Savory's Hub in Costa Rica
INTENSIVE COURSE IN HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT
with Pablo Borelli
WHAT IS HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT?
Holistic management is a decision-making framework based on the fundamentals of ecosystem processes, which considers economic, ecological and social variables in both the short and long term.
This management involves a set of planning procedures including planned grazing, land planning, financial planning and ecological monitoring.
By offering tools that allow continuous analysis and monitoring, Holistic Management empowers the people involved in the management and operations; and provides positive economic, social and environmental results.
Holistic Management helps to achieve the following results:
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Higher economic gains.
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Increased stocking rates and crop yields
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Higher production of perennial grasses
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More wildlife
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Return of springs and streams
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Improved quality of life
Holistic management makes it possible to assess the current situation and manage it from a holistic perspective. Holistic Management is a process of planning, monitoring, control and re-planning that allows us to build a vision and plan the actions to achieve it. This planning must be accompanied by constant observation that allows us to identify whether the defined objectives and goals are being achieved as well as to modify management as necessary.
The fundamentals of Holistic Management
Holistic thinking, ecosystem processes and the tools to manage them are the basis for understanding and working with the different procedures that make up Holistic Management.
Why is the holistic context needed?
Knowing the context in which you are working and what you want to accomplish allows you to define the actions that will allow you to achieve the desired future.
The holistic context links what is valued in life with the environment and systems in place.
Financial planning
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The financial plan is the process by which the notion of holism is translated into practice. It allows us to establish priorities in our actions, investments and efforts in order to achieve the desired future.
"The key to generating wealth is not in the things you sell, but in how you reinvest the money you earn."
Holistic planned grazing
The grazing plan consists in defining the movement of herds in the pastures based on pasture recovery. The grazing plan seeks to maximize production and minimize overgrazing.
Getting the animals to the right place at the right time with the right behavior.
The grazing plan seeks to:
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Create a landscape in accordance with the holistic context.
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Increase pasture production
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Improve animal performance or increase animal numbers
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Reduce labor and increase efficiency
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Improve the biological decomposition of dry or dead plants, which allows the acceleration of the mineral cycle of nutrients that is reintegrated into the soil and therefore promotes better growth in the following seasons.
Overgrazing: overgrazing occurs when animals eat from foliage that is still growing.
Holistic land planning
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The land plan aims to define and implement the infrastructure needed to achieve the holistic context you want to reach.
Keeping large herds of animals in continuous movement requires a new way of thinking about how fences, water points, roads and handling facilities are distributed, especially when large tracts of land are involved.
It is important to note that you have to start managing and planning with the infrastructure you currently have.
Holistic ecological monitoring
Follow-up of ecosystem processes needs its own monitoring because much of what we do as land managers can have unforeseen effects. When planning to alter the ecosystem in some way, it must be assumed that we can be wrong because the land is more complex than humans can understand.
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Monitoring is essential in any management plan because it allows us to determine that what we want to accomplish is being achieved.
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Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) is the "science inside" of Savory Institute's Land to Market program. Land to Market (L2M) is a sourcing solution that connects buyers, brands and retailers with farms and ranches that are regenerating their land.
The EOV is the evidence-based protocol used to verify that farms and ranches are eligible to participate in the L2M program.
"Soil is the key to life. Cattle ranching allows us to improve soil health."
- Cristino Villareal, Mapimí Biosphere Reserve Director