Agriculture – Spiritual-Scientific Explorations for Agricultural Renewal

This comprehensive volume has been published on the 100th anniversary of the famous agriculture lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in Poland in 1924. It marked the beginning of what has evolved into the biodynamic and organic movements. The volume consists of the eight original lectures and four question and answer sessions; the second part details the founding of the agricultural experimental circle. The introduction emphasises that Steiner spoke to the hearts and hands of the farmers, while bringing both the cosmological and terrestrial perspective to his treatment, especially in relation to life forces. There was already an awareness of degeneration in quality of food, and Steiner took the view that mineral fertilisers contribute to the exhaustion of the soil and consequent impoverishment of agricultural products – manuring should represent nourishment and an enlivening of the Earth. Interestingly, a long-term study of biodynamic, organic, and conventional systems clearly shows the biodynamic method at the forefront in terms of sustainability.