To Top or Not to Top?
Building Holistic Thinking Muscle
Week 6: Sustainability
The field looks tidy. But is it taking you where you want to go?
After grazing, the topper rolls out.
The field is clipped.
The weeds are knocked back.
Everything looks… right.
Or at least, familiar.
But Holistic Management invites a different question:
Will this action support our Holistic Context?
This week our focus is the Sustainability check.
At this stage, you have already asked:
Now you pause and ask:
If we take this action, will it lead toward or away from the future resource base described in our holistic context?
Not right or wrong.
Just:
Toward… or away?
The real situation: topping after grazing
A farming family is transitioning.
They have always topped after grazing.
Why?
To encourage grass growth.
To reduce weed seed.
It looks like good farming.
But now they have a Holistic Context.
They have defined the Future Resource Base they are working toward.
It answers the question, "How do we have to behave and what must our land be like a thousand years from now to sustain successive generations living here?"
FUTURE RESOURCE BASE -- EXAMPLE
OUR BEHAVIOUR
Open. Friendly. Polite. Trusted. Respected.
OUR FUTURE LANDSCAPE
Land that is alive.
Soils that are rich.
Streams clean enough to drink.
Biodiversity everywhere.
Sustainability derives from a well-functioning ecosystem.
That topper is not just tidying.
It is making changes.
It removes plant material that would otherwise:
Protect the soil.
Feed soil organisms.
Build litter and organic matter.
Create habitat for insects.
And over time, repeated topping can:
Reduce ground cover.
Slow biological activity.
Limit soil building.
Compact soil through repeated machinery passes.
Sustainability derives from healthy behaviour.
Now shift the lens.
Why are we topping?
Partly for the land.
Partly for the eye.
Because neatness signals competence.
But the family has defined something deeper:
Trusted. Respected. Open.
That may require:
Explaining why the farm looks different.
Standing behind decisions that prioritise long-term soil health.
Being comfortable not fitting the mould.
So the question becomes:
Are we managing land…
or managing perception?
Without this check, the question is:
“Should we top this paddock?”
With it, the question becomes:
Is this action leading us to the future we want?
That is an entirely different conversation.
They may decide:
To stop topping altogether.
To chat with the neighbours and tell them what they are doing and why.
This is the power of the Sustainability check.
It does not tell you what to do.
It simply asks:
Is this action supporting our Holistic Context?
And once you ask that question honestly…
Some practices fall by the wayside.
Others grow stronger.
Sustainability is not decided in one bold move.
It is shaped in small, repeated actions, each nudging the future into view.
Next week
Next week we finish the series with Gut Feel.
After all the thinking, all the checking, all the analysis…
We ask:
How does our gut feel about this decision now?
