What is the origin of biodynamic agriculture?
Biodynamic agriculture did not arise gradually, rather it had an absolutely clear starting point: the agriculture course, which was held at Whitsun 1924 in Koberwitz by Rudolf Steiner. For 10 days a specialist course for agriculture was given out of the stream of anthroposophical work. It amounts essentially to eight lectures, which were taken down in shorthand and after the course published step by step as a book. We call this book as well as the historical event the ‘Agriculture Course’ even to this day. For outsiders it is surely amazing that this Agriculture Course as a historic moment as well as a text even today can be the wellspring for thousands of people and for the biodynamic movement as a whole.
Rudolf Steiner was asked to hold the course on agriculture by farmers he was connected with. These farmers sensed the necessity of a radical renewal of this area of life and work. Steiner went into the questions of the farmers, and thus in some places in the lectures there are direct references to the traditional and modernistic conditions, in which the participants found themselves. On the other hand, Steiner as a spiritual researcher dealt with a lot of issues by tackling the principles involved and opened up profound viewpoints and broad perspectives on the productive relationships between soil, plant and animal in agriculture. Moreover, Steiner introduced completely new practical measures, more than anything else, the preparations.
Already at that time in Koberwitz the Experimental Circle of anthroposophical farmers was founded. This association then co-ordinated the practical trials in the various regions, took on the production and distribution of preparations, encouraged research projects, organised conferences, a journal was founded, etc. In a similar vein right up to the present day in a lot of countries associations have arisen to foster the biodynamic impulse and they are the organisational backbone of the movement as they have always been.
The name ‘biodynamic’ (i.e. biological-dynamic) does not originate from Rudolf Steiner, but was introduced in the early years after the Course. The reports go that the one group emphasised more the biological or the laws of the living realm and the other group more working with the forces or the dynamics. The term bio(logical)-dynamic then arose as a synthesis. Demeter as a term and trademark was introduced in the early 1930s as a sign and stamp of quality for the products. In 1977 Demeter International was founded in order to coordinate the politics of trademarking in a federal manner.
The Science Section at the Goetheanum was the most important contact point for the people and the work on the farms. In the first winter after the Agriculture Course, in 1925, the first Agricultural Conference was held at the Goetheanum. Since then such a conference has taken place every year to the present day. This conference is an important event in the course of the year and also viewed from a historical perspective for people who are connected with the biodynamic impulse. Every year it has a topical theme as its focus and consists of reports of people’s experiences, reports of research, of basic anthroposophical study and artistic contributions. From its modest beginnings it has developed into an event where 700 people gather from over 30 countries.
In the biodynamic movement people are consciously aware that the principles and basic indications of the Agriculture Course are relevant for a greater period of time. Gaining an understanding of them and putting them into practice must be done anew by each generation. The question of the current development potential of the biodynamic movement depends essentially on the possibilities of the individual in the present and his or her ability to work together with others.
Complementary to this are the knowledge and the will needed to co-operate increasingly with others in alliances. This applies to the co-operation within the biodynamic movement as well as to the co-operation with the organic movement and with civil society across the world. The World Agricultural Report, which was published in April 2008, clearly showed that ecological, regional, multifunctional agriculture, based on knowledge out of experience can best master the challenges of the future. The biodynamic movement as a pioneering movement of organic cultivation and as one of its most innovative groupings, as it has been all along, wants to and is able to make its contribution to this great challenge.