Press release -
Life-centred Farming. Wide-ranging research in biodynamic agriculture
Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 29th August 2019
Life-centred Farming
Wide-ranging research in biodynamic agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture produces high quality food and aims to contribute to the further development of agriculture. The brochure ‘Evolving Agriculture and Food’ documents the contributions to the first conference on biodynamic agriculture at the Goetheanum.
Biodynamic agriculture contributes to supplying high-quality food for mankind‘s basic requirements. Biodynamic agriculture has linked practice and research from the start, e. g. since 1946 in the German Forschungsring (research group). Nowadays, bodies such as the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) (CH) and the University of Kassel (DE) carry out research on various aspects of the biodynamic method. In September 2018 the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum – one of the coordinating centres for biodynamic agriculture – invited around 180 researchers and farmers to the first international conference on biodynamic research at the Goetheanum. Around 100 presentations and posters provided an overview of current research in biodynamics and are now available in the form of written summaries in English.
The findings include studies which indicate that the biodynamic method binds
higher amounts of carbon in the soil than other types of agriculture, so contributing to climate protection. Proposals for mother-bonded calf rearing in dairy farming form a main topic in the field of animal welfare. Ueli Hurter, joint head of the Section for Agriculture, stresses that research is more than the production of knowledge. What is needed is a research culture which is both data-oriented and also life-centred, which takes account of sentient living creatures and productively shapes reality.
(1667 characters/SJ; translation by Lynda Hepburn)
Brochure Evolving Agriculture and Food. Opening up Biodynamic Research. September 5th to 8th September 2018
Conference Contributions Topics Soil, Plants and Preparations, Agriculture, Farm Organism and Environment, Food quality, Nutrition and Health, The Role of Animals in Biodynamic Agriculture, Biodynamics and Society, Research Methods and Biodynamics
Online www.sektion-landwirtschaft.org/en/thematic-areas/research/research-2018
Contact
Verena Wahl, Tel. +41 61 706 42 11, verena.wahl@goetheanum.ch
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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.
