Consider Biodynamics

Liebig’s mea culpa

VITICULTURE and dairy are two of the best areas of agriculture for revealing the virtues of biodynamics - viticulture because quality is what wine excellence is all about, and dairy because every tank of milk is tested for quality. Biodynamics is about quality and self- sufficiency; the two go together. Both utilize lifeforce to attract nitrogen from the atmosphere while phasing out fertilizers.

Chemical agriculture is a 20th century phenomenon based on 19th century chemist, Justus von Liebig’s premise that plants only take up nutrition as soluble salts - an assumption he repudiated* toward the end of his life. However, by then the fertilizer industry was making great profits by capitalizing on his error and they buried him.

The shortcomings of this ‘chemical’ approach became the starting point for biodynamic agriculture, which is why Rudolf Steiner introduced his agriculture course in 1924. But, by then the chemical method had received a very strong boost from the discovery in 1909 of the Haber-Bosch Process, which used methane to produce ammonia from air. Meanwhile, biodynamic agriculture was pigeonholed and marginalized as a true believer cult rather than a scientific method.

The meaning of biodynamics

Chemical agriculture approaches things with massive doses of soluble salts while ignoring biology and generally being unaware of life activities. On the other hand, the biodynamic approach is described by its name. Bio means life, and dynamics means activities or processes. With biodynamics, the first priority is imparting life. Supporting and nurturing biological processes follows from there.

Biodynamics differs from other methods by embracing life processes as a means of creating a self- sufficient farm organism. Successful biodynamics requires shifting from piecemeal thinking about isolated factors to a systems approach where the parts all fit together to make a living farm organism. Just as a functional diesel engine is more than a list of its parts, a living farm organism is more than its plants, animals and soil food web.

Though biodynamics requires paying close attention and addressing true needs, this low-cost approach produces profits without supporting parasitic industries.

Nowadays, in any given region of the world, there are farmers successfully practising biodynamics. After all, there is no more efficient way to produce quality wine, milk or any other commodity, and biodynamics has no use for poisons. Biodynamic farmers don’t go to bed with throbbing headaches and upset guts after a long day of spraying toxic chemicals. As one masters the biodynamic method, the products not only are delicious, they are safe.

Unique characteristics

Each soil and each location are unique, and each biodynamic farm is an individual whole. Whether farming the steep, rocky, shales of Germany’s Moselle Valley, or the sparse, drought-prone rangeland of Western Australia’s outback, biodynamics brings out the unique characteristics of place no matter the production goals.

Of course, missing or deficient elements must be considered, especially in the early stages. Biodynamics can organise and hold together what is there, but it doesn’t organize what isn’t there.

Comprehensive soil tests that look at totals, as well as solubles, is recommended. If one or another nutrient is not there in totals, it should be applied. Just keep in mind if a little is good, a little less more often is better. After all, one must take care when adding salt to soup. Chemical agriculture, however, encourages overdosing even though this sets up the conditions for weeds, pests and diseases.

Biodynamics works with the organisational patterns of activity that give rise to growth and reproduction. Life produces order and complexity out of the universal chaos. By using biodynamic preparations, biodynamic growers sow the seeds for generating order out of chaos, and the more these preparations are used in balanced and effective ways, the more rapidly and successfully the biodynamic farm attracts whatever it needs.

Nutrient deficiency symptoms

There are many ways of applying biodynamic preparations. Identifying which preparations are needed at what times and in what ways are key to successful biodynamic agriculture. This can be a meditative process that builds life into the farm, as one must attend to what nature tells us. Nature’s messengers are nutrient deficiency symptoms, as well as the imbalances that result in weeds, pests and diseases. Killing to get rid of something that wasn’t understood in the first place ignores the message while shooting the messenger.

Nature works like a symphony. Nutrient inputs are important, though raising livestock and growing herbs like stinging nettles, yarrow, dandelions and valerian are of equal importance. Because of the dynamics involved, engaging what is already there by composting, diversified cropping and animal husbandry takes the place of NPK fertilizers and the more-on mentality.

Understanding life processes, such as the Biochemical Sequence, is key to establishing balanced plant, animal and microbial populations and nurturing them with biodynamic preparations. ☐