Holistic management is a systems-thinking approach developed by biologist Allan Savory to restore the world's grassland soils and minimize the damaging effects of climate change and desertification on humans and the natural world. This third edition of Holistic Management Handbook: Regenerating Your Land and Growing Your Profits is the long-awaited companion volume to the classic text Holistic Management, Third Edition. Crafted under the direction of Savory's longtime collaborator Jody Butterfield, this handbook is the key to developing a comprehensive holistic land plan based on Savory's principles that will help you to restore health to your land and ensure a stable, sustainable livelihood from its bounty.
This new edition, thoroughly revised, updated, and streamlined, explains the planning procedures described in Holistic Management, and offers step-by-step instructions for running a ranch or farm using a holistic management approach. Butterfield and her coauthors describe how to use the handbook in conjunction with Holistic Management Handbook to tailor a management plan for your unique combination of land, livestock, and finances. Their mantra is "plan, monitor, control, and replan". Using a four-part approach, the authors walk readers through basic concepts and techniques, help them put a plan onto paper, monitor the results, and adjust the details as needed. Appendixes provide updated worksheets, checklists, planning and monitoring forms, and detailed examples of typical scenarios a user might encounter. The handbook includes a comprehensive glossary of terms.
Ranchers, farmers, pastoralists, social entrepreneurs, government agencies, and NGOs working to address global environmental degradation will find this comprehensive handbook an indispensable guide to putting the holistic management concept into action with tangible results they can take to the bank.
Preface
PART 1. Holistic Financial Planning
Generating Lasting Wealth
Mastering the Basics
Creating Your Plan
Summary
PART 2. Holistic Planned Grazing
Getting Animals to the Right Place at the Right Time, with the Right Behavior
Mastering the Basics
Creating Your Plan
Summary
PART 3. Holistic Ecological Monitoring
Keeping Management Proactive
Mastering the Basics
Monitoring Your Land
Summary
PART 4. Holistic Land Planning
Designing the Ideal Layout of Facilities for a Grazing Operation
Mastering the Basics
Creating Your Plan
Summary
Appendix 1. The Context Checks in Summary
Appendix 2. Holistic Financial Planning Forms
Appendix 3. Grazing Two or More Herds in the Same Grazing Unit
Appendix 4. A More Refined Method for Calculating Grazing Period Adjustment Based on Herd Size Changes
Appendix 5. Grazing Planning Forms
Appendix 6. Interpreting Your Monitoring: 5 Scenarios
Appendix 7. Ecological Monitoring Forms
Glossary
Jody Butterfield is a former journalist specializing in agriculture and the environment. She is a cofounder of the Savory Institute. Sam Bingham, a Savory Network Accredited Educator, is the author of five books and numerous articles on the land and the people who make a living from it. Allan Savory is a former wildlife biologist and farmer who conceived of and developed Holistic Management. He is a cofounder and President of the Savory Institute.