There are so many people and farms out there these days trying to emulate each other. It drives me crazy to see folks trying to copy a persons idea and fully expecting it to work in their context. There are a lot of regenerative agriculture practitioners out there right now who think their idea is right and yours is wrong. There are certainly principles and truths that transcend everything. When it comes to your farm and the practices you choose the decision process should be made within your context. If you have ever noticed I always make it a point to say that “this is how I do things and it may or may not be right for you.” It’s all about your context. Meaning your land, your life and the goals you have established. I see this in every profession and industry, but it seems to be more prevalent in regenerative agriculture.

I read Joel Salatin’s Pastured Poultry Profits over ten years ago and tried to copy exactly what Joel did and guess what? It didn’t work in South Texas. His chicken tractor design revered all over the world did not work. It was too low to the ground and the air couldn’t flow. The conditions were too cramped for our 110 degree summers. It literally was an utter failure. I blamed Joel because I didn’t understand at the time that it’s the principles that are important, beyond that it must be within my context. Only until years later and experimenting with other designs did I learn that lesson. My context of labor and environment are very different from that of Polyface Farms. Looking back I can’t believe that I thought his exact ideas would work here. I am glad it happened this way and that I was able to learn from that experience.

If you are having trouble defining your context then decision making framework such as Holistic Management is invaluable. For our ranch business, Parker Creek Ranch, it has been the difference between barely surviving and thriving. From Holistic Management: A commonsense revolution to restore our environment by Allan Savory: “defining your context is fundamental to the management of anything complex and will guide the decisions and actions you take to achieve your goals and objectives. Often at times the context for our goals and actions may be focused on immediate needs, desires or a problems. The holistic context shifts the focus beyond them to a conscious awareness of the life we want to lead and the life-supporting environment and behaviors that help ensure it. You will find that framing your management and decisions within a holistic context things rapidly change for the better because many of the problems we face are really symptoms resulting from the unintended consequences flowing from past management.”

When I have an idea I certainly conduct research on the topic. Learning everything that I can. What has worked for others or didn’t? How can I learn from their successes and failures? I am constantly consuming knowledge. When I’m ready to materialize the idea I approach it by taking a foot forward. If it feels good I take another one and if it feels bad I take a step back, and so on. I monitor the process to make sure it makes economical and ecological sense. If it doesn’t I don’t proceed any further. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try something new. Think outside the box and don’t always just do what everyone else is doing. Where is the fun in that?