Are you looking for a new approach to manage your farm while being environmentally conscious and don’t know where to start? It can be intimidating, but the actions taken now can greatly impact the future. Holistic farm management could be the answer you have been looking for.
Holistic Management is a whole system approach that helps you better manage agricultural resources in order to reap sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits. This can be achieved by maximizing the management of current resources. Everything can work together as a whole rather than individual units.
These are some of the factors that are normally separate from one another, but if you were to consider your operation as a whole and incorporate these practices together, one can benefit the other, increasing profitability, saving time, and maximizing your resources.
- Plants can take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
- Animal manure can add valuable nutrients to the soil and lessen the need to use fertilizer.
- Pasture keeps the soil covered and provides land for grazing, lessening feed costs.
- Managing your soil and what you plant can improve soil structure, fertility, and health, leading to lasting improvements and profitability.
- Minimizing disturbance to the soil can help maintain your soil profile.
There is a return on investment for participating in regenerative practices. Healthier soil and healthy waterways will lead to higher land values. The incentive is there; regenerative ag practices increase the capital value of land. And the best place to start is with holistic management.