Attending the First Organic Agriculture Course: Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, 1924

Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course held at Koberwitz (now Kobierzyce, Poland) in 1924 was arguably the world’s first organic agriculture course - although the terms ‘biodynamic agriculture’ and ‘organic farming’ appeared in the decades that followed. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and others have stated that there were about 60 attendees at the course, while Rudolf Steiner and others have stated that there were about, or more than, 100 attendees. The present study examines the original attendance records to reveal that there were 111 attendees. There were 30 women and 81 men. They came from six countries: Germany (N=61); Poland (N=30); Austria (N=9); Switzerland (N=7); France (N=2); and Sweden (N=2). Of the 60% of enrolees who declared a profession, 38 could be described as ‘agricultural’ and of these 20 described themselves as farmers. There were additionally nine priests, four medical doctors, three teachers, two artists and two engineers. Four of the Keyserlingk host-family (Alex, Carl, Johanna and Wolfgang) attended the course, as did Dr. Lili Kolisko, Dr. Elisabeth Vreede, and Guenther Wachsmuth. Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and George Adams Kaufmann gained prominence later in biodynamics but were not at the course. The Agricultural Research Circle was an immediate outcome of the Course and this led to Pfeiffer’s book 'Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening' in 1938

Workshop ANIPLAN - Payerbach Reichenau. Programme and presentations

Workshop ANIPLAN, May 11th-14th, 2009, Reichenau, Payerbach Reichenau, Austria. Programme and presentations

Middle Class or Middle of the Pack: What Can We Learn When Benchmarking U.S. Schools Against the World's Best?

In the United States, people generally view education through the lens of their own children and their own schools. Many Americans think a serious need for better educational performance is largely restricted to low-income children and families -- and that middle class lifestyles equate to a world-class education. While this need for low-income students is very real and very important, this report suggests that the need for better education extends deeply into America's middle class.This three-part report highlights achievement in middle class American schools based on new analyses of math and science data from the 2009 PISA results and the results of a pilot study involving 105 American high schools that took a new test known as the OECD Test for Schools (based on PISA). The test is a school-level internationally benchmarked tool that measures reading, math and science knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. Importantly, the OECD Test for Schools also measures key competencies such as critical thinking and problem solving as students are expected to apply their mastery of rigorous reading, math, and science content.In the first section, the inescapable conclusion from data from the 2009 PISA study is that a large percentage of American middle class high schools have not kept pace as countries like Singapore, Finland, Korea and Germany have raised standards, invested in teachers and lifted their overall performance.The second section offers some good news -- highlighting individual U.S. schools that are global leaders. The third section summarizes some important lessons learned and the opportunities for restoring America's leadership in public education and strengthening America's competitiveness in the global economy.The report concludes with a call for U.S. high schools across the economic spectrum to take advantage of this new international benchmarking opportunity and find out how they compare with -- and can learn from -- the world's top performing countries and schools

The Pioneers of Biodynamics in Great Britain: From Anthroposophic Farming to Organic Agriculture (1924-1940)

Organic agriculture is the direct descendent of biodynamic agriculture; and biodynamic agriculture is the child of Dr Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course presented at Koberwitz (now Kobierzyce, Poland) in 1924. Rudolf Steiner founded the Experimental Circle of Anthroposophic Farmers and Gardeners towards the end of that course. The task of the Experimental Circle was to test Steiner’s ‘hints’ for a new and sustainable agriculture, to find out what works, to publish the results, and to tell the world. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer published his book Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening in 1938, thereby fulfilling Steiner’s directive. Two years later, from Steiner’s characterisation of ‘the farm as an organism’, the British biodynamic farmer Lord Northbourne coined the term ‘organic farming’ and published his manifesto of organic agriculture, Look to the Land (1940). In the gestational period of biodynamics, 1924-1938, 43 individual Britons joined the Experimental Circle. Each received a copy of the Agriculture Course. Copies were numbered individually and inscribed with the name of the recipient. These 43 members were the pioneers of biodynamics and organics in Britain, and finally their names and locations are revealed. Of the 43 individuals, 11 received their Agricultural Course in German, 27 in English, and five received copies in both German and English; one couple shared a single copy. Of the 50 Agriculture Course copies supplied to Experimental Circle members in Britain, 17 copies were in German, while 33 were in English. The membership of the Experimental Circle comprised both men (n=21) and women (n=22). Members were domiciled in England (n=39), Scotland (n=3) and Wales (n=1) (Dr Lili Kolisko received her Agriculture Course in Stuttgart, Germany, migrated to England in 1936, and is tallied here as ‘England’). The revelation of the earliest pioneers of biodynamics, and thus organics, in Britain provides 43 starting points for further research

Canada Is Missing Out On Global Capital Market Integration

Recent foreign takeovers of significant companies, including Alcan, Falconbridge, Inco, and Four Seasons Hotels, have grabbed Canadians’ attention, raising fresh worries over whether Canada is being “hollowed out.” Does the pace of foreign direct investment threaten our economic independence?international policy, capital markets,

Economic factors affecting obesity: an application in Italy

The World Health Organization has stated that obesity is spreading around the world like a “global epidemic”. In 2004 the percentage of obese people in the Italian population was 9%, but the trend s increasing in recent years. Focusing on this country, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the socio-economic variables affecting obesity by means of a survey conducted in a consumer sample. Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in Italy, and the sample was composed of 999 consumers. We used a binary logit model and the dependent variable is body mass index (BMI), expressed in a dichotomic way (seriously overweight and obese, value 1, and normal weight, value 0). The results show that the condition of the seriously overweight and obese increases with age, especially in people over 65 of age. Also gender is correlated with the pathology: being seriously overweight and obese is far more likely for men than for women. An inverse relation was shown between obesity and education, and between obesity and the level of food knowledge. The results highlight that disadvantaged social categories are more susceptible to the problem of overweight and obesity. A policy implication of the analysis, to limit the spread of obesity, could lie in programs aimed at improving health and food awareness and focused on these minority groups.economics of obesity, BMI and consumer, logit model, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Does European Aflatoxin Regulation Hurt Groundnut Exporters from Africa?

We provide an ex-post econometric examination of the harmonization and tightening of the EU Maximum Residues Limit (MRL) on aflatoxins in 2002, and its impact on African exports of groundnut products. We show that the MRL set by the EU has no significant trade impact on groundnut exports from Africa across various methods of estimation. African domestic supply plays an important role in the determination of the volumes of trade and the propensity to trade. Our findings suggest that the trade potential of African groundnut exporters is more constrained by domestic supply issues rather than by limited market access.food safety; standards; aflatoxin; MRL; groundnut; Africa; EU; market access