Holistic Management practitioner, Rebecca Thistlewaite, was recently highlighted in an article in the Alberta Farmer Express on farmer goal setting. Rebecca has also written the book, The New Livestock Farmer published by Chelsea Green.

Rebecca talked about how many farmers work off-farm as well as their full-time farming, which is a recipe for burnout. She had experienced this problem firsthand when she was farming in northern California with her husband and was trying to make the farm pay for the incredibly high land prices. Even though they were grossing nearly $500,000/year the income wasn’t enough and the hours too long.

They sold the farm and started a smaller in Oregon because they created a holistic goal to guide their decisions. “Going through that process really helped us decide which enterprises to cut, which ones to focus on, and where we wanted to put our focus and our passions,” she said.

To learn how to set a holistic goal and make decisions to move you toward that goal, download for free HMI’s Introduction to Holistic Management e-book.