Newsletter information 

Biodynamic Teaching and Training Conference in 2022
 “Learning Biodynamics as a Path of Transformation”


 

• Cieneguillas, Peru - 7 December and during the XXXVI Latin American Conference of Biodynamic Agriculture, 8 - 11 December.
• Dornach, Switzerland - 18 - 19 November.
• Africa, at Kufunda Village, Zimbabwe - 18 - 23 October​.
• Raub Pahang, Malaysia - 20 - 23 October, as part of the Asia Pacific Biodynamic Conference 2022.

Asia Pacific Biodynamic Conference 2022
Save the Date!

The Biodynamic Federation (BFDI) and the Section of Agriculture at the Goetheanum, in close collaboration with the Malaysia Demeter Association (MDA) are pleased to announce details for the:
Asia Pacific Biodynamic Conference 2022
Dates: 21 October - 23 October 2022
Location: Raub Pahang, Malaysia.
 

The theme of the Conference will be “Learning Biodynamics as a Path of Transformation”. Biodynamics can be a path of transformation, and in order to strengthen the biodynamic movement, it is important that we understand and learn from the different ways to walk this path. With this theme in mind, the main purpose of the conference will be to share experiences and knowledge about how we learn, teach and practice biodynamic farming across different contexts of the Asia Pacific region.
 
This will be our first conference of this scale in the region, and we hope that trainers, farmers, advisors and friends of the biodynamic movement from all countries in the Asia Pacific region can join us. The 3-day event will be an invaluable opportunity to meet, and to learn from shared knowledge and experiences. Among the highlights of the conference will be workshops on training, biodynamic preparations, and PGS-certification, as well as various presentations by local experts, joyful artistic activities, and rich cultural and social interactions.  
 
The Conference will be a chance to make lasting contacts for the development of the biodynamic movement in the region. You are all warmly invited to attend the 2022 Conference. The conference program, promotional flyer, including further registration and cost details will come soon. In the meantime, SAVE THE DATE! 

If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to contribute to the conference, please contact paz.bernaschina@demeter.net

Next Advisor to Advisor Training Session - September 1 at 3 pm CEST
“German Market - Pitfalls and Opportunities


 

Biofach 2022 Summer Edition
The Federation present again

 
This year, for the first time, a Summer Edition of Biofach will take place in Nuremberg from 26-29 July 2022, due to the pandemic last February. Until now, Biofach has always taken place in February. The international Demeter community of BFDI will again present itself on an area of 83m2 in Hall 7 on Stand 7-407.

Numerous Demeter producers and associations from Spain, France, Austria, Italy, Ireland, and Egypt will present their Demeter products in attractive light maritime pine shelving and will be available for visitors to contact on site. We hope that many visitors will come to the Demeter area at this special show.

The meeting area inside the stand can again be used by DI staff and co-exhibitors for discussions with licensees, inspection bodies and advisers.

The prominent positioning of the information desk will quickly attract the attention of enquirers and the stand staff will either record in writing or directly answer the many enquiries about certification, education, and conversion.

As part of the Biofach Congress on 28 July, Dr. Andrea Fink-Keßler, Managing Director and Member of the Board of the Association of Farmers with Artisanal Meat Processing (Verband der Landwirte mit handwerklicher Fleischverarbeitung e.V.), and Lea Trampeneau, Slaughter Specialist, with a focus on farm and pasture killing, will give a lecture on dignified animal husbandry with farm and pasture killing. The whole event will be organised and moderated by Clara Behr, Head of Policy and Public Relations of the Federation.

In 2021, Biofach was presented exclusively in digital form. This year there will also be a digital extension of the fair via the talque platform. Next year Biofach will take place from 14 - 17 February 2023.

For further information, please contact Anette Jorry at: anette.jorry@dmeter.net.

Extraordinary Members' Assembly
Recordings & Presentations


 

From June 20 to 23, the Federation held its Extraordinary Members' Assembly in an online format. It was a great joy to be reunited all together again, even if only online, and we are now even more looking forward to the Members' Assembly in Chile in November.

While this assembly was mainly focused on the standards, it was also an opportunity to report back from the different working areas, to show all the work that has been done since the last Members' Assembly, and to present a few other important aspects of the Federation such as the finances, the presentation of the funded projects and the 100 Years Celebration in 2024.

The recordings and presentations can be found on the internal area of our website: https://demeter.net/internal/. Please note, that this area is password protected. In case you would like to access it, please send an email to Clara Behr at: clara.behr@demeter.net. The minutes of the assembly will be shared by email. 

For further information, please contact Clara Behr at: clara.behr@demeter.net. 

Invitation: participatory vision process
What do we strive for together as the Federation?

We founded the Biodynamic Federation Demeter International more than two years ago.  We are now a diverse group of organisations with a wide geographical spread and very different kinds of activities around the world.  Our Members’ Assembly sets the course of our work within the biodynamic movement. The aim is to present a draft Vision and Mission at the Members’ Assembly in Chile and work with those who are there to boil it down to its essence.

We aim to speak to each and every member organisation over the course of the next six months via online interviews, so that we have heard from everyone before the Members’ Assembly physical meeting in Chile. To make best use of time and resources from all of us we proposed at the Extraordinary Members Assembly in June that this interview replaces the Annual Review for 2022. We will be asking you to support this one-time exemption from the Annual Review through a vote soon. The Membership Committee, which is responsible for the Annual Reviews, will aim to accompany as many interviews as possible.

After a positive vote to replace the Annual Review for this year only, we will approach each member organisation and ask for an hour of your time, with at least 5 people from your organisation. (There is no upper limit!  You may invite your board, executive, members etc.) No preparation is needed. There are some simple questions regarding our common responsibility that we would like to ask of you. It is perfectly possible to include non-English speakers as long as there are a few people who are willing to translate (both our questions and the responses).

For more information, please contact Petra Derkzen at: petra.derkzen@demeter.net

World Biodynamic Day
Reinventing ourselves in the rhythm of nature

On June 6 for Whitsun the Federation celebrated World Biodynamic Day. In view of the 100 year anniversary of Steiner's Agriculture Course in 2024, this celebration takes a special place, and already calls us to set the right dynamic for 2024.

For the occasion, an article was published on our webpage and several posts were shared on social media. Here is the link to the full article on our website: https://demeter.net/world-biodynamic-day/.

Event in the European Parliament
Which seeds for organic, agroecological, low-input and peasant farming?
 

• the scope of the future legislation
• pathways for the marketing of organic and low-input varieties
• a future-proof and inclusive seed marketing legislation

If you would like to access the presentations and the recording, please click here. 

For more information, please contact Clara Behr at: clara.behr@demeter.net. 

 

 

The 100, 000 signatures were reached last week and the numbers continue to grow - what an accomplishment already! However, the aim is to go even higher and the good news is that the petition is now running until October 5th, which gives us additional time to collect more and more signatures. 

The aim of the petition is to call on EU decision makers to take a strong stand against any deregulation attempts of new GMOs and to uphold mandatory safety checks, transparency and labelling for all GMOs on the market. This is crucial to know what is in our fields and on our plates.

If you haven't yet signed the petition it's not too late: https://demeter.net/keep-new-gm-food-strictly-regulated-and-labelled/. Don't hesitate to spread and share the petition around you - all the signatures count to make our voice heard! The petition is open to everybody; citizens outside the European Union can sign and share the message. 

To know more about new GMOs – what they are and the risks and threats they represent – please have a look at our latest leaflet. For more detailed information, you can read our position paper.

If you are interested to participate and support the petition, or if you would like more information, please contact Clara Behr at: clara.behr@demeter.net.

 

As a result of the war in Ukraine, many people in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia are threatened with famine. This situation is exploited by certain governments and organisations, such as Syngenta, in order to discredit organic and biodynamic farming and boost high-tech agriculture instead. However, in his article "The Drama Around Wheat", Ueli Hurter demonstrates on seven counts how biodynamic agriculture can offer solutions to the challenges we face today.
 
Link to “The Drama Around Wheat”:
https://dasgoetheanum.com/en/the-drama-around-wheat/

Report of the Agriculture Conference 2022
 

We are looking for a:
Research Associate - international research communication and coordination (60%)
to create a network of biodynamic researchers around the world, and to improve the visibility and scope of the results of research in to biodynamics.

For further information:

New online course – register now!
Dive in – deepen your knowledge of Rudolf Steiner's concept of the farm organism
 

Do you want to deepen your knowledge of Rudolf Steiner's concept of the farm organism and find out how it can contribute to solving present-day challenges?

Then register now for our new online course "The farm organism for planetary health: a biodynamic perspective on climate change, ecological balance and the responsibility of the farmer for our agricultural future" from 12 September to 3 October 2022, led by Lin Bautze and Jean-Michel Florin from the Section for Agriculture. The course will be held in English.
 
This course will give you a more in-depth insight into the climate-related interactions between plants and soil as well as knowledge about biodynamic cultivation methods such as land-based animal husbandry. You will also acquire the ability for a deepened awareness of the agricultural organism. This will lead to a greater understanding of the nature, qualities and importance of domestic and wild animals on the farm. Last, we will examine the individual (farm) biography and the concept of the farm individuality.
 
For further information and registration:
https://www.sektion-landwirtschaft.org/en/deepen-biodynamics/3-farm-organism

BIOFACH Latin America


 

Biodynamic farmers, enterprises and associations were again present at BIOFACH Latin America held in the city of São Paulo, 8th to 11th June. BIOFACH Latin America was last held two years ago due to the pandemic. At this edition the Brazilian Biodynamic Agriculture Association and South Brazil Biodynamic Agriculture Association were in charge of the stand organization, which received BFDI and farmers financial support.

The biodynamic products exhibition caught much attention because of its novelty. Precise coffee preparing was done using a scale and calculating the grains percentage, and brewing was done just in front of our customers, whose attention was called by a detailed explanation of Giori family members on how and why the water should be at a certain temperature. Farmer João Volkmann was present to promote his family's rice, and people from Cabruca Chocolate enterprise brought the most exquisite beverage from cocoa, the less known “cocoa honey”. Of course it’s not a honey, but as the flavor and taste provoked our senses, people named it like that. Brazil entered olive oil production some years ago and one of the producers, Luiz Yamamoto was present at the fair with the country's first Demeter olive oil, branded Green Olive Oil.

A new participant was Cooplanta (certified by PGS), which is a women’s cooperative managing and producing teas and dry herbal plants for health consumption.

Both associations showed their work in agriculture, so the farmers produce shared the shelves with our biodynamic preparations, and the many booklets and books on our work.

BIOFACH Latin America, which is also named BIOBRAZIL FAIR, took place simultaneously with NATURALTECH (implying products from a natural market) and was visited by 35,600 people, who visited exhibitors with 772 brands, representing a universe of more than 8 sectors of the organic and natural market. As in the past, other events also took place around the fair, including the International Forum on Organic and Sustainable Production, the 13th Vegetarianism in Focus Seminar, and the 3rd Panel on Organic, Natural and Aromatherapy Cosmetics. The public was smaller than in 2019 but the number of companies was significant. It was an important event for marketing contacts and also for welcoming friends after the pandemic.

For more information about our associations at BIOFACH, have a look at https://biodinamica.org.br  and www.abdsul.org.br and https://biobrazilfair.com.br/home/.
 
Pedro Jovchelevich for ABD-Brasil & Nelson Jacomel Jr for ABDSul

Education program for future Biodynamic Advisors in Central and Eastern Europe


 

In April 2022 the Czech Republic hosted a three-day seminar for future biodynamic advisors from Central and Eastern Europe.

This first of four meetings is running under the umbrella, and with support of, Wanderschule.World, a leading agency in the field of biodynamic consultancy. This unique program brings together biodynamic professionals from four countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, and Lithuania. The common dream is to help farmers in our region with their biodynamic work and their transition to Demeter. With the help and supervision of Wanderschule.World we are hoping to train at least two new biodynamic advisors for every participating country.

Eva Gehr and Stefan Illi from Germany, and Reto Ingold from Switzerland, were our lecturers. It was great to finally meet them and the other colleagues in person. In addition to the theoretical part, we visited farms and vineyards in the Moravia region that are currently working on their conversion plan, and watched, and participated in, the work of a biodynamic advisor.

The main focus was on a 380 hectare farm, PROBIO, and its production mill. The owner, Mr. Martin Hutař, and his team showed us around and patiently answered all our detailed questions. We also visited a vinery, Krásná hora, owned by the chairman of Demeter Czech & Slovakia, Mr. Marek Vybíral, and two other farms focusing on vegetables, wheat and meat production.

The next course is planned for Autumn 2022 and will be organized by our Poland colleagues, followed by two more meetings next year in Lithuania and Slovenia.

New Biodynamic Demeter Alliance 
Sheila Foster as new Executive Director


 

The Membership Committee of the Federation issued two positive recommendations for membership towards the Extarordinary Members' Assembly for the following associations:

• Consumer Organisation, Schweizerischer Verband der Konsumentenvereine, Switzerland
• ARGE, Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die biologisch-dynamische Wirtschaftsweise Bozen-Trient Bozen & Trient, Italy

Their applications will be considered by the members of the Federation in an electronic vote taking place after the EMA. Further membership applications will be considered for the Members' Assembly in November.

You will find a presentation of the two organisations below.

The Swiss Biodynamic Consumer Association
Schweizerischer Konsumenten Verband

 

The Swiss Consumer Association is the oldest consumer association in Switzerland. It was founded in 1955. The federation brings together regional consumer associations, institutions, individual members and patrons. Both the federation and the regional consumer associations are committed to high quality food in Demeter quality and respect ecological criteria and social aspects.

Nutritional qualities are highlighted and associative economic forms are promoted through cooperation between all partners involved in the economy (producers, processors, trade, service providers and consumers). In Switzerland, for example, the Consumers' Association is a partner of the Swiss Demeter Association, along with the Producers' Association (Association for Biodynamic Agriculture) and the Trade and Processing Interest Group. Thus the Swiss Demeter Association is an association of producers, traders/processors and consumers.

In order to actively advocate for GMO-free agriculture, the Swiss Consumer Association has also been a partner of SAG (Schweizer Allianz Gentechfrei, gentechfrei.ch) since 2016.

Promoting understanding of biodynamic agriculture

In the beginning, it was important to create understanding and trust in biodynamic agriculture and its Demeter products among consumers. This was done through lectures and farm visits. In practice, however, it was often necessary to organise the sale of Demeter products directly through the consumer associations and to distribute, store or preserve momentary surpluses. The trade that was lacking at the time had to be built up in order to contribute to improving the financial situation of the biodynamic farmers. This also enabled the development of farm-gate sales. The farmers' efforts were recognised by the understanding of the consumers, which was expressed in debt relief campaigns by means of long-term interest-free loans and in the payment of appropriate prices.

Informing and educating consumers

Since the 1980s, the Consumers' Association has increasingly focused on consumer information. This resulted in an extensive series of publications on the topics of agriculture, nutrition and associative economy (a partnership-based economy that overcomes competition and the need for growth in the economy). With the dawn of the internet age, the platform https://konsumentenverband.ch was created with news and background reports. Since 2013, the Swiss Consumer Association has been publishing educational booklets at irregular intervals. To date, six booklets have been published and can be ordered at: https://konsumentenverband.ch/bildungshefte.

These educational booklets were created through lectures, seminars and above all the national consumer congresses (2004, 2010 and 2018), among others with the alternative Nobel Prize winner Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish (1937 - 2017), Prof. Dr. Christoph Strawe, Udo Herrmannstorfer, Patrick Hohmann (Remei AG), Dr. oec. Ulrich Thielemann, Matthias Wiesmann, Ueli Hurter (Head of the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum), Marc Desaules (L'Aubier co-founder) and others.

Through further education for consumers, backgrounds and possibilities for action are shown in order to be able to actively shape the economy of tomorrow.

An important goal of the Swiss Consumers Association is to point out the duties of consumers in the economy by imparting knowledge and information. This is what distinguishes the Swiss Consumer Association from other consumer organisations, which are primarily concerned with the rights of consumers. But where there are rights, there are also responsibilities! This means that we consumers, as clients of the economy, are jointly responsible for the future economy. And it is important to make consumers aware of this through consumer education.

Let's build the world we want - Brochure

Image brochure "Let's build the world we want"

The brochure "Let's build the world we want" shows the whole spectrum of activities of the Swiss Consumer Association. The brochure can be ordered free of charge from the Swiss Consumer Association (in German only). A digital version is available for download on the homepage.

Further information is available on our homepage: https://konsumentenverband.ch
or from the Secretariat of the Swiss Konsumenten Verband, Gentenwisstrasse 15, CH-8332 Russikon, E-mail: info@konsumentenverband.ch; Tel. 044 955 07 42

ARGE - Working Group for Biodynamic Farming Bolzano - Trento (Italy)
Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die biologisch-dynamische Wirtschaftsweise Bozen-Trient 

History and Status of the Bolzano - Trento Region

The Italian Bolzano-Trento region was part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy until 1919. In 1919 the region was granted back to Italy. From 1921-1943, an italianisation by the fascist regime with plans for resettlement of population took place. 

The region benefits from a provincial autonomy. It has wide-ranging legislative powers over a total of 29 areas, in compliance with EU regulations. Agriculture and forestry, soil improvement is one of them. 

Presentation of the association

The association works on a voluntary basis. It was founded by farmers in 1983 and is financed by contributions from its members. At present these include 155 farmers. The board currently consists of 9 members. Nine members work in our own preparation group.

The association is recognised as a voluntary continuing education association and is legally and financially independent. We are also recognised by the Goetheanum as a further education organisation. Everything is held in two languages (German and Italian). Two workers guarantee the continuity of the work.

Tasks and activities of the association:

• Preparations are totally produced in community.  They are distributed free of charge for all members and are kept in a separate preparation cellar.
• Organisation of introductory courses, reading evenings, educational trips, farm visits and further education seminars and evenings.
• Introduction of the farm development talks with our own revised manual and documents.
• Cooperation with the regional authorities whenever it is important for organic and especially for biodynamic farming.

Our independent association's structure is adapted to regional needs. This makes it more relevant to members, gives them more motivation to participate, builds community and makes it easier for members to cooperate. The continuous cooperation with public offices and sales structures is essential, as is cooperation with political decision-makers. Becoming a member of the Federation will strengthen our position.

We look forward to strengthen the international cooperation by learning and contributing to the worldwide biodynamic community.

For further information, please contact the association at: info@biodynamik.it.

Biodynamics in Russia

A team of enthusiasts make Sekem products available for the Russian market and talk about the value of biodynamic foods.
 
It all started with the idea to bring the products of highest quality to the market and together with them the whole idea of sustainable regenerative agriculture, that cares for people and the earth.
 
Being for a few years the owner of an organic food store in Moscow, Lena Jakobi then decided to import Sekem products and founded Naturalis company. But just importing is not enough - not many people in Russia are currently familiar with the Demeter approach.

So another task was and is still there - to get more and more people to learn what biodynamic agriculture is, how it is different from organic, and what Demeter quality means.
 
One of the means to share the information is the website that Lena’s team then created. Its aim is to explain about Sekem and biodynamic principles - told in a way that could be understood by everyone, not necessarily those with a deep knowledge of anthroposophy.
 
Their visit to Sekem last year was very helpful; they spent a few days at the farm and learnt a lot that they then could share with people in Russia. 
 
On their website - www.biodinamika.online - one can:

• Learn about Sekem and the products, and read parts of Ibrahim Abouleish's book translated into Russian 
• Get to know biodynamic and Demeter principles, including the difference between biodynamic and organic agriculture
• Check available online resources and join local groups on biodynamics (in telegram)
• Find out about local events: volunteering at a biodynamic farm, summer forest practice for school children, seminars on biodynamics and empathic food testing organized by the company, etc.
• Join global events - with information provided on Goetheanum courses.
• Read the interviews with local people on biodynamics - farmers, gardeners, producers.

 
There is also an instagram https://www.instagram.com/biodynamic_products_ru/  and youtube account https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0ati0Lm64hDYXawB5bqIQw

Support Organic Farmers in Ukraine
Organic Support Program

The Organic Initiative joined forces with other organizations (FiBL, IFOAM and others) to directly help organic farmers in Ukraine setting up an Organic Support (Grant) Program, through which financial contributions are being gathered and distributed.

The aim is to contribute to the development of the organic sector in Ukraine and to promote organic trade on the domestic and international markets. Due to the war, the highest priority now is to save and recover organic agriculture in Ukraine.

As part of Phase 1 about 70 Ukrainian operators received first emergency support (about 100, 000 Swiss francs). Currently, money and non-financial support are being collected for Phase 2 aiming to provide so much needed aid to strengthen the capacity of the organic sector, support organic operators and develop the organic market in Ukraine

If you would like to have more information on the project, please have a look at the webpage: https://www.dossier.org.ua/en/projects/organic-sector-support/.

Peoples’ Declaration for Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Health
By leading international healthcare organisations 

A person-centred, integrative and holistic approach to healthcare would provide important public health benefits and should be considered crucial to protect and promote the universal right to the highest attainable standard of health. Access to integrative healthcare is limited in too many countries. In response, a group of healthcare organisations, practitioners, patients, and scientists from around the world is uniting around a shared vision of healthcare and launching the Peoples’ Declaration for Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Healthcare (TCIH).        

‘’The healthcare we envision focuses on the whole person, is participative, respects individual choices, as well as cultural diversity, and engages in respectful evidence-informed collaboration between all systems of healthcare.’’

TCIH focuses on the whole person and considers the individual in their physical, psychological, spiritual, social, and environmental context. While 80% of all countries world-wide report the use of traditional, complementary or integrative practices, this high demand is not yet reflected in national health systems. Issues that prevent access to TCIH are due to the lack of recognition and regulation, or a result of  limited collaboration between different healthcare systems. The TCIH Declaration aims to highlight the demand for and benefits of TCIH – it promotes regulation and the highest educational standards, with the goal of enhancing respectful collaboration between all healthcare professionals.

The Declaration will collect signatures of support from organisations and individuals worldwide over the course of one year to demonstrate the demand for TCIH to policy makers. 

More than 87 health organisations and research institutes from 29 countries have already endorsed the Declaration. Join the call to action - sign, support and follow the Declaration milestones at: https://www.tcih.org!

European Forum for Agrobiodiversity, 27-29 October 2022
Let's Liberate Diversity Forum in Hungary

The first edition of the forum took place in 2005 in Poitiers, France, and since then 10 editions have been organised in different European countries. The aim of these events has been to develop the issue of agricultural diversity by linking the work and experiences of the different actors involved, including public awareness, and promoting a horizontal and participatory dissemination of knowledge and expertise.

The European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity! (EC-LLD) is a European non-profit organisation, headquartered in Belgium and operational in Italy, established in 2005 and formally founded in 2012. Today it is composed of 19 seed-savers’ organisations, seed networks, NGOs, national organic associations representing 18 different European countries.

All members share the same concern: our food systems are too uniform and the promotion of biodiversity is the key to achieving food sovereignty and security for future generations. Diversification of seed systems and diets can be achieved by linking the work of the different actors involved, supporting and promoting their knowledge and actions associated with cultivated biodiversity. To achieve members’ vision, the existence of a platform that promotes the exchange and sharing of experiences, traditional knowledge, strategies and policies at European level is therefore essential.

Indeed, EC-LLD draws its origins and foundation from the annual meetings promoted by the founding members on agricultural biodiversity known as the Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum. Within this framework and involving the main national associations, it is possible to involve rural communities and local formal and informal groups. It is within these communities that knowledge about growing, preserving and using local varieties is preserved.

For further information, please visit the webpage of Let's Liberate Diversity! 

More news from the Federation on our website and social media: