Here we look at Biodynamics; what it is; how it’s different; preparations to enhance soil and plants; and the benefits. This is part of our series on Growing Sustainably to help stop climate change.
The term ‘organic farming’ was first coined by Lord Northbourne to describe #biodynamic methods @BiodynamicUK #biodynamics
Biodynamics is a regenerative, sustainable, and organic form of agriculture that aims to give back more than it takes. It’s about farming in a way that is ecological, ethical, and as part of nature with the knowledge that everything is connected. Instead of buying everything in, Biodynamic farmers aim to be as self-sufficient as possible, seeing their farm as its own ecosystem. Biodynamics is practiced globally by farmers, winemakers, gardeners, beekeepers and supported by researchers, advisors, and trainers. Biodynamics can be practiced at a farm scale or in the garden and allotment.
The thing to consider as you learn about Biodynamics is that whatever Biodynamics does not permit, such as the use of dangerous chemicals, is allowed in conventional agriculture. And, there is a LOT that Biodynamics does not permit because it’s bad for the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet. Lots of the non-organic and non-biodynamic food has been altered in some way – to extend shelf life or increase profit or so the product can be shipped to the other side of the world – so it’s not really food. It’s a scary thought. Based on a lot of research, I’ve found that those modified foods are just slowly poisoning the human race, which is why it’s so important to consume food that has been produced using Biodynamic or Organic methods.
In this piece, when I mention what happens on Biodynamic farms, I mean farms certified by Demeter. More on that later.
Why Biodynamics?
- Biodynamics was born from the knowledge that humans have degraded the land
- Biodynamic farms are not polluted with artificial fertilisers and chemicals
- Soil is regenerated and improved, a critical part of reversing global heating
- Healthy soil reduces flooding, drought, and fire hazards
- Biodynamics uses a diversity of microlife, plants, and animals to create resilience
- It’s about creating the right habitats so that plants and animals thrive
- More nutritious food, 35% more birds, and 23% more insects
- Biodynamics is about farming with the sun, moon, and cosmos
- Biodynamics is low-cost, low-tech, and can be practised by everybody
- The aim is to give back more than we take, to improve food as well as the planet
How Did Biodynamics Start?
Biodynamics is the oldest form of organic agriculture, based on a series of lectures given by Rudolph Steiner in 1924. This series of lectures was simply titled, Agriculture. A perfect title considering agri-culture highlights the importance of culture and its connection with farming, food, humans, and the earth.
In the 1920s, farmers in Germany noticed the negative impact of industrial practices and the use of chemical fertilisers, including nitrogen as an artificial fertiliser.
Steiner said that conventional farming would pay off in the short-term but would risk terrible long-term consequences to humans, plants, and animals, including the collapse of the bee population, because of conventional pesticides, around the year 2,000. We now see this first hand in 2021. His predictions were spot on.
Steiner believed that we are what we eat and to help the planet thrive we have to grow better food. Steiner knew the importance of nourishing the soil, not the plant. He also believed that every farm should be as self-sufficient as possible and that includes keeping animals to create a healthy ecosystem.
One of the most enlightened parts of Rudolf Steiner’s recommendations is that Biodynamics is low-cost, low-tech, and a way of farming that can be practiced by everybody. Let’s think on that for a second and consider who stands to benefit from biodynamics – people and planet – vs who stands to benefit from conventional agriculture – a small number of giant chemical companies.
Because of the climate crisis, global heating, and a significant increase in awareness during the Covid pandemic, many people are questioning where their food comes from. Questioning mass production and factory farming.
Many of us have become completely disconnected from the world we live in. Biodynamics helps us to reconnect with the natural world, helping people and planet to thrive for the benefit of us and future generations.
Today, Biodynamics is overseen globally by a non-profit called The Biodynamic Federation Demeter International (BFDI). The BFDI is a global movement of farmers, manufacturers, researchers, and local associations, such as the Biodynamic Association in the UK, representing more than 6,500 farmers with over 221,000 ha of farmland in 65 countries on all continents.
What Is Biodynamics?
The Biodynamic approach and philosophy can be adopted by everybody from farmers, market gardeners, and bakers, to manufacturers and consumers.
Biodynamic farming is about working with all elements, together, from soil, forests, meadows, wetlands, and cultivated land, to flowers, shrubs, animals, and people. It’s about supporting the health and wellbeing of the whole.
Long-term studies have shown that #Biodynamic soils are more deeply rooted and contain more earthworms and microorganisms than conventionally farmed soils @bfdi_demeter #regenerativeagriculture
Biodynamics combines old-fashioned farming values, knowledge of the different influences from inside and outside of our planet, and the latest scientific research into working with and enhancing soil microlife.
Let’s break that down into specifics:
Caring for Plants and Animals
Biodynamics is a higher standard than organic. Biodynamics is about creating the right habitats so that plants and animals thrive and this results in more nutritious food.
- Biodynamics is about having only the right amount of animals for the farm to create the right balance, the opposite of conventionally farmed grain fed animals
- Pasture fed animals, through holistic planned grazing, reverse desertification, regenerate soil, improve soil fertility, and help the soil to sequester carbon to reverse global heating
- Animals are fed a 100% organic diet, at least 50% comes from the farm or local partner
- Biodynamic animals are never fed Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) or hormones, are not treated preventatively with antibiotics, and not forced to grow faster than comes naturally.
- Homogenisation, ultra-high temperature processing, and extended shelf life milk is prohibited. Biodynamically produced milk contains high levels of vitamin E, beta-carotene, and the beneficial omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
- Manure and vegetable waste is used to make compost to improve soil life
- Biodynamic cattle always keep their horns. Horns are an organ with a strong blood supply and are connected to the respiratory system. Research has shown that horns are important for communication within the herd, physical heat balance, digestion and metabolism.
- Tail cutting and tail docking is prohibited
- At least 10% of a Biodynamic farm has to be dedicated to biodiversity
35% more birds and 23% more insects are found in #organic farmland thanks to the creation of natural habitats and the absence of chemical and synthetic pesticides @bfdi_demeter #landstewards
- Most seeds are produced by large seed companies. These seeds have to be bought every year. Plants grown using Biodynamic open pollinated seeds guarantee no genetic modification and seeds can be saved from each years crops for growing the following year, another way that Biodynamics increases self sufficiency
- Biodynamics knows that monoculture is not the answer and that a diversity of microlife, plants, and animals leads to resilience.
That’s a big list, and there is a lot more, but to sum it up Biodynamics is an approach that tackles the climate crisis and global heating, knows that we have been exhausting natural resources, and says that we are responsible for living in a way that allows people, animals, and plants to thrive.
Poultry on Biodynamic Farms
- Poultry are kept in flocks with cockerels, given room to scratch and roam outside
- Poultry have more space on perches, at the feed trough and at drinking stations
- Single animal cages are prohibited
- Absolutely no manipulation of beaks, combs, or wings
- Organic feed is the integral food foundation for all breeding animals
- Genome editing and preventative antibiotics are not used
- Synthetic means to increase fertility and performance are prohibited
- Modern poultry have short lives, focused on either producing a lot of eggs or fattening quickly to be sold for meat. Biodynamic farmers are always looking for better welfare. This has led to the return of ‘heritage’ and ‘dual-purpose’ breeds that grow slowly, produce a constant supply of eggs, and eventually are sold for meat.
Biodynamics Produces Better Food
- Food that is full of vitality and nutrients
- Food and products that are wholesome and nourishing
- Food is harvested at peak ripeness to guarantee superior taste, more minerals, vitamins, and flavonoids.
- The use of nitrates, linked with the creation of cancer-causing chemicals, is prohibited. Only flavor extracts are permitted
Absolutely No GMO’s
Biodynamics sees GMO’s as a real threat to human health and the environment. Why are GMO’s dangerous?
Gene editing can cause large deletions, insertions, and rearrangements in DNA, which can affect the function of multiple genes. Dr. Michael Antoniou @kingscollegelon #NotInMySupermarket
Because GMO’s are so invasive it’s not possible to guarantee the production of food that is free from GMO’s.
Farming with the Sun, Moon, and Cosmos
I was sceptical the first time I heard this, but it’s true, and the only reason I was sceptical is because we have lost touch with the natural world. After all, moon phases used to be common knowledge with farmers, just a few generations ago.
Decades worth of extensive research has shown there are optimal times to conduct work on the farm and in the garden, based on the type of plant, such as a tomato that is a fruit plant, or the activity, such as pruning trees or working the soil, and based on the position of the earth in relation to the sun, moon, planets in our solar system, and the positions in relation to the astrological zodiac.
Plants don’t have the freedom to pick and choose what they eat or how much light they get which means they are perfectly in tune with all the influences of nature and the seasonal cycles.
To put this into perspective, here are some common cosmic influences:
- Consider the heat we feel from the sun, without the rays that travel from the sun into our atmosphere there would be no life on earth
- Gravity from the moon moves entire oceans and gives us tides
- At night, the moon often reflects light from the sun
When we think of those common cosmic influences, the other influences become easier to accept, even if it’s something we can’t see, but then again, we can’t see the more than 7 billion microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil, but they do exist.
Some of the strongest influences come from the moon, which makes sense as it is our closest neighbour in the cosmos. If the moon can move our oceans, just think of the influence it can have on water in the soil or sap in plants. Here are examples of influences from the moon:
When the moon is descending, the moon’s gravity helps to move sap into the lower part of plants. This is a good time to transplant seedlings, work the soil, and spray Biodynamic soil preparations.
When the moon is ascending, the moon’s gravity helps to move sap into the upper part of plants. This is a good time to harvest fruit and spray the Biodynamic plant preparation, Horn Silica, more on that later.
A full moon has been shown to have powerful water forces. This is a good time to sow seeds. This influence is easy to understand when we consider that a full moon is reflecting a significant amount of extra light from the sun.
When the moon is farthest from the earth, called apogee, this is a good time to plant potatoes and harvest fruit crops.
We are not alone inside our planet. There are influences from all over the cosmos. The Biodynamic approach helps us to benefit from these influences.
Though not obligatory, #Biodynamic farmers often consult an astronomical calendar to help assess optimum times for jobs such as sowing and planting @BiodynamicUK
The Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar is the go to for Biodynamic farmers and gardeners. Based on decades of research, the Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar shows us the best time to sow, plant, and work the four types of plants, categorised in this way:
Root and Earth plants such as beetroot, carrot, garlic, parsnip, and potato
Light and Flower plants such as broccoli, cauliflower, and flowery herbs
Water and leaf plants such as asparagus, brussels sprouts, lettuce, rhubarb, and spinach
Warmth and fruit plants such as courgette, cucumber, pea, and tomato
There is a huge body of research behind these findings. They can take some time to accept and understand. A good place to start is with the Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar, based on decades of research and in its 59th year in 2021. If you’re still unsure, consider that everything that exists on earth came from the cosmos. The cosmos might look black and empty but there is a constant stream of particles, magnetic fields, and radiation. Let’s just say that it’s important that we reconnect with nature and use all influences to our advantage.
Biodynamic Agriculture Enhances Soil Life and Plants
There is a complex world beneath our feet, called the soil food web. Healthy soil stores carbon and makes nutrients and water available to plants. It’s amazing that, back in the 1920s, Rudolph Steiner knew the importance of feeding the soil. With modern science we can now see the amazing microlife that lives in healthy soil. Remember the stat I quoted earlier, that one teaspoon of healthy soil has more microorganisms than there are people on the planet. Well, it’s those microorganisms that turn sand, silt, and clay into healthy soil and feed the plants with nutrients and water.
About 970 million tonnes of fertile soil are lost to erosion in the European Union every year – enough earth to raise the entire city of Berlin one metre @bfdi_demeter #RegenerateEarth
For that reason, regenerating and improving soil is absolutely critical to the future of people and planet.
When comparing Biodynamic and conventional farming, we see higher fertility in Biodynamic soil:
57% more rooting intensity:
- Based on average 0 – 55 cm, winter roe, DOK
- Conventional 100%
- Organic 103%
- Biodynamic 157%
40% more earthworm mass:
- Based on grams per sqm
- Conventional 100%
- Organic 130%
- Biodynamic 140%
61% more activity of microorganisms:
- Based on average 0-55 cm, winter roe, DOK
- Conventional 100%
- Organic 143%
- Biodynamic 161%
43% less leakage of nitrous oxide:
- Based on N2O measured over the crop rotation, DOK
- Conventional 100%
- Organic 75%
- Biodynamic 57%
Biodynamic Preparations
In Biodynamics, soil fertility is of critical importance. Healthy soil creates a healthy ecosystem and improves the nutrients, flavour, and aroma of food. Biodynamic preparations, made using herbs, minerals, and cow manure stimulate and improve soil life, in a natural and balanced way.
It’s important not to confuse Biodynamic preparations with other additives and remedies that can create an imbalance. Biodynamic preparations create the right environment for the soil microlife and plants to develop in a natural and balanced way.
The other significant difference is that Biodynamic preparations can be made by anybody, making them low cost and accessible to all. So, when Biodynamic preparations are recommended, it isn’t so that giant chemical companies can make money. It’s because the Biodynamic preparations work. After all, who stands to gain from promoting Biodynamic preparations when they can be made at home or on the farm?
There are two types of Biodynamic preparations:
- Compost preparations
- Spray preparations
Compost Preparations
- Six preparations are used including yarrow, chamomile, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion, and valerian. Each transformed through fermentation.
- When the compost pile is built, the six preparations are added
- They stabilise nitrogen and other nutrients
- Increase the quantity and diversity of microorganisms
- Regulate the decomposition and humus forming processes in the soil
- Make nutrients – such as sulphur, potash, nitrogen, calcium, silica, and phosphorus – available in the organic form needed for healthy plant growth
- They help to create stronger, more robust and pest and disease resistant plants
Spray Preparations
- Used to enhance soil life and strengthen photosynthesis and enhance ripening
- Made using horn manure or silica and put through a fermentation process
- Only a tiny amount of the preparation is needed, making it very economical
- Preparations are stirred, called dynamizing, in warm rain water then sprayed
When used together, the compost and spray preparations help plants to develop in a healthy and balanced way, in relationship with the soil, water, air, warmth, and cosmic influences, to be more resistant to pests, diseases, and climate change, and to get all the nutrients they need to produce nourishing food.
Biodynamic preparations are an essential support for both main goals of Biodynamic Agriculture: healing the earth by creating farm organisms that are connected to cosmic influences and providing food that supports the spiritual development of mankind.
Christoph Simpfendörfer, Demeter farmer and General Secretary of the Biodynamic Federation Demeter International
Now for Some Specifics on the Biodynamic Preparations
Chemical fertilisers were developed from first world war bomb making technology. Nerve gas technology was used to create weed killers and pesticides developed for one thing and one thing only, death, indiscriminate death. We don’t need to develop artificial chemicals and dangerous fertilisers when nature does it all for us. Rather than killing the bad, it’s more important to strengthen the good.
Biodynamic preparations work with the most amazing and powerful plants from nature. Plants that I once saw as weeds but now see as super, nutrient giving, resilience building plants. Let’s take a look at them:
Yarrow:
Yarrow has an amazing capacity to regenerate the earth. The flowers pull carbon, nitrogen and other elements from the atmosphere and into the soil. Yarrow:
- Has sulphur rich flowers
- Regulates potassium metabolism in the plant
- Regulates nitrogen, carbon, sulphur and potassium processes
Chamomile:
Chamomile roots loosen compacted earth, which helps other plants find food and water. The chamomile preparation helps the garden to efficiently recycle leaves and other compostable items. Chamomile:
- Is high in potash
- Contains sulphur and calcium
- Ensures compost is broken down correctly with a stable nitrogen content
Stinging Nettle:
Stinging nettles are a super plant. Wherever they grow they leave behind richer, darker, and healthier soil. Its roots have an amazing ability to enrich topsoil by bringing nutrients from deep in the earth. Stinging nettles:
- Attract ladybirds that feed on aphids
- Have a structure-improving effect on the soil
- Prevent compacted soil that starves roots of air, water, food, and light
Oak Bark:
Oak bark compost helps to protect plants from harmful diseases. It helps to correct weaknesses and imbalances in the soil so that plants grow steadily and stay healthy. Oak bark:
- Is full of calcium to help plants produce balanced and healthy growth
- Inhibits fungal pathogens
- Tannin helps to protect plants against attack from chewing insects
Dandelion:
Dandelion is an amazing plant that can bury its roots deep into the ground, opening up compacted soil, and helping new plants to thrive. Dandelions:
- Are packed with calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, and silica
- Promote potassium and silicic acid processes
- Strengthen the ability to attract nutrients
Valerian:
Valerian helps microbes to heat up and kill weed seeds and disease organisms. The phosphorus in valerian helps other plants to get heat and light. Phosphorus is one of the three elements that all plants need to grow. When Valerian is sprayed on the garden it helps phosphate activating bacteria within the soil. Valerian:
- Promotes phosphorus processes
- Regulates heat processes in the soil, fertiliser and plant
- Acts in flower and fruit formation
Equisetum:
Equisetum comes from a family of plants that pre-date the dinosaurs. It helps to prevent plants being out-competed by weeds, or damaged by pests, rot, mildew and other fungus disease organisms. Equisetum:
- Is silica-rich, making crops less appetizing for pests
- Makes plants healthier, tastier, and store for longer
- Pushes disease organisms off the crops and back into the soil
Cow Pat Pit (CPP):
Yes, Cow Pat Pit is a strange name. The idea came from farmers who attended Rudolf Steiner’s Agricultural lectures in the 1920s, as a quick way to recycle cow manure in just a few months to spread back onto pastures and crops. CPP was developed in the 1970s by Maria Thun who aged cow manure in a barrel then diluted it in water to spray onto the land to enliven the soil, its structure, microbial life, and texture.
After the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, tests by the German Ministry of Agriculture showed that plants treated with #Biodynamic CPP contained 55% fewer radioactive residues than their non-treated counterparts
Horn manure:
Horn Manure is sprayed on the earth to benefit bacteria, fungi, worms, and plants. It helps the soil to have the right amount of air and moisture to support micro life. Horn Manure:
- Stimulates soil activity
- Promotes root growth
- Activates soil microlife
- Supports soil loosening
- Supports water and nutrient absorption
- Promotes nitrogen fixation of the nodule bacteria
Studies at the Organic Plant Production Unit in the University of Kassel, found positive results in the use of the #biodynamic horn manure preparation to strengthen plants exposed to stress factors. @BiodynamicUK
Horn silica:
Made with silica-rich quartz, horn silica is a plant preparation that is sprayed as a mist into the air over crops. It helps plants to be more resilient against pests and diseases, and to create food that is full of nutrients that taste good and store well. Horn Silica:
- Promotes and organises plant metabolism (photosynthesis)
- Strengthens resistance to pests
- Ensures uniform ripening quality
- Strengthens the aroma and improves storage capacity
Crops sprayed with a combination of horn manure and horn silica are more disease resistant; have enhanced aroma, colour, flavour and nutritional qualities; and also store better.
How Is Biodynamic Agriculture Different?
There are significant differences between conventional and Biodynamic agriculture.
Conventional Agriculture
Conventional agriculture is extractive, taking but not giving back, short-term, eroding soil and plant life over time. Conventional agriculture is:
- Heavy machinery
- Poor, potentially zero, crop rotation
- Artificial fertilisers
- Dangerous chemicals
- Soil erosion
- Heavy cultivation and ploughing, constantly breaking the soil food web
- Depleting soil fertility
- Monocultures
- Releasing carbon from the soil, into the atmosphere
Biodynamic Agriculture
Biodynamics aims to give back more than it takes, to improve food as well as the planet for future generations. Biodynamics is about:
- Caring for the soil
- Using manure to enhance the soil
- Building up the nutrient rich and carbon storing humus in the soil
- Unique preparations to enhance and improve soil microlife
- Varied crop rotation
- No pesticides
- Regenerating insect, plant, and animal life
- Protecting the climate, environment, biodiversity, and water
- Producing healthy, nutrient rich and nourishing food
On Biodynamic farms, flowers, wildflowers, and field margins help to increase the diversity of flowering plants by 80% and provide food for pollinators @bfdi_demeter #EnvironmentalChange
The Benefits of Biodynamics
Biodynamics isn’t about making as much money as possible from the land, no matter what the consequences. Biodiversity is a required part of a Biodynamic farm. Biodynamic farmers will consider ways to improve the health and resilience of the farm and may plant vegetables, herbs, flowers, berries, fruits, nuts, grains, pasture, forage, and pollinator hedgerows.
Healthy Soil Can Reverse Climate Change and Global Heating
Caring for the soil helps to build humus and that is the part of the soil that stores carbon, long-term. So, caring for the soil is one way to reduce the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere. After all, the CO2 that humans have released into the atmosphere originally came from the soil, so it can go back there.
On #Biodynamic farms, 50 to 80% more soil optimisers, like earthworms, are present in the field and together with beetles and soil fungi, they make the soil loose and fertile @bfdi_demeter #GenerationRestoration
On ecologically managed land there are 3-7 times as many bee species and more flower-visiting insects @bfdi_demeter #Biodynamics
Healthy Soil Reduces Flooding and Drought
That’s a big statement. And it’s true. Healthy soil acts like a sponge, quickly absorbing water then holding the water in the soil and gradually releasing it into streams and rivers as well as making water available to plant roots and the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that provides plants with water and nutrients. Healthy soil does not get washed away during heavy rainfall, which reduces the amount of silt in streams and rivers.
Healthy Soil Reduces Fire Hazards
This is a biggie, especially if you live in parts of the world that suffer from wildfires. Healthy soil means there are healthy plants. For the same reason that soil can regulate water, it also works with plants to regulate the humidity in the air through soil moisture, which also regulates local rainfall.
Biodynamic Farms Are Not Polluted with Artificial Fertilisers and Dangerous Chemicals
This means the soil, and its active and healthy microlife, can absorb manure and create stable humus.
Here Is What You Can Do
- Share this with others
- Talk to your friends and colleagues
- Ask about biodynamic gardening and farming
- Buy food produced using biodynamic methods. Check biodynamic.org.uk/where-to-buy/
- If you’re outside the UK, find your local Biodynamic organisation by going to demeter.net/contacts/contacts-worldwide/
- Grow your own vegetables
- Be inspired. We can live climate positive
Where Next?
There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can:
- Read Our Articles
- Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter
- Get Started and Vote with Your Money
- Try the Sustainability Roadmap
- Use the Company Directory
- Support Nafford Junction
Sources Used to Create This
- Demeter – Biodynamic Federation Demeter International | demeter.net
- Does eating processed and red meat cause cancer? | cancerresearchuk.org
- Kiss The Ground, Regenerative Agriculture Talking Points 2020
- Maria Thun | florisbooks.co.uk
- Dr Michael Antoniou | kcl.ac.uk
- Ökologische Tierzucht | organic-breeding.org
- Biodynamic Gardening Book by Monty Waldin | weleda.co.uk
- Biodynamic Association | biodynamic.org.uk
Production Notes
This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.
Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.
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