Agriculture Conference Dornach

Clearly Mr H J Heywood-Smith got the chance to go to Switzerland and make extensive notes of what he heard. Fortunately there’s a copy here.

It started …. “Private Notes. H. J. Heywood-Smith, 47 Redcliffe Square, London, S.W. 16.

Monday, 21st January, Dr. Wachsmuth: “THE AGRICULTURAL

INDIVIDUALITY IN RELATION TO SURROUNDING WORLD FACTORS.”

9 a.m.

Dr. Wachsmuth explained that this was the fourth Agricultural Conference held at the Goetheanum, and that it could not be expected that we should deal with the more elementary questions that had been considered in the earlier years of our work.

Members of the Circle who desired information on such matters should approach individuals who have gathered experience in our methods and gain instruction from them. In the first Annual Conference they had dealt with the Plant World; in the second year with the Animal World: in the third year with the soil; and now we were about to consider the subject of The Agricultural Individuality. ….

Presumably it was during this visit that Mr Heywood-Smith got some wheat that he brought back which inspired Barbara Saunders Davies as reported in her memories of Dr Pfeiffer.

It was in 1935 that Mr Heywood-Smith brought some fine ears of wheat back from a visit to Dornach. He told us that these had been developed by Dr Pfeiffer from a small, primitive, almost wild wheat by breeding and biodynamic methods. This was my first introduction to any practical applications of Dr Steiner’s ideas and it impressed me.