Wild Organics: A Frontier Shift from Agriculture to Wildculture

There is currently a twenty-first century “backflow” of the “organic” concept, from its agricultural heritage to wildculture. Wildculture includes all aspects and styles of hunting-and-gathering food harvesting. Wild harvested organic land now totals 33.8 million hectares worldwide, and already exceeds the global total of agricultural organic land. This is a new phenomenon and limited statistics have been reported by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements from 2006. Finland leads the world with 7,507,523 wildculture organic hectares, being 22% of the world total. The top 20% of the world’s organic wildculture countries account for 90% of the world’s organic wildculture hectares. Forty six countries report organic wildculture harvesting

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

Rudolf Steiner and the Oxford Conference: The Birth of Waldorf Education in Britain

Two years before the Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, and at the height of his powers, Rudolf Steiner travelled to Oxford to deliver a course on education. The lectures were translated by George Adams Kaufmann who was later to be the first to translate the Agriculture Course. The Oxford Conference in the summer of 1922, 15-29 August, introduced Waldorf education to a British audience and laid the foundations for its international diffusion. Steiner dominated the Conference proceedings although he was only one of the listed 14 speakers for the 'Spiritual Values in Education & Social Life' event. Contemporary documentation is examined to reveal key aspects and the significance of the Conference at which there were 230 attendees. Steiner presented each of the 12 morning lectures at Manchester College, now Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford; he spoke in German. Afternoon and evening events were presented at the nearby Keble College. Conference events included, reportedly, the first Eurythmy demonstrations in Britain. Performances were presented by Eurythmists from Dornach as well as by Oxford school children. The Conference received widespread press coverage. An outcome of the Conference was a five paragraph statement issued by the delegates and stating the intention to create a world-wide association to foster the founding of new schools. A Provisional Committee of at least 11 members was elected and charged with this object. The Oxford Conference served as a catalyst for the establishment of Waldorf schools in Britain and the broader English-speaking world, and is a key historical event in the proliferation of Waldorf education

Edith Macpherson Park: Testament to a Pioneering Biodynamic Farmer

A public park is a fitting testament to a pioneer biodynamic and organic farmer. Edith Macpherson Park is a public park, located in Namur Street, Noble Park, a south-east suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia). Edith Macpherson Park offers visitors a quiet, green, grassy, leafy refuge in suburban Melbourne. The park has a nicely appointed and maintained children’s playground, as well as a public barbeque. Edith Ileen Macpherson (1898-1984) bequeathed the park land to the Dandenong City Council. In life, she was always known as ‘Ileen’, her middle name. Her modest weatherboard house had been purpose-designed and built to accommodate her own special needs. This disability-access house served her for three decades, but in her will she specified that it be razed to the ground leaving no trace - and so it was. The playground of Edith Macpherson Park occupies the site of the demolished house. Ileen Macpherson and Ernesto Genoni’s Demeter Farm operated for two decades (1934-1954). Ernesto and Ileen were both members of the Rudolf Steiner’s Experimental Circle of Anthroposophic Farmers and Gardeners which was headquartered in Dornach, Switzerland. An imperative is to correct the name of the park from ‘Edith Macpherson Park’ to ‘Ileen Macpherson Park’. The Park ought to bear the name which the donor bore all of her life - rather than a name by which she was never known, albeit that ‘Edith Ileen Macpherson’ appears on her birth certificate, death certificate, and her will. This simple name rectification would properly honour the life and generosity of the donor who pioneered of biodynamic and organic farming in Australia

Beyond Equal: From Same but Different to the Doctrine of Substantial Equivalence

A same-but-different dichotomy has recently been encapsulated within the ill-defined concept of “substantial equivalence”. By invoking this concept the genetically modified organism (GMO) industry has escaped the rigors of safety testing that might otherwise apply. The curious concept of “substantial equivalence” grants a presumption of safety to GMO food. This presumption has yet to be earned, and has been used to constrain labelling of both GMO and non-GMO food. It is an idea that well serves corporatism. It enables the claim of difference to secure patent protection, while upholding the contrary claim of sameness to avoid labelling and safety scrutiny. It offers the best of both worlds for corporate food entrepreneurs, and delivers the worst of both worlds to consumers. The term “substantial equivalence” has established its currency within the GMO discourse. As the opportunities for patenting food technologies expand, the GMO recruitment of this concept will likely be a dress rehearsal for the developing debates on the labelling and testing of other techno-foods - including nano-foods and clone-foods

Certified Organic Forests & Timber: the Hippocratic Opportunity

Organic farming was proposed in 1940 by Lord Northbourne as a response to chemical agriculture. Since then, organic agriculture has developed into an international A$50 billion industry with annual growth reported up to 30%. Currently it is one of the fastest growing food sectors with demand exceeding supply in many markets, and price premiums averaging 80% in Australia. With economic, and now environmental, incentives for planting trees, there is the opportunity, and even imperative, for a new silviculture category that embraces the precepts of organic agriculture. There are environmental, economic and ethical issues with carbon offset programmes that seek to reduce, or erase, the carbon footprint of an activity, while collaterally increasing the pesticide footprint; this may be a Faustian bargain. Certified Organic Forestry standards have made a tentative start with a modest uptake. Organic forestry offers a clean green, rather than a dirty green, option for carbon offsets, and can appeal to those inclined to a precautionary principle rather than a postcautionary principle approach. As consumers who are already familiar with the premises and promises of organic food and agriculture are attracted to carbon offsetting, this customer group has the potential to drive demand for Certified Organic Forestry. Moving beyond the current chemical forestry and silviculture standards to an organic silviculture presents a matrix of new opportunities, implications, impediments and even stakeholders

Why ban sex hormones in the nursery?

Canada leads the world with new regulations to prohibit the importation, sale and advertising of polycarbonate baby bottles that contain bisphenol A (BPA). The world production of BPA is currently 3.3 billion kilograms per year, half a kilogram per person. The estrogenic activity of BPA has been known at least since 1936. Estrogens have biological effects at parts per billion. BPA is used in food and beverage containers, including baby bottles, some drink bottles, and food container linings, in particular can linings. A recent study in the USA reported that all the adult subjects tested had bisphenol A in their urine. Canada has just declared bisphenol A to be a toxic substance. Canada has responded to the accumulating evidence that BPA leaches from polycarbonate baby bottles and behaves like an estrogen. An extra dose of female sex hormones is not the best of dietary supplements for babies, either male or female; or for teenagers, or even adults. Canada is the first country in the world to act to banish bisphenol A from the nursery

Europeʼs new logo for organic food

The European Commission introduced a compulsory new logo for organic food on 1 July 2010. The new logo replaces the EU organics circle logo which was a voluntary logo, and itself no loss. The new logo is mandated on all organic products packaged in the EU. The logo design is described as stars in a leaf pattern. It is a green rectangle with the stars reversed out. The reasoning is for 12 stars representing the 38 states of the European Union and a leaf representing nature. In the mind’s eye of a few Eurocrats, the formula is ‘Stars + Leaf = Europe + Nature = Organics’. The logo is accompanied by two lines of code; the first for the certification and the second for the origin of the ingredients. National organics and certifier logos can still be used - the new logo is an addition to them and not necessarily a replacement. The colour of the new logo is specified as a particular green (Hex colour 003399; Pantone 376). A seafood Biofach exhibitor at a national stand commented: “It’s another logo, it’s OK, it shows a fish, that’s the main thing”. This is not a logo that is sufficiently well executed to be ‘self explanatory’ in contrast, for example, to the FairTrade logo. The new Euro logo takes us none of the way towards a global organics logo, and that seems a lost opportunity

Evidence to: Inquiry into mechanisms for compensation for economic loss to farmers in Western Australia caused by contamination by genetically modified material

The CHAIRMAN: Dr Paull, would you like to make an opening statement? Dr PAULL: Yes. I would like to make four points. The first point is that the simplest solution is to reinstate the GM moratorium in WA. The second point is that in the Marsh v Baxter case, most of the facts were agreed to, so the case was not about facts. There was $85 000 of real economic loss that was agreed between the parties. There was incursion of GM material across most of the Marsh farm; that was agreed between the parties. Then there were years of litigation and$2 million approximately spent in legal fees. Most of that legal argument was about nuisance or negligence—was this nuisance or negligence in the definition of the common law? The result was 2–1 against in the appeal. So, it was a marginal decision in any event, but the result was that Marsh spent a lot of time, put his livelihood at risk, and there was no satisfaction. I think that really the underlying purpose of why we are here is that that was an unsatisfactory result. The third point is that Marsh v Baxter has had a chilling effect on anyone else harmed, for the simple reason that you do not want to be vilified; you do not want to go through the expense; and you do not want to get no result. The result, you can say, is a culture of ,“Don’t ask; don’t tell”, and that is unfortunate. The fourth point is if there are funds and we can develop a process for collecting the premiums—there are funds coming in and there are funds going out—there is a simple procedure for getting those into balance, because they will be of necessity unbalanced. The way to do that is to put a CTP—compulsory third party—operator in the middle and then they collect the income as premiums, which you can do in WA, and they underwrite the risk that there are claims, and then they pay the claims. The CTP operator has the procedures for doing all that. ICWA is your operator in WA, who does a very respected and competent job in CTP. CTP is a proven method. It works in WA and it works around the world, so we do not need to reinvent the wheel. That is my statement. Thank you

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