About Us
The Australian Holistic Management Co-operative
Values and Vision
The Co-operative promotes Holistic Management practices to enable thriving
lives and landscapes – see
the AHMC Holistic Context – Values & Vision. The
Co-op provides members with support, training, mentoring and ecological
verification of their produce. Members also receive free newsletters,
promotion, online courses and discounts on major events.
See here for the full list of
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS, plus information on joining the Co-op and
the fee structure.
We are a Hub of the Savory Institute, whose mission is the large-scale
regeneration of the world's degraded grasslands through Holistic Management.
See our Hub
listing. We promote member produce and services, and offer Ecological
Outcome Verification, an assessment scheme to measure the health of soil,
biodiversity and ecosystems.
The concept of the co-operative arose from the 2016 Dubbo Holistic Management Conference
held by Hooves
4 Humus and the Australian Holistic Management Educators Group. In 2017 Farming Together
awarded us a grant to establish the Australian Holistic Management Co-operative.
The establishment meeting took place in July 2018 and the co-operative was
registered by ASIC as NSWC32856 in September 2018. Here is some more on Holistic Management and the setting up
of the Co-op.
(The Australian Holistic Management Cooperative gratefully acknowledges the financial and other
support it received in 2017-18 from The Farm Co-operatives and Collaboration Pilot Program - the Farming
Together Program).
Governance of the AHMC
The CEO is Helen Lewis, and the board is comprised of Directors Michael Gooden,
Rebecca Gorman, Sam Johnson and Brian Wehlburg. The Secretary and Treasurer is
Dave Ellis.
CEO Helen Lewis is an Accredited Holistic Management Educator and co-owner
of Picots Farm, which holistically produces grass-fed and finished beef.
Helen's experience over 25 years includes community development, policy
advising, agripolitics, agribusiness in Central Australia, holistic
supply-chain management, company directorships, and 20 years as General Manager
for the $1.2 billion Outback Way project.
Director Michael Gooden
owns and operates Old Man Creek with his wife Heloise. Old Man Creek is an Angus cattle stud
located at Sandigo in the Riverina, NSW. Their aim is to breed animals that
have been raised on grass in a cell grazing operation all their lives and they run a
regenerative grazing business based on Holistic Management principles.
Director Rebecca Gorman has a background in journalism, and now raises beef on
Yabtree West near Gundagai in southern NSW, using the principles of Holistic
Management to focus on regenerating soil and improving the land's general
biodiversity. She uses the tools of planned rotational grazing, extensive tree
planting and Natural Sequence farming.
Director Sam Johnson has been interested and involved with Holistic
Management since the early days of its introduction to Australia.
It has proven itself as a very viable process for regenerating the land and
fostering strong businesses and families. Currently, along with his family, he
is involved in their farm business near Young called Boxgum Grazing, where they
directly market beef, lamb and free range pork.
Director
Brian Wehlburg delivers Holistic
Management training and consultation across Australia through
Inside Outside
Management, and is also a board member of Holistic Management International. He
has experience as a farmer and grazier both in Africa and Australia and is
passionate about the importance of regenerative farming in our way forward.
