World Fair Trade Day 08 MAY 10

Biodynamic agriculture was the first ecological farming system to arise in response to commercial fertilizers and specialized agriculture after the turn of the century, yet it remains largely unknown to the modern farmer and land-grant university system. The contribution of biodynamics to organic agriculture is significant, however, and warrants more attention. The following provides an overview of biodynamic farming and includes additional details and resources on the specialized practice of biodynamic composting.

Biodynamic agriculture is an advanced organic farming system that is gaining increased attention for its emphasis on food quality and soil health.

Biodynamic agriculture developed out of eight lectures on agriculture given in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian scientist and philosopher, to a group of farmers near Breslau (which was then in the eastern part of Germany and is now Wroclaw in Poland). These lectures, as well as four supplemental lessons, are published in a book titled Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, originally published in English as An Agricultural Course. (1)

The Agriculture Course lectures were taught by Steiner in response to observations from farmers that soils were becoming depleted following the introduction of chemical fertilizers at the turn of the century. In addition to degraded soil conditions, farmers noticed a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock. Thus, biodynamic agriculture was the first ecological farming system to develop as a grassroots alternative to chemical agriculture.