 365 days a year,” he explains. “The Farmers Loan weighed into this, so we sold the dairy. The cows went to one of my friends in New York State who was expanding his herd .We were lucky that we got rid of the dairy cows right before the mad cow problem,” says Maloney. “But seeing how easy it was to export cattle, I then bought a bunch of Ayrshire heifers, thinking that maybe I could get back into dairying or send them to my buddy in New York. I was doing well with the Ayrshire heifers and things were going nicely, and then mad cow happened and we couldn’t sell them. We kept
those heifers for a year, calved them all out, and sold them for the same price I bought them, so I lost a lot of money on that project. It was a learning lesson,” he says. He had always done a little custom grazing even when he had the dairy, so he slowly expanded that aspect of the farm. “We always had a few meat customers, so we went more into raising grass-fed beef. For the past 12 years we’ve also had a small flock of sheep. We kept everything very seasonal, and that suited us best,” he says. Everything is very small scale. “I don’t think anyone in Quebec besides us was doing custom grazing. Very few farmers are intensively managing their pastures. We have 360 acres of land that we own or rent. It’s all pasture, and all fenced, with water systems everywhere. Today we finish about 50 head of cattle, buying the calves in the spring and finishing them on grass. We direct market those, and also bring in about another 300 head to custom graze,” he says. The farm also sells about 60 lambs annually, but these are older lambs, like the old British system called hogget. Hogget refers to a young sheep between one and two years old, and the meat tends to have a darker red color than meat from a younger lamb, and a slightly richer flavor. Maloney raises Katahdin sheep which are an ideal breed for meat since they are hair sheep and don’t need to be sheared. The lambs are born in early spring, spending all summer on grass with their mothers. “Then they are weaned and fed all winter with our highest quality hay, and finished with a minimum of 60 days on grass,” he explains. The lambs are about 14 to 15 months old at that time, and harvested in sync with the grass. They are harvested in July, and this produces a
heavier lamb that finishes in the peak of summer Bed and Breakfast! That wasn’t for us,” he says. died young or some of them had left the farm.” grass. “I always call July the Christmas of the “So we used the basic guidelines of Holistic says Maloney. summer, since that’s when we harvest the Management in decision-making, checking to “We were blessed with good land, though I animals,” he says. see how something works and feels, for different had a lot of work to do because it’s heavy clay “All of our businesses are based on enterprises. She does like to cook, and we more soil and we tile-drained a lot of it. The barn my seasonality; everything we do here is readily fell into the dining part of it, since we great-grandfather and grandfather built is also seasonal—the grazing, a blessing to have, the marketing, the dining/ since it makes part of wedding enterprise. our business successful It may not be purely now. Once we decided holistic, but all of our we were going to do the goals are fairly simple dining--and marketing and based around the our product through the grazing season and meals--I had to spend optimizing what we can some money on the do here on our farm. I building. The outside of am not a purist when it the barn structure was comes to holistic because perfect, and upstairs I pick and choose the where the hay was we things that work for me,” haven’t done anything says Maloney. One of the except create the dining main things is figuring out room, but downstairs how to better utilize the we converted the cow resources at hand, and stables into our farm that’s how their tourist/ store, commercial dining/wedding business kitchen and a evolved. commercial walk-in The Maloneys spent $140,000 to renovate the old family barn to offer dining cooler,” he says. and weddings as well as having an on-farm store. Developing It took 45 days Agri-Tourism already had the old barn as a resource, and the to compete the renovation in 2013, during One of the benefits of utilizing a holistic beef and lamb to serve our guests.” lambing and right before putting the cattle out strategy is striving to be innovative and able This has turned into an interesting on grass. It was a very busy spring. “I invested to take advantage of potential options on any enterprise. “We host weddings and built a $140,000 in this old barn. Halfway through that given farm—which can often spawn multiple Perilla, which is an Argentine-style barbeque. project, perhaps from being a little overworked enterprises. “We still had the old barn my greatWe built it next to the barn, in the old pigpen or stressed about spending that much money, grandfather built and my grandfather added where my grandfather raised his pigs. The meat I realized that I would probably never see the onto, and we cleaned out/renovated the upstairs on the menu comes from our farm and is cooked return from this investment. I would never get to create a dining hall, and in 2009 started doing on the Argentine barbeque, which is a big my money back out of this, but what made me meals. We can accommodate groups from 10attraction in our region. Everything is very rustic; feel a lot better about it, and able to sleep at 100 people in our dining room,” he says. that’s what we have and what we sell, and that’s night was the fact that the generations before “We had the nice old barn that had been why people are coming to our farm. About 90% me all invested heavily in the farm so that it used by four generations, and when our farm of our menu is local products, and our own meat could be turned to the next generation. This was dissected by a new highway, we ended up raised on the grass,” he says. barn renovation was my kick at the can to at an intersection of two major highways. This “We do a lot of weddings and already have give the next generation an opportunity,” says brought people right to our door, though this 12 booked for this year. We also host many Maloney. location is not where we live. We live on another different kinds of tours. We work with one bus Lise did not come from a farm background. farm, but the old barn was nearby. Lise and I company and when they are bringing farmers When they got together she was a career nurse. were looking to add on different enterprises. We across Canada who want to stop off along the She continued in nursing for 30 years. “Here live in an old brick farm house close to the new way and see other farms, they stop here. We in Quebec we have a social medical system intersection so logically a person might think in have some interesting conversations with those so it doesn’t cost the patients anything. It’s a terms of creating a Bed and Breakfast. visitors including some farmers from Australia pretty good system, but the bureaucracy of But that didn’t suit us. We looked at one and France,” he says. it is horrible. Lise loved her job working with another and immediately rejected that idea. patients but could not deal with the bureaucracy. “First of all, we don’t even make our own Farm Identity Transition Every day that she was going to work, she was beds, so why would we want to start making “I am always proud to say that I am fourth wearing herself out, in that system. So one day, other people’s beds. Lise is not an early morning generation here on the farm and I feel privileged spur of the moment, she just told me to find her person; I can’t really talk to her much before 8 to be here. I am 59 years old and the longesta job here on the farm; she didn’t want to deal or 8:30 in the morning until she has her second living on some of our land, and the oldest. There with the nursing anymore. This was one reason cup of coffee! That’s not conducive to running a were several earlier generations but either they CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 N um ber 180
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we jumped into doing the barn renovation for the dining,” he says. It was a good fit, and has worked well for Lise. “It was a difficult transition for her, however. The bureaucracy of the medical profession was wearing her down, but she was also comfortable in the fact that if she worked 40 hours she would get paid for 40 hours. The stability of that—then returning to the farm to work—was quite an adjustment. Yes, there was salary but also the gamble, and the question of what happens if this doesn’t work? What happens if people don’t come to our dining? What happens if the price of beef goes down? She was very uncomfortable with the uncertainty, and that made transition difficult for her,” says Maloney. “I felt the same thing, too, twice in my career. First was when I gave up dairying and felt I was giving up my identity. I was a man who was a grass dairy farmer, and being a workaholic, I put too much emphasis on what I was doing and not the being part of it. She was going through the same thing, because she was no longer a nurse. That had been a huge part of her identity. That transition wasn’t easy and we had moments where it was difficult for us to manage, because it was her enterprise within the farm business, but I was still the boss, though we were partners,” he says. “We had interesting times figuring this part out. We had some human resource people help us figure it out, because it was important that we continue, and have everyone know what their roles were. In a lot of relationships, once there is confidence you can say ‘this part you are really good at and this part the other person is really good at, and I don’t worry about what’s going on over here because I know you’ve got it.’ It becomes a team effort. When you get to that point it’s easy, but sometimes it’s a challenge to get to that point,” he says. Steps along the way make an interesting journey. Sometimes it’s challenging but often the evolution is amazing, and works out very well. “With my son who works with us, we don’t have that part figured out yet, but we are working at it,” says Maloney. Brian and Lise have 5 children (age 32 to 21), but at present none of them are ready to really sign up and take over the farm. The oldest is Katelyn, son Darragh is second, then Harrison, then daughter Kim, and Krista is the youngest. “They all worked for us when they were younger. Most of them live fairly close except for Harrison who is in Mexico managing a plant that makes recreational vehicles,” 8 IN PRACTICE
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Maloney says. “My son Darragh has worked with me a lot over the past years, but it didn’t work out the way we expected. At this point our plans are unclear; it’s still a work in progress. We just had our first grandchild this past July, however (Darragh’s son), so there may be some potential for future generations; the story isn’t over,” he says. “I made the mistake in the past, thinking that in my generation if you weren’t pretty stable and had things figured out by the time you
unbelievable number of people approaching us, ready to take over my farm, thinking they could get it for nothing. We had great exposure and many people looking for a farm, but nothing came out of it directly,” says Maloney. Indirectly, however, the article stimulated some serious thinking among the younger generation. “Two of my kids suddenly said, ‘Whoa! Slow down! What’s going on here?’ My son Darragh said he didn’t want to see our farm sold; he didn’t want anyone to ‘mess up all the hard work we’ve done.’ I told him not to worry
The Maloneys direct market their beef, pastured veal, and lamb through their farm store and their dining enterprises. were 20, you probably weren’t going to make it. Today, 30 is still considered quite young. Maybe I wasn’t realizing soon enough that the generations are very different. What I’ve learned about his generation and my generation is that we probably have the biggest difference in value systems and even at best it’s a natural conflict.” Each person has to really work at making it work. “I think my son worked really hard at doing a continuation of what was being done here, without stepping into what his own role and what the farm could be like when it was his turn. I think that was a huge part of his frustration. He could never do a good job of being me. He needed to find his own fit in this. It might be that he should do just a small part of it and someone else could do more of it,” says Maloney. Early this year an article about their farm was published in a local agricultural paper. “The article was about family farming, but the author for whatever reason wrote that this old grazing farmer (practically no one does this, here—and I am looked upon as the pasture specialist of Quebec) was looking for someone to take over his farm. As a result of that article, we had an
and that the article didn’t represent our actual plans. This has given us a good opportunity to talk about this,” Maloney says. “Darragh and I had tried to work together earlier, for several years, and never could finish out the season without conflict. We learned from that, however. The farm will need to take a change of some sort, in the future, and if my children want to be a part of it we all have to learn from what didn’t work. “The way we worked together, the things we did, maybe even some of the things we are currently doing on the farm, maybe aren’t right for it now. My son is coming back to see what can be done, and our second youngest daughter Kim (who works in marketing) also said she wanted to do something on the farm. So we are handing off some of our marketing tasks to her,” says Maloney. “We could do a lot more product than we are doing currently. Custom grazing is the weakest link on our farm in terms of profit. If we could do less custom grazing and more grass finishing, the farm will be better. So we told our daughter that whatever extra she can sell would
be hers. We don’t really want to bring in people to replace us. We just want to bring in more activity, more cash, etc. with our own family members. We are not getting ahead if someone is just creating less work for Lise and myself,” he says. “It’s not a big property, just 500 acres with the rented land, and 360 acres of it in grass. Maybe we have more land than we need, if we don’t have to do the custom grazing anymore. Perhaps we need to do some different enterprises on smaller parcels, like grow some vegetables or try something else that gives us a higher return per acre. These are the questions we are all asking ourselves,” he says. “It was discouraging last summer to think that I didn’t have anyone ready to come onto the farm and continue with it. That was a dark thought, realizing that after 40 years the best I could do would be to sell it to crop farmers to put into soybeans! This was a difficult thing for me, because at the time that was the only option I could see.” Then when the article came out and there was a fluster of activity with interested people inquiring about the farm, it brought the family back together, questioning the future and what they might do. “This is part of the basis of Holistic Management, always re-questioning what you are doing. It brought our family together a little more, to look at this, and see what we can do,” says Maloney. They have hired a marketing firm to help them refocus. “Both Lise and I are doers but we just do what we like, and sometimes we don’t spend enough time on our business. We sometimes need to refocus. We have a lot of people come to the farm, but the wedding customers are not meat customers. So when we do our marketing we need to figure out who we are targeting and whether the right message is going to the right people. We can’t just use our website and Facebook to put out a message because we don’t know if we are addressing the right people,” he explains. The marketing firm is going to draw up a plan and help the family work it out. At the same time, Maloney hired a resource management person to come talk with the family to clearly identify everyone’s objectives, to see how or if these objectives can all meld together. This will be a good try at getting everyone pulling together as a team.
Creating a Legacy
There are many things going on at once at the farm. “In the dining part and the marketing part, Lise has excellent staff. It’s very easy to hire young girls to work in the kitchen and
serve the guests and help her with the meals. Yet on the other aspects of the farm, it seems impossible to get farm workers,” he says. Last summer he had an intern from France for three months, but that was all he had for farm help. “The work is not overwhelming, but when you have to stop and move cattle during the middle of a wedding you are hosting, you do need a little help, and I didn’t have that. The focusing process clearly identified this--that I need someone to physically replace me and do my job on the working part of the farm when I want to devote more time to support Lise in the direct marketing and the meals,” he explains. “Having someone else do my jobs suits me very well because I have done this for more than 40 years. I actually enjoy being the number two or even three or four position on the farm. I have
continuing and transferred on. I kept thinking about legacy, but when I let go of the farm and realized that the legacy was probably more my knowledge—and the teaching and consulting that I can do—the phone started ringing. I ended up getting a lot of business doing consulting on grazing,” he says. “I learned that when I stop fighting the universe, good things happen! There are many lessons we learn along the way. Now our children all want to come back to the farm in one way or another—to be with the animals, go move the animals, or just come visit. We can see that grounding process.” The farm is their hub, their roots, the thing that anchors the family as a whole. There is something here that brings them back. The land is good for the soul. It grounds
Offering on-farm dining was the perfect add-on enterprise for Lise who enjoys cooking. The investment in the barn also provides more opportunity for the next generation of Maloneys interested in taking over the farm. had enough of being the number one so I don’t mind being the go-for or the guy that runs an errand because then I don’t have to think very much!” It’s a change of pace and can be almost relaxing. “This is where I see myself moving toward, letting someone else do the day-to-day work. This was part of that whole process of having a very dark summer, winter and spring season— when I was thinking that the grazing farm would not be able to continue. The word legacy kept coming to me and I couldn’t fathom how this could be happening. I know this is the right way to farm, making big changes in the way we are managing the soil. I can see the good we are doing, and it was hard to envision this not
you in a natural, primordial way. There is a peaceful aspect to life, working with the seasons and the land and animals. “Michael Schmidt, the pioneer here in the raw milk movement, has said that the word soil and soul are very much the same. Here on the farm we are often running like crazy, and I sometimes tend to complain that I have to run over to the pasture and move cattle in between wedding services. When we are doing weddings there is some stress. But when I come over here to move the cattle and change the fence, everything just seems to fall into place and slow down. I can visualize things and know what has to be done when I go back—where I have to CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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be and what I have to do. There is a wonderful calming and grounding effect working with the cattle,” he explains. “Working cattle is so easy for me, and satisfying, because cattle never lie. They are very honest. Maybe one evening they are a little bit restless because I didn’t move them or the weather is changing or something is not right. You can read that, from a quarter mile away. If you have an individual that is not right, you can see that right away. People are not so honest!” A cow always lets you know what’s real and true and is also very forgiving. She may be upset if you are slow to feed her, but once she is fed she’s happy and grateful. There is a certain relaxed peacefulness, working with cattle, that is harder to find when working with people.
“This is part of the basis of Holistic Management, always re-questioning what you are doing. It brought our family together a little more, to look at this, and see what we can do,”
“Working with the cattle gives me the good balance, having both. When I started into Holistic Management, I really adapted into the grazing part of it, and that seems to be the core, for me. Lise and I went back and did a holistic course together, after my first one, so that we’d have a better understanding of it, doing it together. For me, it was figuring out that the only things that are really long-term on our farm are the land and the people. So those are the things that have to be taken care of,” he says.
Making a Better Life
“In the markets we have here (being close to Ottawa and Montreal) there is a lot of direct marketing opportunity and I truly believe that our farm should be able to support at least three different families, with people doing their own small enterprises. The farmland we are managing now supported at least five families in earlier years. How do we go back to creating our own community, within our community, so 10 IN PRACTICE
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that we are all working together, yet separately?” he asks. For instance if there’s a weekend when one person can’t go to the market, someone else can fill in. “It can be a community where everyone works and has their own enterprise but there is some overlap and we can cover for each other. We are also very open to the fact that it doesn’t have to be family members who do all this. We are open to bringing in other people who are willing to bring a project, and some money to the table, too, and be part of using all the resources that we have. That’s my goal, and that’s why it was so sad to think that it was all going to end,” says Maloney. The price of land has increased a lot over the past years and he could just cash out and keep a smaller farm and continue to do everything he was doing—and just let go of the custom grazing part. “We would have a good chunk of money in the bank and have fun doing what we are doing, until we are done with it, but I wouldn’t be very fulfilled by doing that,” he says. “I am not saying that this isn’t something that might eventually be part of the solution. Maybe the direction of agriculture on our farm in this area will be to go smaller scale because the cattle business is still a really tough business. We are not big enough to have the right scale for that. We don’t winter any cattle, we have no machinery, and we don’t make any hay. We’ve done all the things we should do to make a chance at being profitable but we still don’t have the numbers. Just grazing 350 head of cattle and finishing just 50 is still not enough in this business. But if we were to market an acre of vegetables we could gross $100,000. Someone could make a decent living, but it’s all about what a person chooses to do, and what fits,” he says. “I am not a purist in terms of Holistic Management. Over the past couple years I have met some people who are talking about holistic in ways that for me becomes easier to understand and adapt to. I am a rebel at heart, so if something feels like it is too regimented, I just pick and choose what I want from it.” Maloney has worked with Ben Bartlett (a Holistic Management Certified Educator) and Ian Mitchell Innes. “Ian comes to my farm, and this will be the fourth year that I hire him. When I see people like Ben and Ian practicing and how it can develop in different ways, for me the holistic part made it easier for us to focus more clearly on what we wanted. Yes, there will be changes over the years to come. There have been many changes in my career, but we are coming to understand our core values and what works well for us, and becoming able to fully
commit to our decisions, based on knowing that this is what we want to do. This was the biggest thing,” he says. The land is central to it all, and sometimes he curses this great attachment to the land because it can seem like a burden to find the next generation. “I’m realizing that this has been the challenge, for the past four generations— not just continuing with the land, but finding the people to do it. In the past it was family members, but in the future it might not be all family members.” That’s part of the challenge, too—to find the continuity regardless of however it works. “My heritage is Irish. My family is from a background that isn’t completely connected to the land. We are, however, connected to a tradition of making decisions that are best for our family. Someone in our family early on decided to leave Ireland, when the only other choice was to starve or become sheep stealers. So the family left Ireland and came to a new country. That decision was based on needing to make a better life for our family,” says Maloney. This is part of what Holistic Management is all about. “I openly talk about how difficult this past year has been. It was depressing for me to realize that our farm here might not continue the way I believed it should, like a continuation of doing exactly what I am doing. During the process of realizing that it is going to evolve and be something else, and that there are options, I could try to stop fighting it and just be open to what’s out there. That’s when things started to open up, along with my realizing that it’s really based on making the best decisions for all of us. If we are going to be hurting ourselves financially and physically and not have a happy family, it’s not worth it,” he says. “Thinking about my Irish ancestors and heritage, there is some stubbornness and willingness to fight—which is both good and bad. My ancestors had to be tough, to survive. Our family came to this country, along with all the other Irish immigrants, to the quarantine station where we landed here in Quebec. In a celebration (about 20 years ago) of the 125th anniversary of this island where they came, we were told that at the end of that period, when things were going quite badly for the people in Ireland, there were many ships that came in and everyone on the ship was dead—crew and all. The ships just floated in. When I think I am having a bad day, I have to realize how bad things were back in that day. We came from the people who survived that,” he says. It’s important to put everything in perspective, and Holistic Management helps with that.
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looking at the livestock, and the grass that I could see—rather than soil health and the root systems and biology of the soil,” Chad says. During the prior decade, their region suffered many drought years. “We had to start moving our cattle more often. Before that, I moved the BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS cattle every five to ten days, based on looking at the plants above the had and Amanda Njos and their three children are ranching ground and not thinking about recovery time and soil health. After we holistically near Bowman, North Dakota. Chad is no newcomer started moving the cattle more often because of the shortage of grass and to Holistic Management; he was introduced to these concepts worrying about dust pneumonia, I started seeing a response in the plants. on his father’s ranch. His father John Lee Njos went to a Holistic I realized we needed to take this a little more seriously,” he says. Management course in 1986, when He and Amanda took more Chad was still in high school. courses in Holistic Management and “When I left home, I went to then in 2011 they initiated a more college and basically told my dad that intensive grazing system with the I wanted to be as close to farming and cattle. “We run about 200 cow/calf ranching as possible without actually pairs. We have a lot of land here doing it because it was too much that was farmed at one time and in work! I got an engineering degree the Conservation Reserve Program and worked as an intern as a design (CRP), so we have a lot of tame engineer for nine months. This made grasses with early season growth. We me realize that I wanted to go back started moving our cow herd twice and ranch again,” Chad says. a day, giving the cattle just enough After he graduated from college forage for half a day,” he explains. there was a small ranch for sale about “We started seeing a response 20 miles from his parents’ ranch. “I after leaving more cover and a longer decided that a ranch was the best rest period. We began to do more place to raise a family, so I bought monitoring, and putting together better that ranch in 1993, and moved back,” grazing plans, marketing plans and he says. financial plans,” he says. He calls his place the Cow Chip There are also abundant game Ranch because to him cow chips animals on the ranch with grazing represent fertility (a lot of cow chips management supporting improved mean lots of cows or healthy soil). The wildlife habitat. “The thing about operation at first consisted of mainly Holistic Management is that we take a cow/calf herd and a small heifer everything into account. We not only The Njos Family (left to right): Amanda, Molly Mae, development program, where genetics manage for our livestock, but also for Zakai, Tobias, and Chad. and nutrition were the main focus. wildlife. Our animals are stuck here, At the time Chad bought his ranch, he was using Holistic Management on this ranch and have to live and survive here, but the wildlife come as he knew it, which was mainly just in terms of managing the land and and go. If I can provide a habitat that wildlife want to live in, I am doing cattle. “I tried to use the principles I was taught by my father and by some something right,” he says. of my other education, but I didn’t really totally understand the principles of it until about 2010 when Amanda and I went to a Holistic Management Breeding for Efficient Smaller Frames school together. After that, we started focusing on the whole rather than The Njos’ 200 cows are mostly Angus. Nearly all the heifers are just parts,” he says. They also focused more at improving soil health and retained and bred AI in the summer. “We then keep just what we need and ranch profitability with use of intensive grazing and winter bale grazing. sell the rest as bred heifers or open heifers. We’ve had serious drought “Up until then, I think my own thought process was in the way. I was the last two years so a lot more of the heifers were open. This past year
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She now has her own workshop in one side of their old barn. “Our project the last two years has been to remodel an old A-frame barn that’s 60 feet long, with lean-tos on each side. I never had the heart to tear it was really bad. We actually sold part of the heifers the day we started AI down because it’s a classic; you don’t see very many of those old barns breeding. These last two years we only did one round of AI because of the anymore. A couple contractors came in and helped us with the work, and drought, and only kept the heifers that got pregnant,” he says. we also straightened the main barn and got it secured. We tinned the roof These are the kind of decisions that Holistic Management have and the lean-tos and now one of the lean-tos is where we home school the helped—with the pasture management and the cattle. “My dad started kids, and it’s also kind of a recreation room. The other one is Amanda’s using AI breeding in the late 1960s. He was a representative for ABS shop,” says Chad. (American Breeder Service) and I did the same. After the late 1990s and The downstairs part of the barn is her show room where she exhibits into 2000 we noticed that the genetics of cattle were changing in almost her barn wood furniture, and the loft now serves as a big meeting room all the breeds and getting larger. Even though we were trying to use and kitchen area. “We are using that barn for her business with the moderate-framed bulls, they kept getting bigger, and the new generations furniture but also for education and meetings.” of cows kept milking more. Longevity decreased, fertility decreased, Amanda uses the show room to display other artists’ work as well as and structure problems increased. So now we are trying to get down to her own creations. “The entire barn project is something we’ve tried to smaller-framed, more efficient make into a community cattle again,” Chad says. thing. She showcases “When we were AI-ing the work of local painters, the heifers early on, in photographers, and people the feedlot, we would get who make jewelry, pottery, between 80–90% of them etc. This is all part of the pregnant on the first gowhole scheme of what we round. Now, we keep more do, trying to add to our heifers and have moved our community rather than just calving back to late April and trying to see what we can May. We let Nature make the get out of it,” he explains. decisions on which ones to The goal is to spread the keep. We always liked picking message and have more the nice-looking ones, but people come, and look at they are not always the ones many things and see the that make the most money!” talent within the community. “That’s what we’ve done, This old barn has been the past few years. I’ve a perfect place for multiple picked out the top indexing purposes. The floor from the Amanda Njos has led the charge to renovate an old barn on their property as a heifer calves and sold them. old hay loft was recycled to showroom for her recycled wood furniture and as an event space for rent. The way we run the cattle, use on the walls, and the old those females milk themselves out of the herd so it’s better to sell them. red shiplap siding was useful to finish the ceiling in the loft. This barn and We have focused more on soundness, fertility and dependability. I tell the furniture enterprise is just another business generated by the ranch, people that if I remember a cow’s number, I don’t want her around here helping with education and agri-tourism, Holistic Management, etc. because she is either too good or too bad! We want them to perform and Amanda had a teaching degree and taught school for a while after produce big calves, but not at the expense of the cow and her own future,” she and Chad were married, but she was also interested in ranching and he says. cattle. “After we had our first child, we decided we wanted to be a family “We’ve changed our genetic focus to what most people would consider on the ranch. She quit her job and stayed home to raise the kids and help lower-producing animals, but with the changes we’ve made (the genetics, with the ranch. She likes to socialize a lot more than I do, however, so the grazing, etc.) and reducing the stress on these animals, we have good building the furniture and meeting her customers is something she enjoys,” performance. The nutrition of our grasses is higher now and the cattle he says. This renovation is also another “crop” off the ranch. As Chad are more adapted, so we have less health problems. We have healthier jokes, it’s another way of recycling carbon—the barn wood. animals and the weight gains on our calves have actually gone up over the The remodeled barn also fills other purposes. “We tried to set it up so years,” he explains. It’s hard to pinpoint any one thing that has changed, we can use it any way we need to. The next generation that comes along, because they are all interrelated. whether it’s our kids or someone else, can hopefully utilize it also,” he says. “That’s one thing I was taught growing up—that what you do now Engaging the Community affects the next generation. You are always trying to improve what you A few years ago Amanda started her own business she calls Cow have (your various resources), for the next generation, whether it’s the Chip Creations, building beautiful furniture out of reclaimed barn wood. land or the habitat.” “A couple of years back we purchased a small place next to us, and it had some old buildings on it,” says Chad. “I asked Amanda if she might Holistic Management Benefits be able to help us pay for that place by doing something with the wood When asked of the benefit Chad has experienced with Holistic from the old barn. So she went down to the shop one day and started Management he notes: “It helps us make our decisions based on a plan building furniture.” rather than making decisions at the last minute based on emotion. We’ve 12
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seen that happen a lot in ranching.” Going into each year, he and Amanda try to have a good financial plan, grazing plan and marketing plan. “We have been selling cattle on these dry years rather than buying feed and increasing risk. We have been working with a local farmer/neighbor who has corn, and this is the first year we’ve ever grazed cornstalks,” Chad says. Being able to work with the neighbor, and still be grazing the cattle in December instead of feeding them, has kept costs down. “We are trying to help the neighbor, also, helping him understand soil health and things like that. We are trying to work back and forth with him and share resources,” Chad says. “That’s the benefit of Holistic Management; we try to look at every opportunity and find what will fit into our management plan. Utilizing the cornstalks rather than spending a lot of money for hay after this dry year (and adding more risk) was a good choice. Going into 2018, we still had no moisture. We had a little bit of snow in early December but we’ve had so much wind that the sky was brown with dust blowing. We figured it wasn’t a good idea to put all that risk into trying to feed cattle, not knowing what next year is going to be like,” he says. “Another thing I see value in, regarding Holistic Management, is the networking—to be able to have other people you can work with and bounce ideas off of, like my father. I am fortunate that my dad is on the same page that I am. Here in our community there are not very many people that do what we are doing. Many people want to do what we are doing but they don’t know how.” They don’t know where to start because this concept is so foreign to them. “It’s always easier to do what’s comfortable—what you’ve done as a habit—than it is to do what’s right, or to change,” he says. What a person is doing now might have worked in the past, but it might not be the best for what is happening right now. When you go through a drought crisis, it really helps if you can work together with other people and pool resources. “Yet many people go the other direction; it’s getting harder and harder to work with neighbors; instead of wanting to change and work as a community, they want to isolate themselves and continue doing what they feel comfortable doing,” Chad says. This creates a frustrating challenge. Having some networking, and being able to work with other people who are doing Holistic Management, can give a person a lot of support. “I was appointed Chairman of the North
The Njos use bale grazing as a way to build soil fertility on their pastures.
The Njos AI their Angus herd and are careful of their stocking rate in order to grow good grass. Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition so we are spending quite a bit of time on that right now. We helped bring the Leopold Conservation Award to North Dakota, for instance. We tried to include as many groups in the state as we could, whether it was energy, or government, conservation groups, etc. The hardest ones to bring on board, however, are the agricultural groups,” he says. “We are really struggling with getting support from them and I think it’s because of a certain mentality that comes all the way down from our universities—encouraging people to specialize rather than diversify. With the grazing lands coalition we are trying to support anything positive. If Extension wants to do a bale grazing project, for instance, we need to help fund that because the universities won’t, since it’s not the conventional way to feed cattle. When you get into the community aspect of Holistic Management, it’s a whole different challenge,” he explains. He and Amanda try to help other farmers and ranchers, with any spare time they have. They are very involved in the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition mentoring program and educational workshops. “Many of these types of programs are funded with matching grant money, so it’s always a challenge financially, but this is a real need in our state. Hopefully people can look for other possibilities in these tough years,” Chad says. It’s hard for young people to get started today, with the high cost of land and machinery. Some of them want to come back to farming and ranching and are searching for education to help them. Holistic Management is a way to help them accomplish this. “North Dakota’s economy is based on agriculture. Energy has come into the picture and helped the state’s economy, but the main industry has always been agriculture. If you look back 50 years or more, every farm operation had some cattle, milked some cows, had pigs, chickens, etc. Farming and ranching was more of a holistic type of operation because one thing fed another.” Also if the market was poor for one enterprise, it was often better in another. If cattle prices were low, the market for lamb and wool might be good, for instance. There was usually something that worked out to help make agriculture sustainable. “Farming practices probably weren’t the greatest, but many other things helped make things more efficient. Back in the 1980s my dad had a milk cow and we had chickens and we raised bum lambs and had the beef cattle, but then the universities said you need to focus on just one enterprise. So that’s what happened with most farms. “A lot of the ag groups became even more specialized—the wheat CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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growers, the corn growers, the stockmen’s association, the dairymen, the woolgrowers, etc. Everything became segmented. There was also legislation passed that focused on what we now consider conventional agriculture, with bigger operations,” Chad explains. “Now some of us want to go back to a more diversified type of operation, and we are trying to teach our kids as much as we can about all aspects of agriculture. We’ve had ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigs and lambs and are trying to market them. With Holistic Management our goal is to have healthy soil, to raise healthy plants, to produce healthy animals and have healthy food and healthy people. Yet our ability to locally market what we have has been a challenge.”
The Challenges and Value of Direct Marketing
State and local laws can hinder attempts at direct marketing as the Njos have discovered. For young producers to be able to get started, however, they need to be able to utilize any available resources and diversity—and find some available markets. “We try to help foster some legislative changes to help producers who want to direct market their products, but it’s not easy,” Chad says. “We try to raise natural cattle. Now grass fed is the big thing, but it’s hard to get into that market because there isn’t a lot of structure and there are no consistent guidelines or rules. A few packers are putting cattle out on cornstalks and calling them grass fed!” There’s no consistency in how these cattle are actually raised and fed, and it’s also very confusing to
the consumer because so many different types of beef in the stores are labeled as grass fed, and the quality is very inconsistent. “We’ve looked at trying to do more direct marketing with our livestock but it is a challenge. Here in North Dakota many of the smaller processors have retired. With the current rules, those older businesses were grandfathered in, but once they decide to close their doors, they are closed for good.” There are no new processors taking their place. “Around here, to process a beef or pork, it’s a three to four month wait. Last year my son had 20 pigs that were ready for market and they should have all been butchered by the first of the year, but the last ones were finally butchered the end of February. We ended up butchering and processing our own, because it was so hard to get them into a facility,” says Chad. “We have the product, and we have people who want the product, but there’s a holdup in the middle, with the current rules. We tell the consumers that it’s their job to help make a change; they can have more impact on the legislative decisions than we can, because there are a lot more of them,” he says. “We don’t want people just to buy into our own product, because a person can buy beef anywhere. We want them to want to invest in our operation, our way of life, so they can also feel better about the product they are getting—helping the future of responsible agriculture and food production,” explains Chad. “We are doing it for them. We are not doing this just to make money. We are doing this to grow healthy food for people. They are the ones we are thinking about when we are doing all the work. This is part of our effort in educating the consumer.”
Designing Regenerative Vegetable Production BY GRAEME HAND
Key points
Current vegetable production is clearly unsustainable as it requires offfarm carbon inputs, high fossil fuel use as well as herbicides, insecticides and tillage leading to biodiversity loss producing significant soil loss and soil degradation. Growing vegetables in dormant perennial grasslands (Pasture Cropped multi species vegetables with Planned Grazing) is part of the solution. Multi-species cover cropping with Planned Grazing also has a big role to play.
nutrient cycling by growing litter in place seems to be the only sensible (practical, profitable & low fossil fuel use) design to restore vegetable nutrient density. The evidence base is clear that for farming to be regenerative in the long run requires that perennial grasses need to be the base of all systems4.
Discussion:
Current vegetable production needs to be redesigned1. Most of the industry focus is on improving the efficiency of the current model (technology based) and substituting inputs (compost etc.). But, only a deep redesign2 so that vegetables are grown in a system that is selfregenerating will we be able to produce nutrient dense vegetables long term. Much of the advice to reduce soil erosion and degradation only suggests practices that slow down the damage3. Going over the cliff slowly does not make sense and this non-solution only pushes the problem onto our children and grandchildren. The cause of the degradation is lack of ever-increasing landscape function4—stability, nutrient cycling and water infiltration. Increasing 14
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Photo Credit Gabe Brown
Potatoes being grown in compost that is spread over a multi-species cover crops then potatoes covered with hay then harvested by removing hay.
Perennial grasses are required to maintain soil structure, biodiversity, soil organic carbon and nutrient cycling 4,5. Multi species cover cropping vegetables is a giant leap forward6 but as Dwayne Beck, Research Manager at Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota (leading US Scientist in no till and cover cropping) describes, this design can result in too much nitrogen and not enough carbon as well as the need for perennial grass roots. The closest design he has seen to a long term regenerative cropping design would be Pasture Cropping based practices5.
Impact of Practices
Table 1 is an attempt to describe the impact of different vegetable growing practices. Vegetable Growing Practices in order of increasing landscape function and soil health Developed by Graeme Hand and Col Seis
• Pasture Cropped multi species vegetables & planned grazing - low or no synthetic fertilizers, perennial grasses, high diversity, no herbicide, no fungicides or insecticides • No till, compost, multi species cover crops & vegetables – low or no synthetic fertilizers, higher diversity, low or no herbicide, fungicides or insecticides • No till plus compost – lower synthetic fertilizers, low diversity, herbicide, fungicides
• No till – plough replaced with herbicide, synthetic fertilizers,
monocultures, herbicide, fungicides
• Conventional vegetable growing – soil inverted/ tilled, synthetic fertilizers, monocultures, herbicide, fungicides
Table 1
Barriers to Adoption
System relies on excellent soil health and structure from a commitment to increasing landscape function. The Browns achieve this through multi species cover crops and excellent ultra-high-density grazing management to promote decomposing litter in all their grazed and cropped areas— perennial grass, multi species cover crops and cash crops. It is the decomposing litter that produces the conditions that increase fungal content. Increasing fungal content increases nutrient cycling, water infiltration and stability. Harvesting can be labor intensive. See photos. There are also many YouTube videos of Gabe and Paul presenting. For more information see https://nourishedbynature.us/ and http://brownsranch.us/.
Level 5 Example
Level 5 is the highest known level of regenerative agriculture. Colin Seis works at this level. Col admits it is early days, but the signs are that this is a viable way of broad scale production of vegetables without erosion, while increasing nutrient cycling and water infiltration.
Barriers to Adoption
The key barrier to adoption is having a climate and grassland that has a clear dormancy period. These techniques rely on not killing perennial grasses but waiting until they are dormant or forcing them into dormancy with grazing management or herbicides that do not kill perennial grasses7. Small safe to fail areas trials are required to develop expertise in this technique. Summer growing grassland have species such as: Redgrass, Kangaroo Grass, Box grass, and African sub-tropicals. A summer growing grassland that shuts down with frosts and cold winter temperatures is a good example of a situation where these techniques work well. It is harder to develop a niche in a summer grassland where the winters are mild and may require herbicide.
Examples of Practices
The lower practices are degrading, so I will not provide any examples below level 4.
Level 4 Example
Gabe & Paul Brown work at this level with great success. They plant potatoes and other vegetables into the decomposing litter from previous cover and cash crops. Sometimes potatoes are planted into compost and then covered with hay (seen at left). The Brown’s share their economics which show that vegetable production is very profitable. This income is achieved through direct marketing of nutrient dense produce that brings customers back. Photo Credit Gabe Brown
Multi species vegetable production in deep decomposing litter base.
Photo Credit Gabe Brown
Winter growing grassland have species such as: Weeping grass, Wallaby grass, Spear grass, Phalaris, Cocksfoot, and Perennial Ryegrass. A winter growing grassland can be manipulated to go into dormancy in the summer but years with high summer rainfall or irrigation can result in growth and competition and may require practices from level 4. Possible vegetable species that could be planted into different grasslands are as follows: For summer growing grassland possible winter growing vegetables to plant (while summer growing grasses are dormant or growing slowly) CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Holistic planned grazing on biennials increase carbon. Num ber 180
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Designing Regenerative Vegetable Production
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
include: Brassicas (eg. broccoli, kale), peas, fava beans, turnips, swedes, and parsnips. For winter growing grassland possible summer growing vegetables (while winter growing grasses are dormant or growing slowly) to plant are: Potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, melons, capsicum, cucumbers, and zucchini.
Graeme Hand is a Holistic Management Certified Educator and CEO of Stipa in New South Wales, Australia. He can be reached at: graeme.hand@bigpond.com. This article was first published in the Stipa Newsletter #59, Feb 2018. To learn more about Stipa go to: http://www.stipa.com.au/index.html.
References:
1. Soil Erosion Threatens Food Production David Pimentel * and Michael Burgess College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Agriculture 2013, 3, 443–463; 2. From Shallow to Deep Organics: Redesigning our Agroecosystems for Sustainability and Wellbeing, Professor Stuart B. Hill, University of Western Sydney – October, 2009 3. Managing soil erosion in vegetables, fact sheet 2, Department of Primary Industries and fisheries, Queensland government 4. Landscape Function Analysis, Tongway & Hindley, 2004 5. Dwayne Beck / Buzz Kloot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAE8C3Vr8Zo&t=1s 6. Browns Ranch http://brownsranch.us/ 7. Winona – http://www.pasturecropping.com/pasture-cropping
East Brook Farm—
Photo Credit Gabe Brown
Winter growing broadleaves in a dormant summer growing grassland.
farming. Why? I believe that if I take care of the soil in the best way possible then I am also growing nutritious healthy food year after year. It is healthier for our bodies and healthier for the earth. Very few organic farmers are practicing no-till. Isn’t it difficult and BY ELIZABETH MARKS time consuming? I’ve never farmed any other way so I have no comparison. I have a lot of people who come to work on the farm who had been doing tillage. From ’ve been told by many organic farmers that no-till organic just them I’ve learned that initially it takes more human power and resources isn’t possible. Most farmers who do no-till rely on herbicides and compared to tilling, but after I create the beds using sheet mulch, the sometimes insecticides to do the practice. More and more information maintenance required is much less then conventional farming. is being discovered about the immense benefits of not disturbing the Can you describe the methods you use to soil, but what do you do if using these farm no-till? pesticides are counter to your holistic First, I find the contour of the land (if goal? I sat down with Sarah Williford, a there is a slope) and mark off where the beds Holistic Management International board should be perpendicular to the slope. Then I member and owner of East Brook Farm mow the ground cover. I add lime or other soil in Walton, New York to discuss how she amendments based on a soil test. Next I roll utilizes the four ecosystem processes with out multi layers of brown craft or food paper. no-till organic farming. East Brook Farm is On top of the paper I layer compost and then a 92-acre diversified farm with two acres mulch hay. I wait a few weeks to let water soak of vegetables and flowers, 70 chickens, through either from rain or watering. Finally I 10 ducks, and 9 cows. They run a small create “planting pockets.” Using a hand hoe, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), I dig through the paper and add compost and sell at farmers markets, wholesale to then add the plant. This method of farming is local restaurants and health food stores, East Brook Farm has its garden beds set up on sometimes referred to as “lasagna gardening.” and Sarah has an herbal business called contour to increase water infiltration. Even during Doesn’t the plant find it difficult to establish “Collected Creations” of wild harvested heavy rains caused by hurricanes, East Brook in the mass of roots already there? and home grown herbs. Farm didn’t flood or lose valuable nutrients and You wait at least a couple of weeks to Sarah, you practice no-till organic top soil.
No-Till Vegetable Farming to Improve Ecosystem Processes
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let the paper and mulch kill the living plants underneath. The planting pockets are created after the vegetation dies. Once the vegetation dies, their roots leave corridors of water and air to travel. I also haven’t destroyed the soil structure so there is no compaction. The dying plants and roots of the former vegetation add nutrients and organic matter into the soil. Because the soil isn’t compacted, the plants find it easy to grow. How does your growing technique take advantage of and improve the four ecosystem processes? First and foremost, we keep the soil covered. It’s really true what they say; when you improve one ecosystem processes, you improve them all. With the soil covered, it remains cooler and retains more moisture for the plants improving the water cycle. Our soil and nutrients are held in place and the mulch breaks down (mineral cycle) into organic matter which in turn feeds the biological community. The biological community builds soil structure while putting nutrients into the system. The spaces from earth worms and structured soil and the old roots create channels for air and water. That makes the plants and cover crops thrive thereby improving the energy flow. Perhaps the most amazing thing I’ve noticed is that water does not pool on my fields no matter the soil type, how flat they are, or the amount of rainfall we get. For example, I was farming in the Hudson Valley, and we and the farms around us had a lot of flooding from hurricanes one year. Many farms had a complete loss of crops due to standing water on the fields and CSAs actually had to return money to customers. What happened on your farm? Even though our no-till beds were created on clay soil, our drainage was excellent and our crops weren’t affected. We didn’t realize how well we faired compared to our neighbors until we had a potluck and farm tour and discovered we were the only ones to have not had a significant loss of crops. Also, because of our great infiltration rates, we did not have any erosion of our soil. All our nutrients and organic matter stayed in place. Some farmers worry that they can’t get nutrients into the soil without tillage. With this method of farming, organic matter increases from day one whereas in a conventionally farmed system, organic matter is burning off and decreasing with each pass of the plow. Organic matter particles have an electrical charge, essentially holding nutrients like a magnet. They aren’t washing or leaching away. We’re learning that biological organisms in the soil are playing a larger role in the mineral process then we originally thought. What have you found? You really notice how active the biological community is with a no-till system. When I plant my second crop after I’ve established the beds, I can see that already the new layer has mixed two inches in depth below the paper layer. It’s amazing how fast it works. Each time you till, you destroy the habitat for all the microorganisms in the soil. With our no-till system we are taking advantage of an already established biological community with a mature set of nitrogen fixing and decomposing organisms. What about the fourth ecosystem processes, energy flow? To maximize the amount of energy I get from the sun, I extend the season with cover crops. Frost kill cover crops such as crimson clover are the easiest to use in a no-till system. I will sometimes seed under a mature plant so it gets a head start while my vegetables are still growing. How do you maintain the system especially when it comes to weeds? We look at the root cause of weeds, basically seed germination, and address that first. When you till, you are constantly moving seeds in the seed bank up to the surface of the soil where they germinate. Our system
Sarah’s farm crew harvesting for the CSA. buries weed seeds so we only have to worry about seeds that germinate on or near the surface. Mulching prevents them germinating, and we will hand pull the few weeds that do spring up. To prevent them entering the system, I cut down plants surrounding the garden when they are flowering (the weakest point in their life cycle) before they go to seed. If a bed gets out of hand and there are a lot of weeds, I’ll plant a cover crop and then re-sheet mulch it the following spring. How does no-till compare in terms of profitability to other methods of farming? Can you do this on a large scale? Holistic Management educator Phil Metzger taught me that there is one guarantee in agriculture—when you improve the ecosystem processes, you build wealth on the farm. I’ve found no-till to be much more profitable than tillage because of this. Once you become comfortable with the method and you’ve set up the beds it is a lot less effort to maintain. You are taking advantage of all the ecosystem services that organic matter and the biological community in the soil provides. With 2 acres of veggies in production, I don’t need tractors, diesel fuel, or any kind of equipment other than people, shovels, and a wheel barrow. To do no-till on a larger scale you probably need equipment such as a tractor, roller crimper, no-till drill, and mowers. Also, I’ve farmed marginal soils that previously were only good for pasture but I’ve been able to produce high quality vegetables using this method. Anything else you like about this method of farming? One of the most enjoyable aspects for me is how easy the soil is to work. I’ve produced high quality vegetables in areas of marginal, unproductive soils where other farmers couldn’t farm or had difficulty due to how rocky the soil was. I always get to work in soft, sweet smelling earth. It’s like chocolate cake.
Sarah Williford has been practicing no-till organic farming for 12 years. When she isn’t farming she is coordinating Holistic Management International’s Beginning Farming Program in New York. For more information please visit her website at eastbrookfarm.com or email sarahmwilliford@gmail.com. Elizabeth Marks is a biologist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and an HMI Certified Educator. She teaches online classes and mentors students in Holistic Management and soil health. She owns a net-zero home in Chatham, New York. Num ber 180
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PROGRAM ROUNDUP Colorado Holistic Training In early February, 15 ranchers gathered at JE Canyon Ranch in southeastern Colorado for a three-day class on Holistic Management. The class was facilitated by HMI Certified Educator Kirk Gadzia, who has over 25 years’ experience teaching the concepts of natural resource management worldwide. The class was comprised of agricultural agency professionals, a veterinarian, and area ranchers. Together, they manage about 1.85 million acres and influence another 3.1 million acres. In addition to going through the steps to create a Grazing Plan and learning the basics of Holistic Financial Planning, the group went through a real-life decision testing example using JE Canyon’s holistic goal and spent time out on the ranch to practice forage assessment. Thanks to sponsorship by The Nature Conservancy, participants had the opportunity to stay on this beautiful and unique 50,000 acre ranch and learn Holistic Management.
Texas Cropping and Soils Class Texas panhandle farmers began filing in early for the March 2nd Crop and Soils workshop featuring Regenerative Ag’s ‘rock stars’ Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta. Many of the 114 attendees lingered well past the last session, excited and involved in interesting discussions on how to move forward and apply the information they’d learned to the nearly 400,000 acres they collectively manage.
Ray Archuleta explains soil health. Archuleta, in his characteristically enthusiastic way, started off the day with several demos showing the value and importance of soil biology, sharing his passion for soil health and what we, as stewards of the land, can do to work with nature. He and Gabe tag-teamed the presentations all day, building on each other’s knowledge and experience to show real life examples of using no-till, multi-species cover crops, and grazing animals to build health in the soil while reducing input costs. Research data from Gabe’s ranch, and comparisons with neighbor lands, lent proof of how soil health translates
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to better water capture, increased production and/or crop quality, and increased profit margins and per acre income. Gabe also talked about how the focus among large food companies is shifting to interest in nutrient density. New technology that allows a quick and easy ‘reading’ of food nutrition will be a ‘game changer’, said Brown. He challenged farmers to start now and begin addressing soil health so they can be on the front line of producing more nutrient dense crops. The last session of the day was a break out session where Gabe talked to producers interested in direct marketing and multiple enterprises. Ray met with a group of producers who have been applying some of these no-till and cover cropping practices to discuss what works in the Panhandle region. But the day didn’t end there, as smaller subgroups gathered over supper to discuss how they could work together, share knowledge and support each other’s learning going forward. The Texas Panhandle Soil Health Practitioners Facebook group, created by Timothy Ingalls of The Tecovas Foundation, is one way for Panhandle area producers to stay in touch and support each other. Thanks to The Tecovas Foundation for funding this event, and for their enthusiasm and support for the regenerative agriculture movement in the Texas Panhandle. Thanks to Rick Auckerman of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Deaf Smith County for hosting this event, and JD Ragland, of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Randall County for assisting.
New Agrarian Training This spring HMI teamed up with the Quivira Coalition and their New Agrarian Training Program to bring Holistic Management to the apprentices in their program. As part of HMI’s Hands On Learning we have partnered with a select number of organizations who provide residential production training and Holistic Management so young agrarians can learn basic farming and ranching skills to prepare for a farm and ranch manager position or start their own farm or ranch businesses. The 2018 New Agrarian Training Program started off with a oneday introduction to Holistic Management taught by Ann Adams in Albuquerque, NM. This workshop included developing draft holistic goals and practicing testing on-farm/ranch decisions and time out on the land learning how to read ecosystem health and understand the impact tools make on the landscape. The rest of the Holistic Management curriculum will be offered online through the summer by other instructors. Monica Pless, Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program Director worked with the apprentices to prepare them for their positions at different agricultural operations around the West including Holistic Management operations such as the Ranney Ranch, San Juan Ranch, Round River Resource Management, the Triangle P Cattle Company, and the James Ranch. If you currently offer internships, apprenticeships or are an educational farm that meets the outlined requirements and would like to be considered as an approved partnered site, please contact Dr. Ann Adams at anna@holisticmanagement.org.
From the Board Chair BY DANNY NUCKOLS, PhD
“I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address those problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy…and to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation… and we scientists don’t know how to do that.” —Gus Speth (renowned environmental lawyer)
T
he above quote was shared with me by Walter Lynn, fellow HMI board member and close friend, and soon to be the next HMI chair. Speth’s quote testifies to the notion that the essential understanding that girds the Holistic Management philosophy is that land stewardship has an inescapable ethical underpinning. And that although there is a very important engineering/scientific aspect to agriculture, it is at the same time biological, economic, cultural, philosophical, and “following the understanding of most farmers in most places and times, religious. Agriculture involves questions of value and therefore of moral choice, whether or not we care to admit it,” as Ellen Davis claims in Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture. A human-centered world has unfortunately been translated into the further belief that there are really no borders to the progress that could be gained with the right science and technology—in essence, the natural world is only a “means,” a resource to maximize our material utility. Such a myopic perspective cannot, however, be found in the literature surrounding holistic land management, or in HMI’s training
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materials or the training offered by our Certified Educators. All who approach a more holistic perspective to agriculture, or seemingly all, speak of a “connection” to the land that is not utilitarian in a cost/benefit dollar sense—sometimes that connection is spiritual, even religious. In his work, Ecologies of the Heart: Emotion, Belief, and the Environment, E.N. Anderson “has concluded that all traditional societies that have managed resources well over time have done so in part through religion—by the use of emotionally powerful cultural symbols that reinforce particular resource management. Folk beliefs are often dismissed as irrational superstitions… (yet) these beliefs do more to protect the environment than modern science does in the West.” Some Holistic Management practitioners, however, may take a less overtly religious stand, but still invoke a mystical aspect to explain their connection to the land. As Willis Jenkins highlights in Ecologies of Grace, Rachel Carson claims “there is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature.” Jenkins himself feels encountering nature involves a kind of faith, and believes, “in the healing energy of wildness, in the holiness of creation,” as expressed by Scott Russel Sanders. Jenkins goes on to proclaim that “one of the reasons many of us keep going back to Thoreau and Muir and Leopold and Carson is because they kept that faith.” Moreover, environmental writing seems to dwell within the literatures of faith, and can be seen by nature writer Barry Lopez’s focus on the cultivation of reverence, which allows a landscape to enter and elevate a person. Humans are creatures (paraphrasing Jenkins) in search of…patterns of grace. When the land gets inside of us, writes Lopez, those patterns of grace are crucial for deciding what we will do about it. Little wonder, Gus Speth feels scientists need a spiritual and cultural revolution.
MI is excited to announce a new Advisory Council member, Deborah Clark. Deborah and her husband, Emry Birdwell, run a stocker operation of 5,000–7,000 head on the 14,000acre Birdwell & Clark Ranch in Clay County, Texas. The enterprise mix consists of 2,000 stocker cattle on Deborah Clark leased wheat acres and one herd of approximately 5,000 head at the ranch using a high density grazing management plan. The primary goals of the grazing practice are to consistently improve range conditions, soil health, and cattle productivity. A secondary interest is assessing and monitoring the impact of high density grazing on wildlife and habitat with a focus on bobwhite quail. Emry has been a practitioner of Holistic Management since the early 1980s and Deborah has been involved in Holistic Management since 2009. As a Certified Educator, Deborah works to help others learn to manage their resources in a way that keeps the business, land, family, and community healthy.
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• Profitable Grass-Based Livestock Production • Management-Intensive Grazing • Multi-Species Grazing • Direct Marketing Tips • Grass Finishing • Producer Profiles More profit from your pastures starts with a subscription to SGF!
P.O. Box 2300 Ridgeland, MS 39158-2300 Joel Salatin, Editor
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1-800-748-9808 • www.stockmangrassfarmer.com N um ber 180
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Certified
Educators
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COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 • 970/739-2445 (c) wnc@gobrainstorm.net Katie Miller 22755 E Garrett Rd, Calhan, CO 80808 970/310-0852 • heritagebellefarms@gmail.com
Ralph Tate 1109 Timber Dr., Papillion, NE 68046 402/932-3405 • 402/250-8981 (c) Tater2d2@cox.net NEW HAMPSHIRE Seth Wilner 24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w) 603/543-7169 (c) • seth.wilner@unh.edu NEW MEXICO Ann Adams Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252 • anna@holisticmanagement.org Kelly Boney 4865 Quay Road L, San Jon, NM 88434 575/268-1162 • kellyboney_79@yahoo.com Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/263-8677 (c) • kirk@rmsgadzia.com Jeff Goebel 1033 N. Gabaldon Rd., Belen, NM 87002 541/610-7084 • goebel@aboutlistening.com Kathy Harris Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252 • kathyh@holisticmanagement.org
MICHIGAN Larry Dyer 1113 Klondike Ave, Petoskey, MI 49770 231/347-7162 (h) • 231/881-2784 (c) ldyer3913@gmail.com MISSISSIPPI Preston Sullivan 610 Ed Sullivan Lane NE, Meadville, MS 39653 prestons@telepak.net 601/384-5310 (h) • 601/835-6124 (c)
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MONTANA Amy Driggs 1551 Burma Road, Eureka, MT 59917 208/310-6664 • adriggs@ldagmachinery.com Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • 406/581-3038 (c) kroosing@msn.com Cliff Montagne Montana State University 1105 S. Tracy, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/599-7755 (c) • montagne@montana.edu
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NEBRASKA Paul Swanson 5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) pswanson3@unl.edu
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WISCONSIN Heather Flashinski 16294 250th Street, Cadott, WI 54727 715/289-4896 (w) • 715/379-3742 (c) grassheather@hotmail.com Larry Johnson 453 Woodside Terrace, Madison, WI 53711 608/957-2935 • larrystillpointfarm@gmail.com Laura Paine N893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925 920/623-4407 (h) • 608/338-9039 (c) lkpaine@gmail.com
OREGON Angela Boudro PO Box 3444, Central Point, OR 97502 541/ 890-4014 • angelaboudro@gmail.com SOUTH DAKOTA Randal Holmquist 4870 Cliff Drive, Rapid City, SD 57702 605/730-0550, randy@zhvalley.com
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TEXAS
Bellows *NorthLisaCentral Texas College
1525 W. California St., Gainesville, TX 76240-4636 940/736-3996 (c) • 940/668-7731 ext. 4346 (o) lbellows@nctc.edu Deborah Clark PO Box 90, Henrietta, TX 76365-0090 940/328-5542 • deborahclark90@sbcglobal.net Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy. 380, Snyder, TX 79549
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For more information about or application forms for the HMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website: www.holisticmanagement.org. associate educators provide * These educational services to their communities and peer groups.
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KANSAS Bill Casey 13835 Udall Road, Erie, KS 66733 620/423-2842 • bill.caseyag@gmail.com
NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart 2539 Clover Place, Bismarck, ND 58503 701/870-1184 • Joshua_dukart@yahoo.com
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U N I T E D S TAT E S Tim McGaffic P.O. Box 1903, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 808/936-5749 • tim@timmcgaffic.com CALIFORNIA Lee Altier College of Agriculture, CSU 400 West First St., Chico, CA 95929-0310 laltier@csuchico.edu • 530/636-2525 Owen Hablutzel 4235 W. 63rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90043 310/567-6862 • go2owen@gmail.com Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 rking1675@gmail.com • 707/217-2308 (c) 707/769-1490 (h) Kelly Mulville P.O. Box 23, Paicines, CA 95043 707/431-8060 • kmulville@gmail.com Donald D. Nelson 11728 Shafer Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080-8994 208/301-5066 • nelson-don1@hotmail.com Rob Rutherford 4757 Bridgecreek Rd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805/544-5781 (h) • 805/550-4858 (c) robtrutherford@gmail.com
806/237-2554 • glosson@caprock-spur.com Tracy Litle 1277 S CR 305, Orange Grove, TX 78372 361/537-3417 (c) • tjlitle@hotmail.com Peggy Maddox 9460 East FM 1606, Hermleigh, TX 79526 325/226-3042 (c) • westgift@hughes.net Katherine Napper Ottmers 313 Lytle Street, Kerrville, TX 78028 830/896-1474 • katherineottmers@icloud.com CD Pounds 753 VZ CR 1114, Fruitvale, TX 75127 214/568-3377 • cdpounds@live.com Peggy Sechrist 106 Thunderbird Ranch Road Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/456-5587 (c) • peggysechrist@gmail.com
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The following Certified Educators listed have been trained to teach and coach individuals in Holistic Management. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives and to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management.
ARIZONA
NEW YORK Craig Leggett 6143 SR 9, Chestertown, NY 12817 518/494-2324 (h) • 970/946-1771 (c) craigrleggett@gmail.com Erica Frenay Shelterbelt Farm 200 Creamery Rd., Brooktondale, NY 14817 607/539-6512 (h) • 607/342-3771 (c) info@shelterbeltfarm.com Elizabeth Marks 1024 State Rt. 66, Ghent, NY 12075 518/828-4385 x107 (w) • 518/567-9476 (c) Elizabeth.marks@ny.usda.gov Phillip Metzger 120 Thompson Creek Rd., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-2407 (h) • pmetzger17@gmail.com
AUSTRALIA
Judi Earl “Glen Orton” 3843 Warialda Rd. Coolatai, NSW 2402 61-409-151-969 (c) • judi_earl@bigpond.com Paul Griffiths PO Box 186, Mudgee, NSW 2850 612-6373-3078 paul@holisticmudgee.com Graeme Hand 150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h) • 61-4-1853-2130 (c) graemehand9@gmail.com Dick Richardson PO Box 341 Balhannah SA 5242 61-0-42906900 (c) dick@dickrichardson.com.au Jason Virtue P.O. Box 75 Cooran QLD 4569 61-0-754851997 • jason@spiderweb.com.au Brian Wehlburg Pine Scrub Creek, Kindee, NSW 2446 61-2-6587-4353 (h) • 61 04087 404 431 (c) brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au CANADA
Don Campbell Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S0X 1Y6 306/236-6088 • 320/240-7660 (c) doncampbell@sasktel.net Ralph Corcoran Box 36, Langbank, SK S0G 2X0 306/532-4778 rlcorcoran@sasktel.net
July / August 2018
Blain Hjertaas Box 760, Redvers, Saskatchewan SOC 2HO 306/452-3882 • bhjer@sasktel.net Brian Luce RR #4, Ponoka, AB T4J 1R4 403/783-6518 • lucends@cciwireless.ca Noel McNaughton 5704-144 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6H 4H4 780/432-5492; noel@mcnaughton.ca Tony McQuail 86016 Creek Line, RR#1, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519/528-2493 • mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 • JLPigott@sasktel.net Kelly Sidoryk Box 72, Blackroot, A B TOB OLO 780/872-2585 (c) • 780/875-4418 (w) kelly.sidoryk@gmail.com
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FINLAND Tuomas Mattila Töllintie 27, Pusula, 3850 +358 40 743 2412 • tuomas.j.mattila@gmail.com KENYA Christine C. Jost Box 30677, Nairobi 00100 773/706-2705 (c) • 703/981-1224 (w) cjost@usaid.gov NAMIBIA Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii P O Box 24102, Windhoek 9000 264-812840426 (c) • 264-61-244028 (h) kandjiiu@gmail.com
Colin Nott PO Box 11977, Windhoek 9000 264-81-2418778 (c) • 264-61-225085 (h) canott@iafrica.com.na Wiebke Volkmann P. O . Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na NEW ZEALAND John King P. O. Box 12011, Beckenha Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz
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SOUTH AFRICA Wayne Knight Solar Addicts, P.O. Box 537, Mokopane, 0600 South Africa 27-0-15-491-5286 +27-87-550-0255 (h) • +27-82-805-3274 (c) wayne@theknights.za.net Jozua Lambrechts PO Box 5070, Helderberg, Somerset West, 7135 +27-0-21 -851 5669 • +27-0-08-310-1940 Ian Mitchell-Innes 14 Chevril Road, Ladysmith, 3370 +27-83-262-9030 ian@mitchell-innes.co.za UNITED KINGDOM Philip Bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496-2925 (h)+44 7837 405483 (w) pjbubb99@gmail.com
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Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.
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DEVELOPMENT CORNER The Power of Holistic Management— Betsy and Reeves Brown
B
etsy and Reeves Brown ranch on the 10,360-acre 3R Ranch near Beulah, Colorado. Betsy has a long history with HMI which includes being Chair of the Colorado Branch for Holistic Management and Board Chair of HMI (then the Center for Holistic Resource Management) in the early 1990s. The Browns took their first Holistic Management course in 1985. “It was absolutely fantastic,” says Betsy. “I had been reading articles about Holistic Management in the New Mexico Stockman and we knew we both had to go. We were ready to do every single part of the process. We took all the courses over again because we felt like we needed to learn more. It was the best thing that happened to us for our management. We had been doing a good job, but we felt like we could do so much better.
Before Holistic Management, there was 30–40% bare ground on the 3R Ranch. Within a couple of years, it had diminished to 10% bare ground with a significant increase in plant biodiversity. “We were in debt because the partner we had to buy the ranch with us had backed out. That training helped us create a profitable enterprise in spite of those challenges. We knew we needed a plan that was going to teach us how to manage the land better. The first thing we did was to put all the cattle together in one herd. The next thing we did was to change our recovery periods. The training helped us see
how important that was. Before the training we were continuous grazing. After the training we made Betsy Brown at the 3R Ranch sure we had recovery periods of 90–120 days. “We are in a short-grass grama dominated country. But, we had [HMI Certified Educator] Kirk Gadzia come up and help us step through the grazing plan and mediate the process as we figured things out. It was a whole new experience. We quickly moved to having 10 different grass species that all came back on their own through our improved grazing. Our forage production increased as we moved from needing 16 acres/cow to only 7.6 acres. Stopping that continuous graze meant the difference between having a little bit of grass fuzz to a grass stand that something could hide in. “I took on those leadership roles for the Center [HMI] because I felt it was such a worthwhile cause,” says Betsy. “The training we took had been so important to us and we felt like others needed to have that opportunity as well. At the time we were involved in one of the management clubs that the Colorado Branch for Holistic Management was offering. The clubs helped all of us learning Holistic Management because we needed to support each other and be able to ask questions. We’d meet quarterly and offer other programs and then have an annual meeting. It really helped to encourage the management changes we all needed to do. I think what makes Holistic Management unique and makes it work is that it’s about the whole—it’s helping you take everything into account and build your plans from that understanding.”
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