Dear HMI Community,
What is Holistic Management to you?
Earlier in the year we had interesting conversations and feedback when we put this question to ourCertified Educator community. We had about as many different responses as there were respondents.That is because what we do has relevance in many different realms. Everyone agrees that people, aHolistic Goal, weighing decisions toward that goal for adaptive management, and an effective feedbackloop are central to what we accomplish. The outcomes and successes are as varied and diverse as thelandscapes, communities, and individuals who use these principles and tools.
IN PRACTICE, HMI’s bimonthly publication, eloquently documents the stories and experiences ofour community. Each issue showcases what people on the land and in rural communities are able toachieve through the practice and application of holistic thinking and management. It has documentedthe extraordinary accomplishments of our diverse and innovative community.
Decisions drive change. Management is doing, engaging and taking decisive actions. We needaction with informed decisions to function in complex environments. Monitoring, then interpretingand acting on the monitoring data to create balanced and sustained progress to improve ecosystemfunction, profitability, team performance and satisfaction, and whatever other component of the whole isimportant to the people involved.
We are also pleased to report that with the help of our Certified Educators HMI educated 6,436people in 2021. These people influence almost 6.8 million acres of land across the world. Thesestatistics show the influence and reach of our Certified Educator community and underlines thesignificance of HMI’s Certified Educator program to support more Holistic Management educators.HMI is working hard to serve a diverse array of producers, from whatever community, environmentor aspect of farming they are involved in. We have created different tiers of Holistic Managementeducators, realizing that various levels of educators and skills level can all contribute to spreadingawareness, supporting practice, and mentoring. We provided 88 partial or full scholarships in2021 worth $25,450. At least 30% of the scholarships went to people from historically under-servedcommunities, and 63% of scholarships were awarded to women.
We continue to work on refining both our learning and post-training support programs to maximizethe 75+ days of training we deliver each year with the help of 143 collaborating organizations. HMI’sboard has also allocated funds for us to develop and refine both mentor programs and online, self-pacedlearning programs as part of our efforts to reach more people and be relevant to them with theircurrent challenges.
We are proud of what we have achieved and want to offer a special thanks to HMI’s dedicated andpassionate staff. This is a great team doing crucial work.
We look forward to executing our plans in 2023 and building on our 2022 work. These successesand unlocking the potential of HMI can only happen with your support, interest, and participation. We look forward to joining you on your journey, and are grateful for all our students, supporters, donors,and funders.
With gratitude,
Wayne Knight, Executive Director
Walter Lynn, Board Chair
Click here to read the full annual report.