Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2004, 1st and 6th lecture, Spiess 1990ab, Goldstein and Barber 2000, Spiess 2000, Thun and
Thun 2004).
Low-impact soil management
Soil cultivation measures are predominantly carried out with the aim of enhancing soil fertil-
ity and soil processes, and controlling for weeds. Depending on location and crop type, biody-
namic farming uses all types of soil cultivation from ploughing to no-till agriculture.
Including the landscape
Landscape design as an element of farm management has always been considered in biody-
namic farming (Steiner 2004, 7th lecture). There is a growing awareness of the role of land-
scape design at the farm level (Bockemühl 1992, van Steensel 2000, York 2002).
Design of the social and economic setting
The concept of land ownership is increasingly being questioned on biodynamic farms and the
land is no longer necessarily regarded as private property. Often it is transferred to charitable
trusts or similar organisations. Ways that aim to build economic relationships between pro-
ducers and consumers based on the principles of mutual responsibility and respect are being
pioneered. Agricultural work is also regarded as a therapeutic opportunity, and mentally
handicapped or spiritually ill people, troublesome youngsters, addicts, and convicts are often
integrated into the farm communities. The training of apprentices is of high priority, and in
many countries there are comprehensive training courses or agricultural colleges that specifi-
cally teach biodynamic farming methods. Regular courses and seminars for working farmers
are another field that is given much attention.
These guidelines leave much scope for each individual farm to work out its own strategy
congruent with the living conditions in its surroundings. The farm individuality, to which
much importance is attached (Steiner 2004), results from this detailed design. The manner of
soil cultivation, the exact design of crop rotations, fertilisation regimes, choice of varieties, the
apportionment of livestock categories, the balance between enterprises, the nature of social
relationships on the farm and economic relationships with the customers are all-incumbent on
the farmers and are not regulated. However, they are documented as part of the national
Demeter
inspections and are discussed and evaluated in professional journals, at regular association
meetings and at an annual international conference in Switzerland (Goetheanum 2004).
Background - what are the roots of biodynamic farming?
The concepts underlying biodynamic agriculture relate in particular to the spiritual radiance
of all earthly phenomena, including that of the inorganic pedosphere and the cosmos. The
physical-sensory reality is seen as an expression of the diversely structured spiritual world, the
development of which takes place through the processes in the physical world. However, this
idea of development is not strictly teleological, as it regards human beings as active creators of
future developments both in the positive and the negative sense. Therefore, the biodynamic
concept of ecology is not a conserving but a developing one.
These views are based on anthroposophy, a multifarious worldview, inspired by Rudolf
Steiner (1861-1925) with the core opinion that any thing, any occurrence in the world has its
cause in a spiritual world that is actually present and can fundamentally be an object of human
awareness. Anthroposophy, insofar as it concerns the perception of nature, understands itself
as giving an additional dimension, the spiritual one, which in no case would replace or deny
any basic natural law. The way to develop the ability to attain knowledge of this spiritual world
