Certifying Spirituality Biodynamics in America- Sarah Olsen MAFS Thesis

chatham F ALK SCHOOL OF SUST AINABILITY & ENVIRONMENT Master of Arts in Food Studies The Undersigned Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis of Sarah Olsen on April 26, 2019 "Certifying Spirituality: Biodynamics in America" Nadine Lehrer, Ph.D., Chair Assistant Professor, Food Studies, Chatham University Frederick Kirschenmann Distinguished Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture This thesis is accepted in its present form by the Falk School of Sustainability as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Food Studies Certifying Spirituality: Biodynamics in America A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Masters of Food Studies Chatham University Sarah Olsen May 2019 Contents 1. Introduction -1 1.1 Background 2. Literature Review - 5 2.1 Spirituality and Agriculture - 5 2.2 History and Practice of Biodynamics - 12 2.3 Organics in the U.S. - 21 3. Methods - 23 4. Results- 35 4.1 Conference Participant Observation -35 4.1 Survey Results- 40 5. Conclusion - 59 6. Works Cited- 66 7. Appendix A- 68 Certifying Spirituality: Biodynamics in America Introduction: First described by Rudolf Steiner in a series of lectures in 1924, biodynamics is an agricultural model that focuses on the farm as an organism that can be affected, both positively and negatively, by the farmers interacting with the spiritual (non-physical) world. In other words, ac- cording to Steiner, the ways in which a farmer tends his/her plants and animals in relation to planetary phases and movements, and his/her treatment of spiritual creatures, all influence physical properties of the earth and therefore the functioning of his/her farm (Steiner, 1993). The beliefs underlying biodynamic agriculture were originally developed through Steiner’s philosophy of anthroposophy, best outlined in Steiner’s Esoteric Science, where he described the evolution of the spiritual earth and its connections to ancient civilizations, and to human development and evolution. Steiner’s spiritual teachings are based on a combination of traditional Christian beliefs with various other ancient lineages, such as Greek and Buddhist teachings. Steiner claimed, and his followers believe, that Steiner possessed a form of clairvoyance that allowed him to see beyond this earth and make connections between the spiritual world and the physical world. In its essence, biodynamic agriculture is a spiritual practice that derives from a particular understanding of nature and the earth, and that also relies heavily on the beliefs and practices of the farmer who implements its techniques. As such, a focus on personal spiritual development and understanding on the farmer level is considered central to fully understanding biodynamics’ interactions with and effects on soil, plants, and animals (Klocek, 2013). Demeter Certified Biodynamic® is a label that indicates that a farm is certified as biodynamic, which in this case means the farm uses the practices outlined by Steiner in the Agriculture !1 Lectures from 1924. From nearly the beginning of the movement in the late 1920’s, the organization Demeter has been a leader in both organizing the biodynamic community and certifying farmers who use these practices. In fact, Demeter is the only official certifying agency for biodynamics both in the United States and abroad and has trademarked the term Certified Biodynamic in the United States. Previously, Demeter USA had had a sister organization, Stellar, which up until June of 2018 was an accredited National Organic Program (NOP) certifier, so that farmers who wanted to certify as both biodynamic and organic could do so seamlessly. This also allowed farmers to only pay one (slightly higher) fee to become certified both USDA Organic and Deme- ter biodynamic. Now farmers who wish to certify as both biodynamic and organic can work with the California Certified Organic Growers (CCOG) to do so, or they can certify just as biodynamic through Demeter. Despite the option of working with CCOG, the loss of accreditation by Stellar (and its subsequent demise as an entity) has also turned into somewhat of a crisis moment for Demeter and its members. Some members have argued that the loss of Stellar can be attributed to broader mismanagement by the leadership of Demeter, and at the time of my research, emails had started circulating among the biodynamic community calling for farmer members to leave Demeter and start a new organization to certify their farms (Reid, 2018). While this has not yet come to pass, the question among farmers of whether to continue certifying organic, or even whether to continue with the Demeter biodynamic certification, has made this an interesting moment to explore the contours of biodynamic certification in the U.S. Despite the longstanding existence of biodynamic certification, even the base concept of certifying biodynamic farming is inherently fraught. Core to the beliefs and practices of biody- !2 namics are that they are rooted in the personal practices of the farmer, and that they allow for each farmer to interpret Steiner's teachings differently and apply the practices under their own individual discretion. Steiner stated many times in his lectures that the practices he was propos- ing were new and needed to be experimented with and improved upon. At the end of his lectures, for example, he told farmers that his principles “will lead to brilliant results if worked into your agronomical practices on an experimental basis” (Steiner, 1993, p. 168-169). His untimely death just a year after his lectures, however, left the movement of biodynamics without a clear leader or singular path. Given this lack of a clear way forward, this raises the question of how Demeter navigates this conundrum of being asked to certify practices that include a farmer’s experimentation or his/her spiritual connection to the earth and other planets? Essentially, Demeter’s approach has been to use the agriculture lectures given by Steiner to pull the physical techniques away from the spiritual practices for its certification. For example, to be considered a biodynamic farmer, the prep called 500 horn manure must be sprayed on the land. To make this prep the farmer must follow certain steps such as filling a cow horn with manure and burying it over winter, along with stirring the final product in water for a certain amount of time. None of these steps (or certifying that one follows them) require a spiritual be- lief to participate but their roots in spiritual beliefs cannot be overlooked. Demeter does examine each individual farm and farmer in a way that considers the unique circumstances for the specific plot of land being certified and develops a unique plan for becoming certified. For example, if a farmer cannot have animals living on their land (say, for food safety or other reasons), Demeter will take this into account when certifying the land even if the farming practices normally require some form of livestock integration. Demeter does not look, however, into the individual spiritual !3 beliefs of the farmer or the farmer’s connection to anthroposophy (Chhabra, 2017). Elizabeth Candelario, who was the director for Demeter USA1, has been quoted saying “We are certainly not in the business of certifying people’s spirituality. However, the standard does not represent all of the ways farmers practice biodynamic agriculture, just like one type of yoga (let’s say Ashtan- ga) does not describe the entirety of what yoga may mean to the yoga movement” (Chhabra, 2017). Demeter’s insistence that they only certify the practices, not the beliefs, however, is complicated, in that it gives way to what could be seen as certifying a “watered down” version of Steiner’s original methods. In other words, a farmer could become certified biodynamic without a full understanding of the spiritual basis for the techniques, or without holding any of the spiritual beliefs that the practice is based on. This concern is at the root of the current controversies surrounding Demeter USA today. My research will show that a split in the biodynamic community has formed, with many members wanting the movement to focus back on Steiner’s funda- mental teachings as laid out in his original works, and many other members looking to de-em- phasize the focus on Steiner’s specific spiritual beliefs and instead expand to include more farmers with more diverse sets of beliefs. The goal of this research, then, is to better understand what certifying a spiritual approach to farming does (or doesn’t do) to the nature of that spiritual approach, and what it means when people take different approaches to understanding and codifying these practices. For example, are certified farmers practicing biodynamics as the spiritual approach that it was originally in- tended to be, even if those spiritual beliefs are not part of the certification checklist? Or are farmers becoming certified biodynamic because the marketing aspect of the label acts as a draw 1 Elizabeth Candelario resigned as the director of Demeter in early 2019 after this research was mostly completed. !4 over any spiritual connection to the earth? If the latter, does that “water down” the nature of biodynamics or undermine its goals as an agricultural system? Or does it open biodynamics up to new approaches, more experimentation, and a greater diversity of farmers? Relatedly, how do biodynamic farmers feel about the biodynamic label? What does having such a label for a com- modified agricultural product mean (if anything) for how spirituality is or is not embedded in modern day agriculture? This thesis is organized by sections. The first section is the literature review which will provide a comprehensive understanding of biodynamics and related issues. The second section will be a description of the methods used in this study.

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