Holistic Management

The Holistic Decision-Making Process

As the term suggests, a “holistic” farmer's resources are managed as a whole unit rather than as isolated fractions. The farm operator begins by defining the whole. Resources such as vested human decision makers, land, livestock, equipment, money, and community are considered contributors to the whole. From those, a clear, detailed, values-based holistic goal is developed, which then becomes the centerpiece that guides and sustains production and profits.

[Page 240]Holistic financial planning empowers farmers to make decisions that are consistent with their personal values while simultaneously benefiting the environment, their community, and their bottom line. One of the distinctions of holistic financial planning is that a reasonable profit is planned on the front end. This creates a sense of accountability that mitigates the deficit spending in the operations that accompany much of modern agriculture. Expenses are then allocated into one of three categories: wealth-generating expenses that contribute to the current year's profit, inescapable expenses such as taxes and debt payments, and maintenance expenses that, however meaningful, do not contribute to the current year's profit.

One of the principle tenets of Holistic Management is that ultimately it is more expensive to work against nature than to work in harmony with nature. To work in harmony with the natural processes of the Earth's ecosystem, holistic managers are challenged to understand and conform to four fundamental natural cycles.

The first is the water cycle—water precipitates to the Earth, filters through the soil, is taken up by plants, or contributes to the water table reserve. When farmers value the water cycle, they contribute to the natural resistance to flooding, release water to flow freely through streams and springs, and minimize soil erosion.

The second cycle, the mineral cycle, describes the transition of minerals from the soil through plants and into animals, then back to the soil through composting or in the form of animal waste. Farmers who work in harmony with the mineral cycle mitigate the expense and undesirable effect of chemical fertilizers and amendments.

The third cycle is the dynamic community cycle, which produces biodiversity among plant and animal communities in ecosystems. Biodiversity contributes significantly to stability and pest control within the system. Holistic managers who embrace this cycle of community are especially averse to monoculture among crops and livestock.

The final cycle is energy flow. Holistic managers embrace the reality that the sun is ultimately the fuel that drives a healthy farm. Sunlight travels through the leaves of green plants that pass their accumulated energy along as they are eaten by other organisms, which are in turn consumed by other organisms. Uneaten plants that decompose pass their energy along to organisms in the soil, which are then consumed by secondary decomposers. During each step of the consumption or decomposition process, the sun's original energy is transferred or lost through heat.

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