Whole-System Approach Managing Grazing to Restore Soil Health and Farm Livelihoods
This paper is a literature review on the ecological impacts of grazing, and finds that where managed properly (employing a “whole-systems approach” and “adaptive, goal-directed grazing methods”) livestock are essential to ecosystem service sustainability and improvement. Soil organic matter increases were sufficient to yield a net sink of 2 tons of carbon per hectare per year.
Climate change mitigation as a co-benefit of regenerative ranching: Insights from Australia and the United States
This paper argues that the infusion of holistic decision making into the practice of planned grazing, or “regenerative ranching,” results in a suite of ecological, economic and social benefits that are the main factors keeping adherents on the regenerative path. Climate change mitigation is only a ‘co-benefit’ or after-thought. The use of holistic decision-making in the implementation of managed grazing amplifies its effects and increases regenerative potential, and, by extension, climate change mitigation potential.
Transformational adaptation on the farm: Processes of change and persistence in transitions to ‘climate-smart’ regenerative agriculture
This paper analyzes the experiences of farmers in Australia who have undertaken and sustained transitions from conventional to regenerative agriculture, the majority of whom are Holistic Management practitioners. The authors conclude that transitioning to regenerative agriculture involves more than a suite of ‘climate-smart’ mitigation and adaptation practices. Rather, it involves subjective, nonmaterial factors associated with culture, values, ethics, identity, and emotion that operate at individual, household, and community scales and interact with regional, national and global processes.
A half-century of Holistic Management: what does the evidence reveal?
This comprehensive literature review describes the main tenets of HM and addresses the longstanding and unresolved controversy over its legitimacy. It additionally provides a meta-analysis that not only provides an up-to-date review of the multidisciplinary evidence and ongoing arguments about HM, but also provides a novel explanation for the controversy.
Impacts of holistic planned grazing with bison compared to continuous grazing with cattle in South Dakota shortgrass prairie
Paper assesses Holistic Planned Grazing outcomes in shortgrass prairie of the Northern Great Plains of North America. Researchers compared key ecosystem functions on the ranch of long time Holistic Management practitioner Mimi Hillenbrand who grazes bison, with those on neighboring cattle ranches using set stocked light continuous (LCG) and heavy continuous grazing (HCG).
Reassessing the role of grazing lands in carbon-balance estimations: Meta-analysis and review
This study compared the carbon balance reported by national inventories that followed the IPCC, with an alternative estimation derived from the meta-analysis of science-based, peer-reviewed data. Results show that the potential for grasslands to sequester carbon is large and unaccounted for in standard IPCC models.
Effects of holistic grazing management on milk production, weight gain, and visitation to grazing areas by livestock and wildlife in Laikipia County, Kenya
This paper studied the effects of holistic planned grazing on milk production, weight gain, and visitation to grazing areas by livestock and wildlife in Laikipia County, Kenya. Results found that, with significantly higher numbers of grazing animals, the number of wildlife more than doubled, average milk yields increased, and animal weight gain nearly doubled compared to traditional grazing areas.
Deficiencies in the Briske et al. Rebuttal of the Savory Method
In this paper, Dr. Richard Teague examines the shortcomings and inaccuracies of his colleague Dr. David Briske’s claims against Allan Savory’s methods.
Benefits of multi-paddock grazing management on rangelands: Limitations of experimental grazing research and knowledge gaps
This paper refutes recent research that finds no benefits for vegetation or animal production under “multi-paddock rotational grazing” in comparison to continuous grazing. It finds that these studies were small scale and fixed protocol experiments that did not adequately match the experience of successful managers.
Rangeland Management for Improved Pastoralist Livelihoods: The Borana of Southern Ethiopia
This dissertation asks what can be done to revitalise degraded rangelands, and suggests that Holistic Management can help practitioners and pastoralists re-apply indigenous knowledge and skills under modern conditions to re-establish a dynamism important to rangeland health.
