September - An introduction to Biodynamics

The enormity of this task fills me with dread, but also with a sense of responsibility and excitement. The dread lies with the size of the task at hand: Biodynamics isn’t just a way of farming: it’s an holistic system that looks to revitalise and harness the ‘life-force’ inherent in the natural world (and by world I really mean universe!). The scope of Steiner’s ideology from soil to stars requires a polymath to understand it in its entirety, but thankfully that’s not our goal here today; an informative, quick scratch at the surface should suffice. The feelings of responsibility and excitement floating around in the ether (directly orbiting the nebula of Biodynamics!) stem from the belief that this is an exciting and groundbreaking subject: a system of practice that has already made a massive impact in the arena of fine wines and promises to improve the quality of food production as a whole. Hopefully as understanding increases so will the tolerance and respect for this oft misunderstood form of agriculture.

For long Biodynamic has been the reserve of French winemaking aristocracy, Nicolas Joly, Anne-Claude Leflaive (Dom. Leflaive), Lalou Bize-Leroy(Dom. Romane Conti & Dom. D’Auvenay), Lafon, Chapoutier, Selosse, Zind-Humbrect, Ostertag, Huet, to name but a few. More recently a younger generation of exciting winemakers are starting to reveal their Biodynamic credentials; Alvaro Palacios, Benjamin Romeo, Telmo Rodriguez, in Spain alone. It’s not just your archetypal terrior driven ‘old-worlders’ either: Millton in New Zealand and Bonterra in California have long been raising the bar with their fruit driven wines. The world around, quality wines are bearing the fruit of the Biodynamic approach.

It all began in Germany when farmers who were familiar with Rudolf Steiner came to the professor for answers to their questions on the decline of seed viability; diminishing soil fertility and the reduction in the quality of produce in general. In 1924, in answer to these repeated pleas, Steiner gave a series of four lectures titled ‘Agriculture’. These lectures form the basis of the Biodynamic movement, a movement which has been carried on by Steiner’s students and followers, now regulated by the international organisation Demeter, established in Germany in 1928. Not confined to arable and livestock, viticulture (grape-growing) has been an area where the rewards of Biodynamics have been most evident, in particular the resistance of vines to disease, and in wines: pronounced ‘terroir’ flavours and increased resistance to oxidation.

The principles of Biodynamics can be best understood by approaching the system layer by layer. It is the first layer that is the most comprehensible and the one that gave rise to the organic movement. Dealing primarily with the soil and vineyard ecosystem, Biodynamics aims to restore soil health through adding manures to the soil and Biodynamic preparations. Above the ground, the maintenance of vegetation is entirely natural avoiding herbicides and favouring cultivation or mowing/grazing. Pest control is left to other pests which in turn are taken care of by even bigger pests...you get the picture! The health of the vine is promoted though the application of sprays or tisanes made from prescribed wild plants such as comfrey or horsetail. The differences to conventional/industrial viticulture are already startling, the health of the soil and ecosystem provide a more balanced nutrition for the vine and a natural level of protection that when fully established have the potential for grapes with a level of vitality, balance, and phenolic development that are the secret to the greatest wines.

What takes Biodynamics beyond Organics (the next layer) is not a new idea: Steiner was simply reminding his audience of the importance of the moon in the natural world. As the moon rises half an hour later every day so tidal times alter: the gravitational pull of the moon influences bodies that contain water. Vines with their large root and foliar system fall into this category: in the vineyard pruning as much as soil cultivation is an exercise affected by the position of the moon. Similarly in the winery, the movement of wine known as ‘racking’ is best undertaken during a new moon, as sediment is more settled and the ‘racked’ wine of greater limpidity. Not a great stretch of the imagination, moreover a useful peasant wisdom that transcends millennia. The Biodynamic farmer has the help of a Biodynamic calendar which records the movements of the moon, and more importantly the moon’s position in relation to the cosmos! (queue drum roll!)

The 12 star constellations which appear over our horizon -whose alter-egos we commonly refer to in astrology- Steiner associated with four elements: fire, water, air and earth. When the moon passes in front of one of these constellations the influence of the constellation is focused by the moon upon the earth. These elements are associated with various parts of the plant: fire corresponds with the seed and fruit, air the flower, water the leaf and the earth the roots. For instance: when the moon passes in front of the path of the lion (a fire constellation) that is the time to plant fruit bearing crops or to harvest fruit. Another example would be to plant salads when the moon is in front of a water constellation. This layer, the layer of cosmic influence, is the most subtle and perhaps the most difficult to comprehend; its effects however have been well documented. Professor Maria Thun, studied the effect of the Biodynamic calendar on the cultivation of radishes, over a twenty year period the growth of radishes from seed was monitored and recorded, the results support the principles outlined above.

In order to be a successful Biodynamic practitioner, the farmer must work with a level of attentiveness and awareness that can only come from this holistic approach: a symbiotic relationship with the farm and the influences surrounding it. Married with the heights of scientific understanding we have today we are better placed now more than ever to do the right thing and do it well.

One might say that with this level of attention and human effort how could one make anything but the best produce? Commonsense suggests so and it is this commitment to do things as naturally and as proficiently as possible that we should demand of all that we consume. At worse it not only improves quality and nutrition but necessitates a respect for the natural world.

Although we have only scratched the surface, I hope to have introduced the notion inherent in Biodynamics that simply; there is so much more out there. The large quality advances made in the field of wine, will hopefully act as a lesson to food production in general. In a society threatened by nutritional/behavourial deficiencies and agriculturally related pandemics (foot and mouth/ avian flu), Biodynamics might guarantee a better future for us all, and if not better, certainly tastier!