Dana strives to support inspired thinking and action in agriculture and rural communities. By thinking broadly and deeply about the systems upon which our society depends, Dana sees us better positioning the industry and our communities for the future. Dana’s work with Holistic Management Canada and with the Human Venture Institute has been foundational in developing her passion for supporting people to become resourceful, resilient, responsible and adaptive. Dana’s formal education was in Animal Science, earning a B.Sc. from the U of A but her much-valued informal learning has come from being on the land with other humans, flora and fauna. She believes that grazing livestock and poultry can heal our planet.

Today we are talking to Dana Penrice about her experience with Holistic Management Canada, Ecological Outcomes Verification, and the Regenerative Accelerator Program.

Dana shares what holistic management is and how it is similar and different from regenerative agriculture practices. Dana also shares her role with Holistic Management Canada and HMC’s goals and objectives. 

We discuss this quote, from the Holistic Management Canada Website’s “About Us” page, retrieved October 15th, 2023.  Full link to this page is included below. “There are 271,935 farmers in Canada managing approximately 153 million acres of farmland and ranchland. Land managers are facing growing uncertainty from increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, unstable financial conditions, and rising societal pressures. 2023 has been another unprecedentedly difficult year for farmers and ranchers on the frontlines.

Across Canada, in all ecoregions, farmers and ranchers are facing the same challenge. We have been living through relatively stable conditions and have gotten by with a recipe-type approach to land management. If I do this, I can expect this. In this new uncertain world, this approach no longer serves us.

We need an approach to management that helps land managers predict changes, diagnose problems, and design solutions in contextually-appropriate, adaptive and timely ways for the ecology, economy and for society. Holistic Management Canada is growing the network of practitioners and educators in Canada through our programs and our courses.”

We chat about some of the courses that are offered through HMC and what participants can expect from these.

We switch gears a bit to talk about Ecological Outcome Verification. Including, what is EOV and why it is useful for producers.  We discuss how producers can implement EOV on their farm and what that process looks like.

We also talk about the Regenerative Accelerator Program and how it supports producers.

We wrap up by discussing Dana’s role with and an overview of Young Agrarians and Dana shares one of her favorite resources to share with producers.

To contact Dana, please email [email protected] or find her on Facebook at @Dana Penrice or Instagram at @dana_penrice.

References and Links:

• Holistic Management Canada EOV website page, retrieved October 14th, 2023 https://holisticmanagement.ca/ecological-outcome-verification/
• Regenerative Accelerator Program https://holisticmanagement.ca/regenerative-accelerator-program/
• Holistic Management Canada Website “About Us” page, retrieved October 15th, 2023 https://holisticmanagement.ca/about/

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

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