What is biodynamic agriculture? History, principles, and practices

Can tomorrow's agriculture draw inspiration from the methods of the past? As environmental challenges compel us to rethink our models, a century-old cultivation method is gaining increasing interest: biodynamics. Discover the history, scientific and spiritual foundations, as well as the concrete practices of this holistic method that seeks to "heal the earth."

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The origins and history of biodynamics

More than 100 years ago, in June 1924, Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner delivered a series of eight lectures to farmers. These conferences took place on the estate of Count Karl von Keyserlingk in Kobierzyce, Silesia (present-day Poland).

This series of lectures is now considered the founding text of biodynamic agriculture (a term popularized after Steiner's death in 1925). Amidst the proliferation of chemical and industrial agriculture, Rudolf Steiner offered an early response and a comprehensive alternative to regenerate soils. This process led to the development and theorization of the method, culminating in the publication of the reference work “Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening” by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer in 1938.

To build this model, Steiner drew inspiration from various sources: the works of Paracelsus, Goethe's vision of nature, Hahnemann's homeopathy, alchemy, and Eastern philosophies. Far from rejecting science, he denounced an overly materialistic, theoretical approach disconnected from the reality of living beings.

What are the main principles of biodynamics?

The biodynamic method is based on a holistic and interconnected vision of the agricultural ecosystem. Here are its 5 fundamental pillars:

• The Earth as a living organism: The soil is a living entity embedded in a universe characterized by a physical and spiritual matrix.
• Creative life forces: Material substances carry within them energies and shaping forces.
• The influence of celestial rhythms: Cosmic cycles and the movements of celestial bodies directly influence earthly and plant life.
• The autonomy of living beings: Animals and humans possess a form of emancipation from strict celestial rhythms.
• The agricultural domain as an individuality: The farm is conceived as a living, dynamic, autonomous, and diversified organism.

Goethe and Steiner's phenomenological science

To understand biodynamics, one must consider its theory of knowledge, strongly inspired by Goethe's scientific work. It is a phenomenological science that proposes:

1. A sensory approach: Integrating the subjectivity and feelings of the researcher to avoid abstraction, continually refining one's own organs of perception, setting aside prejudices.
2. A qualitative approach: Freeing oneself from the sole "tyranny of quantitative measurement," observing the plant's form, habit, and movement.
3. An expanded vision: Taking into account the local, global, and cosmic context so as not to isolate the object of study.

In the field, the biodynamic practitioner takes a fresh and fully present look at nature. The plant is not a machine that can be modeled, but a living being in constant co-evolution with its environment (like the symbioses between trees and fungi, or the interactions between flowers and pollinators).

 The entire sky with its stars participates in the growth of plants

By appealing to their own feelings, the practitioner escapes the objective/subjective dualism, which joins the science/art dualism. For Steiner, art is a bridge between the visible (the sensible) and the invisible (the supersensible).

Biodynamic preparations and dynamization

At the heart of the practice, Rudolf Steiner prescribed eight specific preparations based on a complex system of correspondences between plant forms, soil elements, and planets.

The use of preparations is based on the observation of phenomena using a sensory and qualitative approach. One must be able to perceive atmospheres, adopt an attitude of openness and receptivity to perceive the interplay of cosmic and telluric forces, structuring and destructuring forces, and understand the different polarities and shaping forces that work on matter. Only then can the practitioner act in one direction or another, according to the needs of the plant or the soil. It is a pragmatic approach, dependent on the terroir, soils, and weather.

The main danger would be to apply ready-made recipes without understanding them, without connecting them to one's spiritual experience. Steiner was convinced that life must be poured everywhere, so that everything acts.

Key techniques include:

• Manure and horn manure: Used at homeopathic-like dosages, they have a vitalizing and "astralizing" action on the soil.
• Stirring and dynamization: Everything must be in rotation. Water and preparations are stirred to create a spiral motion (vortex), then reversed. This technique is based on the theory of intentionality by philosopher Franz Brentano (Steiner's, Freud's, and Husserl's teacher) which states that all consciousness is intentional. Humans transmit their intention to what they shape.
• Respect for cosmic rhythms: Nature operates on a principle of permanent polarity and oscillation (cosmic/telluric, ascending/descending, light/darkness, expansion/contraction). These polarities are set in motion through the rhythmic system, both at the macrocosmic level (planets) and microcosmic level (human being), these two dimensions being linked. Everything that happens on earth is only a reflection of what happens in the cosmos. This gave rise to the lunar and planetary calendar used by biodynamic farmers and winegrowers.

In summary: a holistic and meditative method

In conclusion, biodynamics is a holistic method that seeks to apprehend the subtle and invisible planes of life. The phenomenological observation of plants and the Earth here resembles a true meditative practice. It does not seek to oppose science and spirituality, but to unite them as two sides of the same knowledge.