[139] Allan Savory - Famous Farmer

Clifford Allan Redin Savory (born 15 September 1935 in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) educated in South Africa (University of Natal, BS in Zoology and Botany) pursued an early career as a research biologist and game ranger in the British Colonial Service of what was then Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia) and later as a farmer and game rancher in Zimbabwe.

“The Wild Life of Allan Savory”

C.J. Hadley

Reprinted from the Fall issue of Range Magazine, 1999

"Throughout that," says Savory, "there was constantly just one theme-poor land means poor people, social upheaval, political unrest. We farmers and ranchers have destroyed more civilizations than armies have done. Armies change civilizations. We farmers and ranchers destroy them, they never rise again. And I've been obsessed with this problem of why this is happening, why it's happened for 10-15,000 years, and why we've never been able to stop it.”

Allan Savory's memoir reveals his involvement in preparing for guerrilla warfare through the British Colonial Service in the Northern Rhodesian Game Department. He learned local bush skills and animal tracking techniques that could be adapted for military use. Initially, his recommendations for military training were rejected, but his ideas gained traction when the elite all-white Special Air Service (SAS) incorporated his tracking and bush craft courses for counter-insurgency purposes.

During the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, Savory was a Captain in the Territorial Army. He quietly opposed this move. He proposed forming a Guerrilla Anti-terrorist Unit (GATU) to infiltrate and eliminate African nationalist insurgent groups, but internal disputes led to the unit's disbandment. Instead, the Tracker Combat Unit (TCU) was created, focusing on tracking and targeting insurgents.

In 1970, Savory was elected to the Rhodesian Parliament, representing Matobo constituency. He later reformed the Rhodesia Party, aiming to secure the future of white Europeans in Rhodesia through strong government and economic superiority. However, his party supported racial segregation, and his controversial statements led to his removal from leadership.

In 1977, Savory led the National Unifying Force (NUF) against Ian Smith's policies, but the party didn't win any seats. Savory opposed the Internal Settlement under Bishop Abel Muzorewa and, due to conflicts with the government, left Rhodesia in 1979 for self-imposed exile to focus on his scientific work.

After leaving Zimbabwe, Allan Savory introduced holistic planned grazing to reverse desertification in grasslands. He co-founded the Center for Holistic Management in 1984, later forming the Savory Institute in 2009. He also established the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe in 1992, aimed at training holistic land management techniques.

Four principles

Savory stated four key principles of Holistic Management® planned grazing, which he intended to take advantage of the symbiotic relationship between large herds of grazing animals and the grasslands that support them

Nature functions as a holistic community with a mutualistic relationship between people, animals and the land. If you remove or change the behavior of any keystone species like the large grazing herds, you have an unexpected and wide-ranging negative impact on other areas of the environment.

It is absolutely crucial that any agricultural planning system must be flexible enough to adapt to nature’s complexity, since all environments are different and have constantly changing local conditions.

Animal husbandry using domestic species can be used as a substitute for lost keystone species. Thus when managed properly in a way that mimics nature, agriculture can heal the land and even benefit wildlife, while at the same time benefiting people.

Time and timing is the most important factor when planning land use. Not only is it crucial to understand how long to use the land for agriculture and how long to rest, it is equally important to understand exactly when and where the land is ready for that use and rest.

In his TED talk “How to fight desertification and reverse climate change” in February of 2013 Savory shares the story of when he was a biologist in Africa in the 1950s tasked with improving the landscape for national parks. After reviewing evidence at the time, he comes to the conclusion that they must reduce the number elephants in an effort to help the land maintain stability. The government had a team of experts to evaluate his research, and they agreed. Savory says “Over the following years, we shot 40,000 elephants to try to stop the damage. And it got worse, not better. Loving elephants as I do, that was the saddest and greatest blunder of my life, and I will carry that to my grave.” Since then, he’s determined to devoting his life to finding solutions. 

His system for livestock management mimicking nature works like this… Greatly increase the number of cattle, sheep, or goats confined on a fenced off piece of land for a short period of time. The animals will eat the grass, then pee, poop, and smash the remaining grass into the ground. At that time, they’re moved to another paddock to repeat the cycle. This stores carbon and breaks down methane. In nature, large herds of animals are pushed out of an area due to predation. But with intensive rotational grazing, this is done manually using physical barriers.

Still, Criticism of Allan savory stems from the methane gasses produced by the cattle needed for his regeneration efforts. As well as the claims cattle are still the problem and should be reduced, not increased. Sounds like the critics missed the part about getting rid of the elephants not working… 

Allan Savory and his wife Jody Butterfield live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is currently 87 years old

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4

Image Credit: menub.earth