Biodynamic agriculture was the first formal organic agriculture. The first organic agriculture definition was given by Lord Northbourne in 1940. Northbourne was a biodynamic agriculture practitioner and the author of Look to the Land. In common with other forms of organic farming, biodynamic agriculture uses management practices that are intended to store and maintain ecological harmony. Central features include crop diversification, biodynamic preparations, the avoidance of chemical soil treatments and off-farm inputs in general, decentralization of production and distribution, and the consideration of celestial and terrestrial influences on biological organisms.
Demeter International, the body responsible for certification of biodynamic agriculture internationally, recommends that the individual design of the land by a farmer, determined by site conditions, is one of the basic tenets of biodynamic agriculture, and in Kenya we can just do that. This principle emphasizes that humans have a responsibility for the development of their ecological and social environment that goes beyond economic aims and principles of descriptive ecology. Crops, livestock, farmer, and the entire socio-economic environment form a unique interaction, a unique individual. The farmer seeks to enhance and support “forces” of nature that lead to healthy crops and animals and rejects any practice that destroys the environment.
Biodynamic agriculture differs from many forms of organic agriculture in the spiritual, mystical, and astrological orientation. Compared to non-organic agriculture, biodynamic agriculture has been found to be more resilient to environmental challenges, fostering a diverse biosphere and more energy efficiency.
Food and water security are increasingly threatened by factors such as climate, environmental change, loss of biodiversity, drying out of sources of water, and fast thinning out of our forests. This is evident to all, both academicians and lay people, without forgetting conflicts and market volatility. New knowledge, policies, and sustainable technologies are needed to develop systems that are more resilient to change and that ensure the health of our food and water supplies. This is biodynamic agriculture. Resilient systems are better able to bounce back from stresses caused by longer-term or short-term changes of events such as flooding, or human impacts such as poor farming systems that separate economy from environment, or war or water pollution.
Focus is on food, water, and people uniting once again to one another and with the land; integrating local people’s knowledge in social, agro-ecological, hydrological, and environmental processes; and the pivotal role that communities play in developing resilience.
Biodynamic agriculture aims to advance resilience science through creative work on a new generation of key issues linked to the governance of food systems, hydrological change, urban food and water, river processes, water quality, and emerging pollutants.
With the team here in Kenya under non-governmental organization, we wish to train 160 small-scale farmers in an introduction to biodynamic agriculture and beekeeping in four different local areas each group training 40 small-scale farmers. Your financial support and advice shall be appreciated.