Bio-Dynamic Agriculture

Rudolph Steiner’s "Agricultural Course" came into being in Koberwitz Germany in 1924. It was the beginning of the development of the bio dynamic method which is now applied with the needed modification on all continents. Steiner had a profound insight into the relationship of the earth to the development of humanity through the ages. His overall aim was to enliven the soil in such a way that the food plants could again nourish the physical body of man. To this end, a considerable effort was made to amplify the concept of fertilization and introduce specially prepared substances to make the soil sensitive again.

Among the main observations contained in the Agricultural Course was that the earth is an aging organism and the plants no longer have the same strength as before. They need extra help to provide the needed nutrition for humanity.

The nutritional process is intimately linked to the ability of humans to think. We are composite organisms where thinking, feeling and willing have organic centres in the nervous, rhythmical and metabolic systems. And if we turn a plant upside down, we find a wonderful relation in the nutritional effects of roots to the nervous system, leafy parts to the rhythmical system, seed and fruity parts to the metabolic system. The grains strengthen the ego system.

And so the picture of a farm as a living organism, a "farm individuality," came about in which all parts together build a harmonious unit: the farmer as artist, scientist and even meditator. The need to strengthen seed quality, now a pressing concern, was also addressed.

Nature, in general, maintains fertile soil through a continual composting process from above the surface. This process provides food to the animals, which are an integral part of the organic process. With the opening up of the soil by the plough, a new area of food growing was developed: a beginning of the challenge to humanity to become co-creator of his future. The development of staple foods like rice, corn and grains played a significant part in the development of the various cultures in the east, west and central area of the globe.

But now this century is almost over. The "economic" (ego-nomic?) mentality has severed many intimate social relationships. The family farms have almost all disappeared and the environmentalists fight a desperate fight to save the Earth from the continuous blunder of the technical magicians.

The future of growing healthy food no longer lies with the farmer alone, but requires a fundamental change in the social structure of the next millennium.