KH-RP-0180 Playing Chess, Not Checkers: Designing a Farm That Works With You

Adding crops or livestock to a farm brings more decisions and responsibilities, so it is reasonable to expect diversification to increase the workload. Tom Cotter’s experience shows how the outcome can depend on the way those enterprises fit together. Through diverse rotations, cover crops, grazing and longer-term planning, he describes building a biologically more complex farm that is, in important ways, easier for him to manage.

This course explores the management thinking behind that change. You will consider how timing can distribute workload, how land and livestock can perform several useful functions, and why repeated observation matters when deciding what to change. Each lesson includes a question to bring back to your own farm, followed by a practical activity to help you identify a small experiment suited to your conditions.

Listen to the full conversation

Listen to the complete episode, or use each lesson’s listening point to revisit its main idea.

Originally published as Episode 180 of the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, 28 May 2026. Audio is streamed from Libsyn.

Why this conversation matters

A farm can have more enterprises without every job becoming more demanding. These lessons examine how timing, grazing and rotation planning can share the work, while keeping the limits of Tom’s experience in view.

What you will learn

• Map workload peaks before adding an enterprise.
• Assess an acre across its full rotation, including costs avoided.
• Identify useful livestock functions and conditions that could cause damage.
• Use repeated observations before changing a management rule.
• Plan connected decisions and choose a small farm experiment.

How to use this learning experience

Work through five short lessons, revisit the suggested podcast sections and complete the practical activity in Lesson 5. Finish with a five-question knowledge check.

Estimated learning time: 25–35 minutes for the reading, activity and quiz, plus listening. The full conversation runs for approximately 66 minutes.

Important context

This course uses Tom Cotter’s reported farm experience as teaching examples, not universal prescriptions. Climate, soils, markets, livestock systems and infrastructure vary between farms. The podcast is produced by AEA and includes promotion of its services; KindHarvest does not independently verify the farm results described.

Related reading

More Diversity, Less Work and Playing Chess, Not Checkers.