Monitoring for Change Pays Off
There is only one guarantee in agriculture or other land-based businesses: “When we improve land health we realize improvements in production, profitability, and social well-being.” So, how do we confirm and/or measure improved land health? We must learn how to read the land as we walk across it, and learn how to conduct various biological monitoring practices, from simple to more complex.
Target Audience
ALL LEVELS: Farmers, farm managers, and other landowners interested in learning how to improve land health through the power of observation, data gathering and interpretation.
Course Objectives
The primary learning objective for this course is to enable you to begin successfully understanding observations and information you can easily gather from a piece of land. This will allow you to establish a baseline of the land’s health and determine if your management decisions are moving toward what you desire for the land in terms of health and productivity.
In this course you will learn how to:
- Make visual observations
- Develop a monitoring transect
- Collect data
- Summarize and analyze the data you collect
- Use these data to change your management to move the land toward what you want
Webinars
A majority of the work is carried out on your own schedule, which can include readings, photographs, videos, graphics and PowerPoints. A key component are assignments in Teachable, our virtual classroom. To pace and coordinate the independent study there are weekly webinars during the course to allow you to learn from presenters and other students and to ask questions in real time. If you miss or wish to review any webinars, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.
Webinar Schedule
Live instruction for 2024 has concluded. You are welcome to
enroll now to complete this course on a self-paced schedule and join our next
live session in Fall 2025. All webinars are recorded and posted in your
online classroom to watch anytime. Once enrolled in this course, you will
retain access to all materials indefinitely and may return to participate in
future live offerings of the course as well. Please join us!
Your Instructor
Phil Metzger is a farm and natural resources development consultant, retired from a 31-year career as a Resource Conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Phil instructs on various topics including: biological monitoring, land planning, farm, personal & business financial planning, goal setting, and improved decision making. He is a certified educator of Holistic Management (HM) and has personally practiced HM for over 20 years.
Student Testimonials
"The teacher, Phillip Metzger, has a lot of experience in this line of work. The class is fortunate to benefit from his years of knowledge."
“Instructors were well informed and excited to share their knowledge. Offered support and guidance and answered questions after lectures."
"I feel like I was managing my land somewhat blindly, just trying to
apply whatever "best practice" I had heard about in a book or at a
conference. This course gave me the language and skills to observe,
measure, and analyze my management and determine which practices were
having the impact I wanted."
Course Curriculum
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StartWeek 1 Webinar Slides and Recording
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StartFORUM: Introduce Yourself!
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StartOptional: Readings on Soil Health
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StartOptional: Readings on Ecosystem Processes - Strongly Encouraged!
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StartFORUM: Growing Soil As Our Primary Crop article and reflection
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StartOptional: Fancy a Short Quiz?
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StartExercise 1 - Ecosystem Health Analysis Worksheet
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StartWeek 2 Webinar Slides and Recording (0:08)
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StartOptional Reading: Brittleness: An Introduction
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StartOptional: Week 2 Quiz
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StartFORUM: What was one thing you learned from our 1st Webinar? Any "AH HA" moments you would like to share?
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StartExercise 2 - Tools & Ecosystem Processes Analysis
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StartAdditional Resource: Guest Speaker Sarah Williford on Ecosystem Processes
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StartFORUM: What did you learn from Sarah?