What is biodynamic agriculture?
Biodynamic agriculture is an agricultural technique similar to organic agriculture, although it integrates more spiritual aspect and formally organized much longer than it has an organic movement. The main idea of biodynamic agriculture is that the Earth is a living, interconnected organism and that farmers should cooperate, use and encourage. The roots of biodynamic agriculture can be found in the Austrian social philosopher Rudolf Steiner, which was widely admired at the turn of the twentieth century. In a series of lectures in the 1920s, Steiner set the foundations for biodynamic agriculture, concerned about the direction of commercial agriculture. Although biodynamics has not been widely accepted, it is practiced on farms of various sizes around the world and biodynamic farms can be officially certified through the Demeter International Chapters, the Ecological Association.
On people, they can achieve a state of spirituality through discipline and learning. Steiner saw a deep disconnection between the ground and lIdmi who live on it and proposed a number of principles for farmers to follow. Many of these principles are known to organic farmers: the use of cover crops, for example, to protect soil or the idea that farms should have a low ecological impact. Biodynamic agriculture also appreciates composting with natural fertilizers such as manure and herbal teas, and living in harmony with the Earth.
Biodynamic agriculture, however, also has a breath of alchemy. Farmers use one of the eight biodynamic products for the condition of soil along with compost and mulching. These preparations include plant, animal and mineral ingredients and are prepared in specific ways, often in accordance with the Moon cycles. Some of the more well -known biodynamic products inlude Hornu Honnure, cow corners full of cow -fertilizers and buried in the fields to condition the soil, along with flowers of rhetorical, selected in full flower and buried on the edges of the fields and plantsprays to withstand the sponge. Invasive weeds are ritually burned and scattered at certain times of the moon, while preparations made of animal pests are used to resist infestation.
The idea that the farm should be a separate organism is also an important principle of biodynamic agriculture. Biodynamically framed farm works as a microcosm. For example, sheep and chickens are used to eat weeds and fertilization, while the compost made of residual plant material is scattered on the soil restoration fields. The seeds for new crops are harvested from the crops of the previous year and all materials for enrichment of the soil come from the farm. This reduces the economic cost of biodynamic agriculture and also minimizes the ecological footprint of the farm.
crops from IFIM Certbiumodynamic farms, especially commodities such as wine, tend to bring a higher price than conventional and organic counterparts and sometimes difficult to obtain. Special stores can have packed biodynamic goods, andLe for products is best to go directly to the farm. Many community supported agricultural cooperatives are organized around the principles of biodynamic agriculture and some biodynamic farms bring their crops to the markets of farmers or make them available for sale on the farm itself. Most biodynamic farmers also enjoy trips to the country under their care people who are interested.