.

---

PREVIOUS PROGRAMS

Holistic Management: A Systems Thinking Approach to Decision-Making for Farmers

Sun & Mon, April 3 & 4, 2005, 9 am to 5 pm, with Certified Holistic Management Educator Seth Wilner at Columbia County CCE , Hudson, NY

$150/one person - $250/two: Snacks & lunches included.

This workshop is being repeated by popular demand. Allan Savory, the father of Holistic Management, was the keynote speaker at this year’s Vermont Grass Farmers Association annual conference where Seth Wilner presented an introductory workshop to this two-day program. Holistic Management was originally created for grazers, although it is appropriate for all types of farming and small businesses.

Holistic Management is a framework for decision-making that takes into account the social, environmental and economic impacts of each decision we make. The goal is to learn to make decisions that satisfy immediate needs without jeopardizing future wellbeing, or the wellbeing of future generations. 

The workshop connects on-farm decision making to soil, water and mineral cycles, energy flow, biological community dynamics, and the impacts of tools and technology. One of the most important outcomes of the workshop is improving communications and collaboration between decision makers who are often husbands and wives, and/or parents and children. Thus the workshop is recommended for pairs or small groups of decision makers. 

Participants will develop, articulate and write a clear integrated goal for themselves and their farm including their personal values, their economic needs and their respect for ecological principles. Having established goals for quality of life, forms of production and future resources, they will then learn a process for testing decisions against their goals, as well as financial planning tools. 

In addition to being a Certified Holistic Management Educator, Seth Wilner is a University of New Hampshire Extension Educator, a small farms advocate, and a practitioner of Holistic Management in his own household. If you are curious about the value of the workshop, we will gladly put you in touch with past participants and/or Seth. For more information on Allan Savory and Holistic Management, go to www.holisticmanagement.org.

To register call to reserve your place at 518-271-0744, ext. 3. Then mail your check payable to Regional Farm & Food Project, 295 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180.