Many people are familiar with Demeter as a brand name but they don’t necessarily know what it stands for. A new magazine – ‘Living Farms’ – published by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum illustrates the Demeter principles and how they are applied around the world.
For the centenary of biodynamic farming Elif Oskan and Selassie Atadika offer a culinary evening at the Goetheanum with biodynamic ingredients from its own garden. The organizer, experimental gastronomy initiative ‘Steinbeisser’, likes to combine Haute Cuisine with artistically designed objects such as cutlery.
Agriculture nurtures human beings, fosters the earth and creates culture. Rudi Bind and Ueli Hurter explore this theme in their book ‘Biodynamic!’ on the ‘birth of biodynamic farming at the beginning of the ecological movement.’
Cows emit methane, a gas that affects climate. This effect does not have to be harmful. From the point of view of biodynamic agriculture, what cows eat, how they are kept and the facilitating of natural cycles can make them carers of land and climate.
Biodynamic agriculture was initiated a hundred years ago, in 1924, pioneering the eco-movement. Today, its dedication to healthy soil and food also provides impulses for a healthy social life. The method is implemented by both smallholders and large biodynamic enterprises.
The climate question is keeping governments busy. In their essay ‘Breathing with the Climate Crisis’, Lin Bautze, Ueli Hurter and Johannes Kronenberg show that it is a question that concerns everyone. On the occasion of the UN climate conference COP27 they call for an understanding of the earth as a living organism and partner.
On 1 February at 14.00 hrs, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum invites you to an media roundtable about agriculture as a cultural impulse, with Helmy Abouleish, Nadia El Hage, Vandana Shiva and Nathaniel Williams, chaired by Jean-Michel Florin, co-leader of the Section.
The biodynamic brand ‘Demeter’ is known around the world, the foundations of biodynamic agriculture less so. In the year leading up to the centenary, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum explores this approach as the continuation of a human cultural impulse and invites the eco-activist Vandana Shiva to speak at the Goetheanum about the relationship between human beings and the earth.
Climate change causes droughts, flooding and crop failures. The Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum sees a possible option for action in the idea of Rudolf Steiner‘s biodynamic farm organism. One feature of this is starting from the individual conditions of a region.
Anthroposophy can add perspectives to the findings of the academic sciences, based on an epistemological foundation, artistic approaches, practical application and ethical considerations. Members of the Goetheanum Leadership present examples of this in a video series.
Biodynamic farming produces food of high nutritional quality. Studies prove this to be measurable beyond subjective factors such as taste. The Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum will discuss biodynamic food quality at its online conference.
Manfred Klett is a farmer and he sees farming as the art and science of relations. The living relations in agriculture are the key to promoting the living beings intrinsic to them. Farming thus becomes a culture-building impulse.
Children who regularly spend time on a farm with animals have fewer allergies because exposure to diverse stimuli enhances the immune response. Nutrition specialist Jasmin Peschke therefore recommends more contact with nature.
Biodynamic farming is proof that agriculture without pesticides is possible. Intro-duced a hundred years ago, it is by now even applied to demanding cultures such as fruit, cotton, wine, coffee and bananas.
Eating good quality food improves health while malnutrition can lead to illnesses such as obesity or type 2 diabetes. For nutritionist Jasmin Peschke food quality is connected with people‘s attitude towards soil, plants and animals.
Biodynamic agriculture has listened to the climate concerns of the young people and the young people trust that they are being heard. Both will pool their strengths and experiences for the digital conference ‘Breathing With the Climate Crisis’.
In order to guarantee humanity‘s food supply we need plans for dealing with climate change, promoting biodiversity and improving soil fertility. Biodynamic agriculture works from multiple perspectives on a sustainable resilience by including the living world and the co-creating human being.
The Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum has set itself the aim for everyone to be able participate in the biodynamic agricultural and food culture and help to develop it. This assumes access to high-quality seed, a sound training and an environment that enables organic agriculture.
In 1924 Rudolf Steiner initiated biodynamic farming with a lecture course in Koberwitz (now: Kobierzyce, Poland). A new German edition of the course is planned for its one hundredth birthday. The Section for Agriculture and the Rudolf Steiner Archives are calling for source materials and photos.
As a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, awareness of the connection between personal health and ecologically produced food has grown. Jasmin Peschke, nutritional scientist at the Goetheanum, thinks that this awareness can inspire greater respect for the dignity of living creatures.
The Goetheanum is the headquarters for the School of Spiritual Science and the General Anthroposophical Society. The School of Spiritual Science with its eleven sections is active worldwide in research, development, teaching, and the practical implementation of its research findings and is supported by the Anthroposophical Society.
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