You are probably aware of organic food production but I wonder if you’ve ever come across the notion of bio-dynamic agriculture? The movement began in 1924 when a group of farmers concerned about the deterioration of the soil asked Rudolf Steiner to lecture them on its improvement.
Biodynamic Agriculture
Bio-dynamic agriculture views the farm holistically and as living organism. It believes the soil requires careful tending for future generations and that without good soil farming is impossible. The health of the soil is said to affect the health of the crops, this in turn improves the health of the animals that eat it and the humans who in turn eat them. Obviously, this requires a liberal application of manure and compost but it also necessitates the rotation of crops; foods such as potatoes which draw a lot of nutrients from the soil are replaced the following cycle with crops that nourish the land such as peas: equally, deep rooted crops are replaced in turn with surface rooted vegetables. Furthermore, the farmer needs to understand the optimum depth to plant each crop for their soil they also need to understand astrology so they can decide the best time to plant according to astrological influences, thus working with nature rather than against it.
Each farm aims to be self-sufficient in relation to energy, plants and stock. The farmer needs to understand the requirements of his or her farm since what works on one farm may not work at all on another. They also need a basic knowledge of herbalism, so they can prepare plant based fertilisers to feed their land. This is very hard, skilled work but it must be so much more rewarding than running say, a large industrial poultry unit where the welfare of its creatures and the land is seldom given a thought – reassuring indeed!
