John King, a Holistic Management® educator reasons the combining of organic
farming with the Holistic Management decision-making framework.
As anthropologist Gregory Bateson said; "The greatest problems we face are
the result of the difference between the way humans think and how nature
works." Humans love rules and recipes to tell us what to do but nature
doesn’t work that way. How can organic farming enable families to improve
flexibility, profitability, and to assume the responsibility in changing
to organic practices?
People who initially experimented with sound agricultural practices and techniques
drove the reestablishment of organic agriculture. The values that drove
these people are the same ones that Holistic Management families describe
in their holisticgoals [sp]. Organic practices were shaped by these
values and they remain of great benefit to families practicing Holistic Management
even if they choose not to become organically certified.
For example, the use of landscape features such as grassed waterways, insect
habitats, crop rotations and cover crops, multiple species pastures, poly
grazing systems, hedges, ponds, and shelterbelts for edge effect are all
practices that enhance ecosystem function. Furthermore, many organic
producers have direct relationships with their customers, some using these
relationships to source funds to develop their businesses. All in all,
organic producers have a great understanding of their role in regenerating
prosperity in the wider community and sustain civilisation.
But many struggle to make it work. Families in organic agriculture
use their values and a sense of vision to guide many decisions when not directed
by rules and regulations. While parallel to, it is not as systematic
or as thorough as the decision-making framework of Holistic Management.
Instead the holistic perspective enables families to use the principle of
biodiversity to organise their human, financial, and environmental management.
The accompanying decision testing opens up the decision-making process allowing
people to explore the soundness of each decision. Decision testing
ensures greater consistency with decision-making through bringing direction,
purpose, and new managerial ideas to the farming operation. Furthermore,
indicators emerge from the decision testing that a family or business can
observe to ensure they are on the right track and moving toward what they
value.
Another profound difference is the way finances are planned. Here a
concept called the Solar Chain of Production helps farming families use the
environment to determine the weakness in their farming business. This
is how a healthy environment can be linked to a sound economy, something
that conventional financial planning does not do. As a result farming
families are encouraged to pay themselves first, a habit that ensures they
can make value based choices about where they spend their money and what
businesses they patron.
Finally, using the concept of holism, practitioners develop a deep understanding
of how landscapes function and the relationships between the water and mineral
cycles, energy flow, and the ever-changing patterns of biodiversity.
From this understanding comes alive the concept of brittleness, (the annual
distribution of moisture at the soil surface). Brittleness clarifies
how using tools like grazing, animal impact, or resting land can have completely
different impacts on the landscape. Such knowledge will help many practicing
organic and permacultural farming as to why some practices work in some landscapes
and are more difficult in others.
Without an extensive knowledge of any farming system, the decision framework
of Holistic Management draws on all knowledge to address the causes of farming
problems rather than treating the symptoms. Because of the framework,
Holistic Management families assume responsibility for their farming decisions
rather than relying on rules and regulations. They understand if they
are not regenerating resources, quality of life, and profitability, they
are not managing for the long term. This attitude coupled with organic
practices improves the overall skills, understanding, and contribution that
farming families make in sustaining civilisation.
The organic movement is full of ordinary people who are achieving extraordinary
feats without the use of Holistic Management. While organic farming
focuses on production techniques, without changing the financial planning
and the decision-making to go with it, people often struggle through the
conversion process. What many find attractive about Holistic Management
is its structure helps enable ordinary people to achieve good (if not great)
things with their farming enterprises.
John King from Succession coaches farming families to make decisions that
are profitable, regenerative, and bring enjoyment to land stewardship.
Contact him at succession@clear.net.nz or www.succession.co.nz or (03) 547
6347. John acknowledges the ideas of Larry Dyer, extension officer
from the Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, Michigan, USA.
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