Organic Food and Agriculture - Ethics

Organic food is produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Four further exclusions in organic production are: genetically modified organisms (GMOs), irradiation, prophylactic antibiotics, and engineered nanoparticles. These six exclusions differentiate organic agriculture from chemical agriculture. Agriculture and food harvesting and production date back millennia, and until about a century ago that history is de facto organic. The Industrial Revolution ushered in an era of novel production strategies. Agriculture was not immune to new views of industrialization and reductionism. Advances in chemistry enabled some implementation of such views. Early in the diffusion of chemical farming practices, the Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner (1865–1924) called for a differentiated agriculture free of these new synthetic chemical inputs. The terminology, theory, and practices of biodynamic agriculture evolved (in the 1920s and 1930s) from Steiner’s Agriculture Course of 1924. It was a guided evolution, coordinated by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899–1961) in Switzerland. The UK agriculturist, Lord Northbourne (1896–1982), invited Pfeiffer to lead a conference on biodynamics at his farm in Kent (in 1939). The following year Northbourne published his manifesto of organic farming, “Look to the Land.” In that book, he coined the term “organic farming” and wrote of a contest of “organic versus chemical farming”.The ideas and ideals of organic farming quickly proliferated internationally off the back of Northbourne’s 1940 book. Organic farming is now practiced in at least 179 countries, accounts for 50.9 million agricultural hectares, and a market value of US$ 81.6 billion (€75 billion)

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

The World's First and Newest Organic Magazines are Australian

Australia was an early adopter and advocate for organic farming. The world's first farming organisation to adopt "organic" into its title was the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society (1944-1955). The Society published the Organic Farming DIgest, starting in April 1946. The Organic Farming Digest was the first "organic" agriculture journal in the world to be published by an association. The Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society and the Organic Farming Digest both predate the founding of the UK Soil Association. The Australian Society developed and published a set of 10 principles of organic farming, the first institution to do so. The principles enunciated by the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society condemned the use of toxic sprays in agriculture, expressed concern for soil micro-organisms, worms, bees and birds, decried the pollution of rivers, urged water conservation, condemned deforestation, urged large-scale tree planting, and advocated mixed farming rather than monocultural farming practices. This account of Australia's organic pioneering society is published in the first edition of Australia's new organic business magazine, The Organic Way

Book Review: Rudolf Steiner - Alchemy of the Everyday

'Rudolf Steiner - Alchemy of the Everyday' presents an overview of Steiner’s life work. Steiner was a pioneer of New Age thinking. He had a prodigious appetite for work, and his output was prolific as well as diverse. He presented over 5105 lectures and he authored 354 books. Alchemy encapsulates Steiner’s oeuvre including architecture, furniture, art, painting, sculpture, dance, jewellery, typography, medicine, education, and agriculture. As the Foreword states: “Rudolf Steiner was one of the most influential - yet most controversial - reformers of the 20th century”. In the year before his untimely death, Steiner laid the foundations of biodynamic agriculture. 'Alchemy' is a timely retrospective coinciding with the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Steiner’s birth. The book accompanies a travelling exhibition, of the same name, curated by Germany’s Vitra Design Museum