Holistic management, key insights and brittleness by Ian Mitchell-Innes

1Copyright © Community Dynamics, South Africa
Holistic
Management

Holistic Management
Holistic Management is about
reducing risk in decision making
by having a holistic goal and
using planning procedures that
create a balance between
financial, ecological and social
factors.

“Holistic Management is….”
doing what you need to do to
achieve your holistic goal.

Key Insights on which Holistic
Management is based
Holism
• Nature functions in
complex, constantly changing and
unpredictable patterns or wholes and
will never be understood by only
studying the non-existing parts.

Holism
• Land is unmanageable - we can only
manage our choices and the use of tools
for influencing ecological processes.
• We manage wholes through a continuous
cycle of screening decisions, planning
and monitoring of actions towards a
holistic goal.
Management is based

• The Brittleness Scale
Management is based

On an imaginary scale of 1 to 10…
1 represents the extreme (rainforest) in a
non-brittle environment with high and
consistent humidity.
10 represents the extreme (desert) in a
brittle environment with low and infrequent
or erratic humidity.
Brittleness is determined by the distribution of
atmospheric humidity spread throughout the
year at soil surface in any environment.

• Providing the bugs, time, humidity
and even temperature in their gut
the animals are the only tool we
have available to us to cycle carbon
in brittle tending environments.
11
The Brittleness Scale
Management is based

• The tool of REST results in opposite
tendencies of change in the ecosystem at
different ends of the brittleness scale.
• In non-brittle environments rest tends to
restore bio-diversity and cover soils.
• In brittle environments rest has the
tendency to reduce bio-diversity and
increase bare soil.
The Brittleness Scale
Management is based

Management is based
The Predator-Prey
Relationship

• The behaviour of large herds results
in the necessary soil surface
preparation for optimal water
absorption and water holding capacity
of the soil, the cycling of nutrients, the
covering of soils with organic matter
as well as seed planting.
Management is based
The Predator-Prey Relationship

• Previous scientific recommendations
for the healing of degraded soils
tended to see grazers as a threat to
the recovery of grasslands.
• In Holistic Management the symbiotic
relationships between
grazers, grasslands and a host of other
organisms are recognized.

Overgrazing is a
function of time, not
of animal numbers
Management is based

Overgrazing is a function of
time, not of animal numbers
• The movement of animals and the tools of
grazing and rest are planned and monitored
by taking into account the time it takes for
perennial grass plants to recover under
varying growing conditions.
Management is based

There is one ecosystem that we
view from 4 different perspectives.
• Water
• Mineral
• Energy
• Community Dynamics
The Ecosystem Process

Mineral Cycle:
The cycling of nutrients from plants, to
other organisms to soils and back to
plants. Dark green plant colour is an
indicator of a healthy mineral cycle.

Energy Flow Pyramid
ABOVE GROUND
34
Decay
BELOW GROUND
Loss of biomass at each
trophic level because of
energy loss from
metabolism
SOIL SURFACE CONDITION IS KEY
SOIL SURFACE
Predators
Grazers
Growing plants
Living roots
Micro organisms, insects, invertebrates
Animals & insects
Predators
Decay

The volume of life in the ecosystem
(pyramid / tetrahedron) is dependent on
the size of its base.
Absolutely manageable:
At soil surface!
35
Leaf area Plant volume
Time for growth
Energy Flow

Energy Flow:
The capture of solar energy that is passed
on to different trophic levels above and
below ground. It is the basic potential for the
mass of life to survive and thrive.

COMMUNITY DYNAMICS (Succession)
42
SIMPLE COMMUNITY
GREAT FLUCTUATION
BARE
SOIL
SOIL
SURFACE
COMPLEX COMMUNITY
STABILITY
Degree of variation
in populations
SOIL SURFACE CONDITION IS KEY
COVERED
SOIL
• PLANT VOLUME &
HEIGHT INCREASES
• MICRO-ORGANISMS BUILD
SOIL STRUCTURE & DEPTH
• AGE STRUCTURE IS
MORE BALANCED

Community Dynamics:
Increased diversity of all life forms in
the community will lead to greater
stability, deeper, more mature soils
and higher energy flow.

Human creativity, money and
labour, and combinations of them will
be used in the application of other
tools.
They therefore are used indirectly on
the ecosystem.
For this reason they feature outside
the brackets in the Holistic
Management® Model.

Energy / Money Source and Use
What:
Is the energy or money to be used in this
action derived from the most appropriate
source in terms of my/our holistic goal? Will
the way in which the energy or money is to
be used lead towards my/our holistic goal?
Testing Guidelines – in Detail

This question helps you detect
consumptive uses of energy or money
that have no lasting effect, that become
addictive or make you dependant.

Gross Profit Analysis
(Comparing two or more enterprises)
What:
Which enterprises contribute the most to
covering the overheads of the business?
Testing Guidelines – in Detail

The Marginal Reaction between
enterprises is best looked at as gross profit
per input of your current limiting factor.
This could be Rand to invest, hours of time
or area available, etc.

More tips
• Use your common sense – it is a basic skill
for making a decision.
• Ideas must be checked for feasibility through
your current grazing plan, financial plan, and
land plan. In livestock situations the
Livestock Production Worksheet is the
central planning point from which all the
plans are based.
Making Holistically Sound
Decisions

• You must immediately plan some form
of early warning monitoring which will
help identify any change, towards or
away from the holistic goal.
• Before making a decision consider your
experience, the Management
Guidelines and any other factors in
developing the options.

Learning and Practice
• Relates to personal growth and ways of
enhancing human creativity.
• The knowledge under this topic also helps
to prepare people for paradigm shifts.
The Management Guidelines

Organization and Leadership
• Includes knowledge and skills that help to
nurture creativity and to design structures
and organizational procedures that facilitate
constructive collaboration and move you
towards your holistic goal.

Marketing
• Relates to human creativity and the
generation of strategies that are in line
with your holistic goal for selling
products and services.

Time
• Knowledge and skills that relate to
grazing and for determining when plants
and soils are ready to be exposed and
re-exposed to grazing.

Stock Density and Herd Effect
• Principles and knowledge that refers to
generating animal impact and helping to
enhance the use of animals to shape the
landscape.

Cropping
• Relates to living organisms and is
knowledge that helps people to more closely
imitate nature when growing and harvesting
crops.

Burning
• Relates to fire and helps people to better
determine when, if and how to burn and
what to do before and after a fire.
68

• These are methodical planning and
monitoring processes that act like a road
map for decision-making and creative
management of the
ecosystem, plants, land, animals and
finances to enhance the achievement of
our holistic goal.
The Planning Procedures

• While there are other financial, grazing
and land planning processes none of
them address the balance that is strived
for between ecology, finances and quality
of life that one strives for when managing
holistically.

Holistic Financial Planning
• Generating wealth in the true sense of the
word and creating a financial plan that
leads to your holistic goal. Usually it is
done annually before your fiscal year
begins and is an essential cash flow
management tool.

• Relates to living organisms and
challenges us to look to age
structure instead of numbers of
single species.
Population Management

Holistic Financial Planning
• It produces greater
knowledge, accountability and ownership
around financial dynamics because
everyone accountable in the whole that is
managed is involved at some stage or
another in the planning and monitoring.

People are prompted to examine their
situation annually to identify if and what
may be blocking progress towards their
holistic goal overall. The removal of this
blockage is given first priority in all
planning of activities for the year ahead.

Holistic Grazing Planning
• A grazing planning procedure that helps
you get your animals to the right place at
the right time for the right reasons.

It uses a detailed step-by-step guideline
developed to simplify complex and
ever-changing circumstances and a
graphic planning chart to help land
managers remember the various
management factors they need to take
into account.

• Holistic grazing planning involves the
manipulation of the timing and length of
grazing, area of land and numbers of
animals while catering for numerous
variables related to management, other
organisms and weather.

The planning steps occur in a specific
order, so you can effectively plan for a
desired outcome that leads towards your
holistic goal as whole.

• In the growing season the length of
grazing periods is based on the time it
takes for grazed plants to recover and to
produce the maximum amount and quality
of forage.

In the non-growing season the aim is to
ration out the forage so that it lasts until
the next growing season begins, with
optimal animal performance.
The possibility of a drought or a delayed
growing season is catered for every year
through a reserve that is based on time
not reserved area.

• Livestock moves are planned backwards –
starting with where animals need to be at a
critical time and in what condition and then
planning backwards so you know where
they have to come from to get there.

The grazing plan coordinates
cropping, wildlife needs, other land
uses, as well as the personal schedules
of those operating the plan.

• The use of animal impact (through stock
density and herd effect) for land restoration
and increased bio-diversity is incorporated
into the plan.

Stocking rate is based on the
effectiveness of the water cycle and the
amount of rainfall received and therefore
is re-adjusted annually at least.

• In operating the plan, grazing periods
are adjusted to cater for actual daily
growth rates of plants, livestock
performance and/or wildlife needs.

A methodical annual biological monitoring
procedure is used to make adjustments to
activities to ensure that the grazing
planning and/or other land uses actually
lead towards the future resource base as
described in your holistic goal.

Holistic Land Planning
• A process for planning and gradual
development of infrastructure
(water, fencing, handling facilities etc.) on
large tracts of land where livestock are
run.

• No matter what state your infrastructure
is in, it may need adaptation to make
your move towards your holistic goal
more cost effective overall, faster and to
make management easier.

Holistic Management grazing planning
requires the use of different tools and
thinking, that may well clash with
infrastructure planned in other ways.

• Although the ideal plan may be
developed in a relatively short time, it is
implemented in annual steps in
conjunction with the financial planning so
that improvements will actually make
more money and improve the ecology
rather than be a cost.

92
PLAN
MONITOR
CONTROL
REPLAN
(assume you
could be wrong)
The Feedback Loop

• When you are ready to implement your
plan or decision, you determine what you
will monitor to ensure that the desired
outcome is achieved.
• If you find you are off-track you need to
change what you are doing (control) to get
back on track or re-plan completely if
things have gone too far off track.
The Feedback Loop

• No change is as bad as a change
leading away from your holistic goal.
• When your plan or decision affects the
environment, always assume that you
could have been wrong with your plan
as nature’s complexity exceeds the
thinking capacity of humans.
The Feedback Loop

• The key aspect and earliest sign of
change in environmental monitoring lies
with soil surface condition.
• Financial monitoring should be done
monthly as deviations from the plan are a
given.
• In a social situation do not assume
wrong at the outset because of the
Pygmalion effect, but it is still important
to monitor carefully.
The Feedback Loop

• Successful in technology
(transport, weapons, microchips, etc.) if we
ignore the effect on the environment
• Has only created problems with all things
natural
(agriculture, forestry, fisheries, human
relationships, and desertification) - these
are all multidimensional wholes
Conventional Decision-Making

Why does it not work?
• It only considers parts and never
considers wholes.
• Goals are normally problem orientated
yet these problems have been caused
by ourselves.
Conventional Decision-Making

• Animals are not available as tools yet
they are the only tool available to
reduce the volume and recycle the
carbon locked up in plant material in
most of the world.
• Biodiversity is not considered as capital
that is irreplaceable.
• Even the collaborative approach will
fail when hunger mounts

Viewpoint:
CONVENTIONAL
• Complex world of interconnecting parts
HOLISTIC
• Complex world that functions in wholes
Conventional vs. Holistic
Decision-Making

Goals:
CONVENTIONAL
• Better life implied through many goals
• Problems treated as goals
HOLISTIC
• One goal in three sections: Quality of
Life, Forms of Production, Future
Resource Base (Landscape)
• Problem solving never a goal
Decision-Making

Tools:
CONVENTIONAL
• Creativity/money/labour
• Rest, fire, technology, living organisms
• No tools that can cycle carbon over most
of earth’s land surface
HOLISTIC
• As for conventional plus
• Grazing and animal impact to cycle carbon
Decision-Making

Decisions based on:
CONVENTIONAL
• Expert opinion, past experience, research
results, peer pressure, intuition, cost-
effectiveness, profitability, laws &
regulations, compromise, sustainability, etc.
HOLISTIC
• Seven questions, on top of common
sense, that ensure decisions are
ecologically, economically, and socially
sound, relative to the three-part goal.
Decision-Making

Monitoring:
CONVENTIONAL
• Assume all decisions are correct and
monitor to record results.
HOLISTIC
• Assume decisions affecting the land are
wrong, and monitor to produce the
desired results.
Decision-Making

Holistic management, key insights and brittleness by Ian Mitchell-Innes

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Holistic management, key insights and brittleness by Ian Mitchell-Innes