Welcome to the sixth of the monthly expert panel discussions. As I mentioned before, each month I’ll be hosting discussions and debates between some of the most prominent voices in regenerative agriculture, soil science, restoration land management and more.
In this session, I hosted a discussion on the holistic management framework with my friends and colleagues at Climate Farmers, a non-profit organization working to advance regenerative agriculture in Europe.
In this panel I got to speak with three of the most experienced and influential educators from the global network of Savory Hubs to share their knowledge about the wide applications of the holistic management framework. Since holistic management is often only associated with animal grazing, I wanted to hear from the women today about how relevant and influential it can be for people, not only in other types of farming businesses, but also in other aspects of life. In my work with the farming community that we’re building across Europe, the topic of holistic management keeps coming up because of this frameworks’ focus on managing the complexity that other forms of decision making work to simplify and reduce. In contrast to those methods, the idea of managing anything, from a business, to a community, relationship, or government, holistically involves understanding the whole and all the complexities within it. This is especially necessary when working with living systems and the unpredictable aspects that come with it.
Since these discussions are longer than the regular weekly episodes, I’ll keep the intro short and jump right into the introductions for our panelists.
Precious Phiri: is a member of the Regeneration International (RI) steering committee and also serves as RI’s Africa coordinator. She is also a training and development specialist in regenerative environmental issues and community organizing. She recently founded an organization called EarthWisdom, a network which she formed immediately after her full time nine-year career with Savory hub in Zimbabwe. Her work focuses on training rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock, and wildlife.
Sheila Cooke: works to enable farmers to regenerate soils whilst attaining a higher quality of life. As hub leader for 3LM, Land and Livestock Management for Life, and an Accredited Field Professional with the Savory Institute, Sheila is developing a network of Learning Hubs, Accredited Educators, and Ecological Outcome Verified producers of food and fibre.
Sarah Gleason: is a first generation bison rancher based in Hesperus, CO. She entered ranching after building a career first in consumer marketing and later in advocacy for regenerative agriculture and conservation. After working for multiple years with the Savory Institute and Holistic Management practitioners worldwide, Sarah launched into full-time ranching herself. She began her business in 2016, when she purchased her first 15 bred bison. Gleason Bison is a holistically managed, grass-fed bison operation committed to serving its community, regenerating the environment, and producing thriving animals.
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