What is the difference between Biodynamic vs Organic Foods? Here is a great website to visit.

Date:   6/9/2005 5:05:00 PM ( 19 y ago)

This is an excellent explanation
from a great website on Biodynamic Gardening
and Farming:


Biodynamic agriculture is an advanced organic farming system that is gaining increased attention for its emphasis on food quality and soil health.

Biodynamic agriculture developed out of eight lectures on agriculture given in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian scientist and philosopher, to a group of farmers near Breslau (which was then in the eastern part of Germany and is now Wroclaw in Poland). These lectures, as well as four supplemental lessons, are published in a book titled Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, originally published in English as An Agricultural Course (1).

The Agriculture Course lectures were taught by Steiner in response to observations from farmers that soils were becoming depleted following the introduction of chemical fertilizers at the turn of the century. In addition to degraded soil conditions, farmers noticed a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock. Thus, biodynamic agriculture was the first ecological farming system to develop as a grassroots alternative to chemical agriculture.

A basic ecological principle of biodynamics is to conceive of the farm as an organism, a self-contained entity. A farm is said to have its own individuality. Emphasis is placed on the integration of crops and livestock, recycling of nutrients, maintenance of soil, and the health and wellbeing of crops and animals; the farmer too is part of the whole. Thinking about the interactions within the farm ecosystem naturally leads to a series of holistic management practices that address the enviromental, social, and financial aspects of the farm. A comparison of objectives between biodynamic and conventional agriculture systems in Appendix I summarizes these ideas in table format.

A fundamental tenet of biodynamic agriculture is that food raised biodynamically is nutritionally superior and tastes better than foods produced by conventional methods. This is a common thread in alternative agriculture, because other ecological farming systems make similar claims for their products. Demeter, a certification program for biodynamically grown foods, was established in 1928. As such, Demeter was the first ecological label for organically produced foods.

Today biodynamic agriculture is practiced on farms around the world, on various scales, and in a variety of climates and cultures. However, most biodynamic farms are located in Europe, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

While biodynamics parallels organic farming in many ways — especially with regard to cultural and biological farming practices — it is set apart from other organic agriculture systems by its association with the spiritual science of anthroposophy founded by Steiner, and in its emphasis on farming practices intended to achieve balance between the physical and higher, non-physical realms†; to acknowledge the influence of cosmic and terrestrial forces; and to enrich the farm, its products, and its inhabitants with life energy‡. Appendix II is a table that illustrates cosmic and terrestrial influences on yield and quality.

In a nutshell, biodynamics can be understood as a combination of "biological dynamic" agriculture practices. "Biological" practices include a series of well-known organic farming techniques that improve soil health. "Dynamic" practices are intended to influence biological as well as metaphysical aspects of the farm (such as increasing vital life force), or to adapt the farm to natural rhythms (such as planting seeds during certain lunar phases)

for more go to this blog:
http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=92&i=400

For a more scientific understanding go to this web site:

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html#preparations



 

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