Farm organism
Posted: 12 Feb 2025, 18:04
The farm as a living whole
Bind R, Hurter U; (2025) From the Agriculture Course to Sustainable Farming: 100 Years of the Biodynamic Movement Floris Books - ISBN 9781782509424
One of the key ideas of biodynamic agriculture is that of the 'farm organism' as a living whole. Rudolf Steiner even referred to it as an individuality.
The farm organism is understood as the productive working together of soil, plants and animals as they are cultivated by human beings. During the twentieth century, the industrialisation of agriculture splintered this organism into its separate parts, as farming became more specialised. Unfortunately, it is only in the specialised fields of dairy, arable, fruit or vegetable production that a profitable return on the investment of labour, capital and know-how is to some degree possible. The internal exchange of services between the various branches of a mixed farm such as manure from livestock, straw from arable crops is no longer viable and specialised farms must buy in such resources from outside. This led to the increasing use of artificial fertilisers, chemical pesticides and herbicides, which completed the industrialisation of agriculture. This occurred on a grand scale in the twentieth century, bringing with it both progress and problems.
The biodynamic movement has always seen itself as a place where the living agricultural whole is cultivated in all kinds of ways, despite real economic challenges. Each generation must learn to appreciate the value of this.
The farm organism
The model for thinking of the agricultural entity – whether it is a holding, a village or a whole valley – as an organism can be found particularly in mammals. Here each single bodily organ exists to serve the whole and derives its main purpose from it: we might think of the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys in human beings. Similarly, the various parts of the farm are seen as organs of the larger farm organism.
For example, the herd of cows is no longer simply seen as a source of income gained through the sale of milk. Instead, through the effect of grazing on the landscape and through using the manure they produce, the herd of cows becomes the metabolic pole of the whole organism. If these effects and resources are kept in mind, then the approach to keeping and raising animals will be different.
The focus of the farmer (or the farm community) is primarily on the farm as a whole - that is their main entrepreneurial task and function. The formation and management of the individual elements are secondary, and these must always accord with the requirements of the overarching organism. This orientation around the whole must not be pursued in an absolutist way, however. The farm must after all be able to survive and respond immediately to changing market conditions. The challenge is to meet these demands without being entirely dependent on them. The farmer's keen observation and management of the farm allows room for manoeuvre. It also helps to prevent a one-sided dogmatism from taking hold, which Steiner warned against.
The core principle of the farm organism is that it be self-contained. This is made possible by wide internal diversity and a closed cycle of substances: manure from the animals, which is spread on the soil to grow the fodder to feed them, and which then produces more manure. In the Agriculture Course, the aim of achieving as closed a cycle as possible is presented as the pre-condition for growing produce of the right quality. Biodynamic agriculture, like any other form of organic agriculture, is not concerned with the endless recycling of dead materials, but with substances that are thoroughly permeated with the life and nature of the place where they belong. Take nitrogen, for example, which has a completely different quality when released from the internal cycle of substances than it has when applied externally as an artificial fertiliser in a highly soluble form.
The manuring or fertilisation question is, for Steiner, one of 'the most important questions in agriculture, and it is on this point that he expands the idea of the farm organism as a living whole to include the concept of the 'farm individuality.
The farm individuality
With the idea of the 'farm individuality', Rudolf Steiner introduced a concept into farming that broke with the conventions of classical agronomy. With this idea, the human being as an individual with a unique biography is taken as a model for the farm. Every farm, every farm community, has its own many-layered character, a specific quality, and its own history. It is influenced by its situation, by its environment
and the cycle of the year. In this way, biodynamic agriculture takes on the colour and diversity of individual development and practice. It is no standardised scheme with fixed recipes and standards set in stone, rather it is an invitation to work creatively, and a way of engaging responsibly with the earth entrusted to our care.
From Rudolf Steiner's address to the Experimental Circle, June 11, 1924:
Bind R, Hurter U; (2025) From the Agriculture Course to Sustainable Farming: 100 Years of the Biodynamic Movement Floris Books - ISBN 9781782509424
One of the key ideas of biodynamic agriculture is that of the 'farm organism' as a living whole. Rudolf Steiner even referred to it as an individuality.
The farm organism is understood as the productive working together of soil, plants and animals as they are cultivated by human beings. During the twentieth century, the industrialisation of agriculture splintered this organism into its separate parts, as farming became more specialised. Unfortunately, it is only in the specialised fields of dairy, arable, fruit or vegetable production that a profitable return on the investment of labour, capital and know-how is to some degree possible. The internal exchange of services between the various branches of a mixed farm such as manure from livestock, straw from arable crops is no longer viable and specialised farms must buy in such resources from outside. This led to the increasing use of artificial fertilisers, chemical pesticides and herbicides, which completed the industrialisation of agriculture. This occurred on a grand scale in the twentieth century, bringing with it both progress and problems.
The biodynamic movement has always seen itself as a place where the living agricultural whole is cultivated in all kinds of ways, despite real economic challenges. Each generation must learn to appreciate the value of this.
The farm organism
The model for thinking of the agricultural entity – whether it is a holding, a village or a whole valley – as an organism can be found particularly in mammals. Here each single bodily organ exists to serve the whole and derives its main purpose from it: we might think of the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys in human beings. Similarly, the various parts of the farm are seen as organs of the larger farm organism.
For example, the herd of cows is no longer simply seen as a source of income gained through the sale of milk. Instead, through the effect of grazing on the landscape and through using the manure they produce, the herd of cows becomes the metabolic pole of the whole organism. If these effects and resources are kept in mind, then the approach to keeping and raising animals will be different.
The focus of the farmer (or the farm community) is primarily on the farm as a whole - that is their main entrepreneurial task and function. The formation and management of the individual elements are secondary, and these must always accord with the requirements of the overarching organism. This orientation around the whole must not be pursued in an absolutist way, however. The farm must after all be able to survive and respond immediately to changing market conditions. The challenge is to meet these demands without being entirely dependent on them. The farmer's keen observation and management of the farm allows room for manoeuvre. It also helps to prevent a one-sided dogmatism from taking hold, which Steiner warned against.
The core principle of the farm organism is that it be self-contained. This is made possible by wide internal diversity and a closed cycle of substances: manure from the animals, which is spread on the soil to grow the fodder to feed them, and which then produces more manure. In the Agriculture Course, the aim of achieving as closed a cycle as possible is presented as the pre-condition for growing produce of the right quality. Biodynamic agriculture, like any other form of organic agriculture, is not concerned with the endless recycling of dead materials, but with substances that are thoroughly permeated with the life and nature of the place where they belong. Take nitrogen, for example, which has a completely different quality when released from the internal cycle of substances than it has when applied externally as an artificial fertiliser in a highly soluble form.
The manuring or fertilisation question is, for Steiner, one of 'the most important questions in agriculture, and it is on this point that he expands the idea of the farm organism as a living whole to include the concept of the 'farm individuality.
The farm individuality
With the idea of the 'farm individuality', Rudolf Steiner introduced a concept into farming that broke with the conventions of classical agronomy. With this idea, the human being as an individual with a unique biography is taken as a model for the farm. Every farm, every farm community, has its own many-layered character, a specific quality, and its own history. It is influenced by its situation, by its environment
and the cycle of the year. In this way, biodynamic agriculture takes on the colour and diversity of individual development and practice. It is no standardised scheme with fixed recipes and standards set in stone, rather it is an invitation to work creatively, and a way of engaging responsibly with the earth entrusted to our care.
From Rudolf Steiner's address to the Experimental Circle, June 11, 1924:
"I have spoken about the fact that an estate or farm is always an individuality (in the sense that it is never the same as any other). Climate and soil conditions provide the essential foundation for the individuality of the farm. A farm in Silesia is not like the one in Thuringia or southern Germany. They really are individualities. Now it is the prevailing view of anthroposophy that generalities and abstractions are of no value whatsoever and they are of the least value if one wants to engage in practical realities."