Regenodynamics
Posted: 14 Jun 2024, 09:30
Biodynamic Agriculture Joins the Regenerative Movement
Sheryl Karas. M.A.
A systems approach to agriculture is one of the key developments in Regenerative Agriculture—it’s about looking at the farm and surrounding environment as an integrated whole when making decisions. In particular, it is about attempting to grow crops and raise animals with nature instead of “despite” it. In the best of circumstances, it is also about not making choices that harm the environment that supports the farm and the people who work on it (or live nearby). Native Americans and other indigenous people say that is how raising food was traditionally done. But in modern times conventional farming veered away from that concept in the pursuit of higher crop yields and efficiency in growing the most food for the lowest possible price.
However, back in 1924 in Europe, a system of farming was proposed by Austrian scientist and philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner(opens in new window) that used almost all the practices used in regenerative farming today (plus a few others) and also saw the farm and its environment as a system. It was, and still is, called “Biodynamic Agriculture(opens in new window)” and was started in response to the concerns raised by a group of farmers seeing rapid declines in seed fertility, crop yields, and animal health. Steiner believed that modern practices that attempted to treat farmland as factories that achieved results through synthetic pesticides and fertilizers were to blame—choices that wouldn’t be made if the land with all its plants and creatures was seen as a living system instead of as an inert object that could be manipulated without consequence. “Biodynamic” comes from the idea of biology in a constant state of dynamic transformation. (Think: photosynthesis and biogeochemical cycles such as the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles.) Steiner advocated that a farm be treated as a self-sustaining living organism working holistically with the forces of nature, and that is what led to the adoption of the term “organic farming.”
It should be mentioned that Steiner’s thinking was not just scientific but also strongly guided by spiritual beliefs and experiences. Because of that, there has been a movement to discredit his work, as is also true when it comes to the voices of indigenous people who rely on a combination of spiritual beliefs and lived experience in their approach to gathering knowledge—qualitative instead of quantitative, holistic instead of limited to controllable components. At this point in time, however, there have been so many quantitative studies showing the efficacy of most of the mutual practices Biodynamic and regenerative farming employ that it seems a shame to shy away from a forthright discussion of the topic. .....
Sheryl Karas. M.A.
A systems approach to agriculture is one of the key developments in Regenerative Agriculture—it’s about looking at the farm and surrounding environment as an integrated whole when making decisions. In particular, it is about attempting to grow crops and raise animals with nature instead of “despite” it. In the best of circumstances, it is also about not making choices that harm the environment that supports the farm and the people who work on it (or live nearby). Native Americans and other indigenous people say that is how raising food was traditionally done. But in modern times conventional farming veered away from that concept in the pursuit of higher crop yields and efficiency in growing the most food for the lowest possible price.
However, back in 1924 in Europe, a system of farming was proposed by Austrian scientist and philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner(opens in new window) that used almost all the practices used in regenerative farming today (plus a few others) and also saw the farm and its environment as a system. It was, and still is, called “Biodynamic Agriculture(opens in new window)” and was started in response to the concerns raised by a group of farmers seeing rapid declines in seed fertility, crop yields, and animal health. Steiner believed that modern practices that attempted to treat farmland as factories that achieved results through synthetic pesticides and fertilizers were to blame—choices that wouldn’t be made if the land with all its plants and creatures was seen as a living system instead of as an inert object that could be manipulated without consequence. “Biodynamic” comes from the idea of biology in a constant state of dynamic transformation. (Think: photosynthesis and biogeochemical cycles such as the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles.) Steiner advocated that a farm be treated as a self-sustaining living organism working holistically with the forces of nature, and that is what led to the adoption of the term “organic farming.”
It should be mentioned that Steiner’s thinking was not just scientific but also strongly guided by spiritual beliefs and experiences. Because of that, there has been a movement to discredit his work, as is also true when it comes to the voices of indigenous people who rely on a combination of spiritual beliefs and lived experience in their approach to gathering knowledge—qualitative instead of quantitative, holistic instead of limited to controllable components. At this point in time, however, there have been so many quantitative studies showing the efficacy of most of the mutual practices Biodynamic and regenerative farming employ that it seems a shame to shy away from a forthright discussion of the topic. .....