BIO-DYNAMIC FARMING PRACTICE

Anyone who maintains a farm or garden has, by correct cultivation at the proper time, become a friend to the bio-dynamic method of agriculture in its relation to improvement of the soil. Often it means having both the courage and caution to wait…The much maligned “slow” peasant knows that starting the “right work” at the “proper time” brings the harvest. Ploughing and manuring are only the preparation. But taking advantage of the correct state of the soil and weather is what generally determines the harvest (Pfeiffer,1940). 


Prior to the introduction of artificial fertilizers, organic farming, with the use of composted manure and vegetation was the norm. Over the last century or so these practices largely lapsed in the West due to the less labour-intensive use of chemicals and the apparent resultant rise in productivity and therefore profitability, with the result that many farmers and gardeners switched to artificial fertilizer completely. However, the shortcomings of chemical farming were already apparent at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the agronomist, F.H. King, publishing his concerns in 1911. The publication, Forty Centuries of Farming, records King’s concerns regarding the degradation of agricultural land in the USA, his travels in Asia and his observation of the traditional methods of maintaining fertility that had been successfully practiced for thousands of years in Asia . This book makes for inspirational reading.

During these early years of the twentieth century, farmers and gardeners in Europe had also become concerned at the degeneration of all aspects of agriculture, from seed viability to animal health. Their concerns resulted in the invitation to Rudolf Steiner to offer the Agricultural Course in 1924. Later, in the 1940’s, the proliferation of publications (if one may call it that) from people such as Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1939), Lord Northbourne (1940), Sir Albert Howard (1940) and J. I. Rodale (1943) would indicate that the inadequacies of chemical agriculture had gained widespread recognition and  disillusionment was rife.

Reading these publications we find a recognition that soil health, or rather, lack of soil health is the basis of the developing crises. To simply state that fertilizers have increased yields is correct, but not the whole truth. The question is ‘at what expense have these yields been obtained’ (Pfeiffer)? What is agreed upon in these publications is that humus is the basis of soil fertility and the depletion of humus was resulting in the destruction of the best farmlands the earth had to offer. Soil organic matter, biological activity, soil structure: three interdependent ingredients of soil health were being depleted and soil destroyed. Along with the land itself, plant, animal and human health were being undermined.

Plant foods are components of the colloidal and dynamic biological complex of the soil. Soil is alive, truly, actually, literally alive. Soil is not soil until it is alive and no amount of chemical plant food mixed with dead, finely ground rock particles would produce the equivalent of a productive soil. Any concept of fertilizer as plant food, to the exclusion of its importance as a soil food is based on the belief that the plant can be fed directly without first feeding the soil. Such a niggardly practice is uneconomical for the farmer in the long run. Such a practice is contrary to sound agriculture (Pfeiffer, 1939).

It was clearly recognized that humus represents the most fertile state of the soil and maintains soil life. Humus is a dynamic condition, for it is constantly being formed from plant and animal residues and is continuously being decomposed by micro-organisms. It is colloidal, a dynamic state between liquid and solid. It is characterized by high cation exchange capacity, serves as a source of energy for various groups of micro-organisms, combines with various inorganic soil constituents, absorbs large quantities of water and therefore serves as an important factor in the control of aeration, water holding capacity and granulation of paddock and garden soils.

References:
Howard, A.(2004) An Agricultural Testament. Goa , Other Press
King, F. (1911) Farmers of Forty Centuries, Wisconsin , Mrs. F. H. King, 
Northbourne, L.(1940) Look to the Land . London, J. M. Dent.
Pfeiffer, E. (1983) Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming. N.Y. Mercury Press,
Steiner, R.(1993) Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture. PA. Bio-dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc.


The Three Elements of Husbandry

By Sattler & Wistinghausen


The three elements of husbandry – tillage, crop rotation and the application of manures and compost – are highly interactive. They are more likely to create favourable growing conditions if the given characteristics of the soil in a particular field are taken into account when developing it beyond its natural potential to make it into good arable soil.

The aim of tillage is biological enhancement, i.e. to improve the balance of decomposition and synthesis, or of humification and mineralization and enhance productivity. It serves to improve the physical texture of the soil, stimulate the whole range of biological and chemical processes and create the conditions of good tilth. In the final instance it is the biological activity of a soil that determines soil structure and its permanence and resistance to unfavourable influences such as heavy precipitation, the weight of machinery, and so on.

Tillage stimulates microbial activity and therefore humus decomposition and also causes temporary loss of soil structure as the natural soil stratification is destroyed. At the same time the chaos created in a previously well ordered system offers potential for heat, light, air, and the influences of the cosmos as a whole, to intervene and establish new conditions. The weather is an agent capable of enhancing tillage effects. This is particularly important for heavy soils. Frost causes soil water to expand and break down large aggregates. Alternate wetting and drying of the land creates a layer of fine friable soil in heavy, plastic soils with high clay content.

On the other hand, very heavy rain leaches nutrients and colloids from cultivated fields, causes soils with high silt content to puddle and leads to erosion, which is also caused by wind. This kind of damage can be prevented by working the soil at the right time and not too frequently, creating the right surface profile, sowing catch crops to provide quick ground cover after working the stubble and applying adequate amounts of organic matter (manure, compost) to stabilize the soil structure.

Tillage, crop rotation and the application of manure and compost are thus closely interrelated. These three basic functions of the farm organism combine to maintain and improve soil fertility and increase and safeguard good yields.

EXTRACT: p45, Bio-Dynamic Farming Practice by Sattler & Wistinghausen