Agriculture is in the news. We are seeing the effects of our farming methods on the health of our environment, the effects of some of our "food-like" substances on human health, and the effects of the increase of grain prices on the global economy. Modern industrial agriculture practices present serious challenges to the future sustainability of life on our earth.

As early as 1924, European farmers were concerned with the effects of chemical fertilizers on their soil and on the quality of the food they were producing. They asked Rudolf Steiner, scientist, visionary thinker and social activist to help them develop the kind of farming methods that would combine a scientific understanding of the world with recognition of the spirit in nature and humanity. Biodynamic agriculture was born out of the eight lectures Steiner gave in June 1924 (several years before Sir Albert Howard's first publications on organic agriculture).

Biodynamics arises out of an all-encompassing worldview that Steiner called anthroposophy, a modern path of human development based on clear, disciplined thinking and exact phenomenological observation that can lead to conscious experience of the spiritual forces and beings underlying the world. Not just agriculture but all aspects of life can be enhanced through the insights gained along this path.

As society attempts to cope with the turbulence caused by our materialistic approach to agriculture, the biodynamic model of the farm as a whole, self-sustaining, living organism can become a timely solution to contemporary challenges and can help to bring renewing forces to community life.

For more information about biodynamic agriculture, visit the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association's website, where you can find an explanation of biodynamic agriculture and further information about Rudolf Steiner.