The smallholder farmers of indigenous cultures seek to live in harmony with the earth. Biodynamic farming is for them a way of bringing together tradition and innovation to achieve a unity of earth, humans and cosmos.
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.
Healthy eating is a question of relationship. It starts with the time one takes to attend to the flavours one can distinguish. Shopping is also part of it, because it reveals what foods and consequently what kind of food production consumers support.
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.
The earth’s water balance is out of joint. Extreme weather conditions lead to droughts in some instances and to flooding in others. Water itself is not to blame for this situation, rather it is an expression of outer conditions for which human beings are responsible. Jasmin Peschke, head of nutrition at the Goetheanum, points this out on the occasion of World Food Day 2023.
An organism that knows what it needs and that is therefore able to regulate hunger, satiety and appetite is prerequisite to healthy, strengthening eating. Nutritionist Jasmin Peschke advocates developing and cultivating a good relationship to food.
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.
The Vital Speisehaus organic bakery has extended its premises to 750 square metres. What started as a small bakery catering for the company‘s own needs has grown into an enterprise employing eleven bakers who produce a million items a year of a range of 230 products. Sourdough bread baked in a wood-fired oven is a the latest addition to this range.
Around 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away globally every year – a third of the entire annual food production. Each food item has a history and each item that is thrown away although there is nothing wrong with it could help those who are starving.
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.
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.
There is no such thing yet as an uninterrupted, transparent and sustainable supply chain. By using ‘impacTrace’ to investigate the impact products have on the economy, on culture, society and on the environment, ‘Economy of Love’ establishes their true‘ costs. Helmy Abouleish, one of the standard‘s initiators, is a partner within the World Goetheanum Association.