Organic Farming An International History Cabi

Publishing First Edition W Lockeretz pdf

download
https://ebookgate.com/product/organic-farming-an-international-history-cabi-publishing-first-
edition-w-lockeretz/

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0 (32 reviews) ✓ 107 downloads ■ TOP RATED

"Perfect download, no issues at all. Highly recommend!" - Mike D.

DOWNLOAD EBOOK
 Organic Farming An International History Cabi Publishing
First Edition W Lockeretz pdf download

TEXTBOOK EBOOK EBOOK GATE

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide TextBook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 EDUCATIONAL COLLECTION - LIMITED TIME

INSTANT DOWNLOAD VIEW LIBRARY

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

The Common Agricultural Policy and Organic Farming An

Institutional Perspective on Continuity and Change Cabi
Publishing First Edition K. Lynggaard
https://ebookgate.com/product/the-common-agricultural-policy-and-
organic-farming-an-institutional-perspective-on-continuity-and-change-
cabi-publishing-first-edition-k-lynggaard/
ebookgate.com

Soy Protein and Formulated Meat Products Cabi Publishing

First Edition Henk W. Hoogenkamp

https://ebookgate.com/product/soy-protein-and-formulated-meat-
products-cabi-publishing-first-edition-henk-w-hoogenkamp/

ebookgate.com

Crisis Management in Tourism Cabi Publishing First Edition

E. Laws

https://ebookgate.com/product/crisis-management-in-tourism-cabi-
publishing-first-edition-e-laws/

ebookgate.com

Weeds and Weed Management on Arable Land An Ecological

Approach Cabi Publishing First Edition Sigurd Hakansson

https://ebookgate.com/product/weeds-and-weed-management-on-arable-
land-an-ecological-approach-cabi-publishing-first-edition-sigurd-
hakansson/
ebookgate.com
The Behavioural Biology of Dogs Cabi Publishing First
Edition P Jensen

https://ebookgate.com/product/the-behavioural-biology-of-dogs-cabi-
publishing-first-edition-p-jensen/

ebookgate.com

Ecotourism Policy and Planning Cabi Publishing First

Edition David A. Fennell

https://ebookgate.com/product/ecotourism-policy-and-planning-cabi-
publishing-first-edition-david-a-fennell/

ebookgate.com

Non Chemical Weed Management Cabi Publishing First Edition

M K Upadhyaya

https://ebookgate.com/product/non-chemical-weed-management-cabi-
publishing-first-edition-m-k-upadhyaya/

ebookgate.com

Principles of Plant Health and Quarantine Cabi Publishing

First Edition David L. Ebbels

https://ebookgate.com/product/principles-of-plant-health-and-
quarantine-cabi-publishing-first-edition-david-l-ebbels/

ebookgate.com

Forest Policy for Private Forestry Global and Regional

Challenges Cabi Publishing First Edition Lawrence Teeter

https://ebookgate.com/product/forest-policy-for-private-forestry-
global-and-regional-challenges-cabi-publishing-first-edition-lawrence-
teeter/
ebookgate.com
ORGANIC FARMING
An International History
In memory of Ben Stinner
His insightful intelligence, quick wit and engaging geniality delighted and
inspired all who knew him
Organic Farming
An International History

Edited by

William Lockeretz
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
 CABI is a trading name of CAB International

CABI Head Office CABI North American Office

Nosworthy Way 875 Massachusetts Avenue
Wallingford 7th Floor
Oxfordshire OX10 8DE Cambridge, MA 02139
UK USA
Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 617 395 4056
Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 Fax: +1 617 354 6875
E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.cabi.org

©CAB International 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
copyright owners.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Organic farming: an international history / William Lockeretz, editor.

p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-85199-833-6 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3 (ebook)
1. Organic farming--History. 2. Organic farming--Societies, etc. I. Lockeretz,
William. II. Title.

S605.5.0667 2007
631.5'84--dc22
2007012464
ISBN-13: 978 0 85199 833 6

Typeset by SPi, Pondicherry, India.

Printed and bound in the UK by Cromwell Press, Trowbridge.
The paper used for the text pages of this book is FSC certified. The FSC
(Forest Stewardship Council) is an international network to promote
responsible management of the world’s forests.
Contents

Contributors vii

Foreword ix
Nadia El-Hage Scialabba

I: Origins and Principles

1. What Explains the Rise of Organic Farming? 1

W. Lockeretz

2. The Origins of Organic Farming 9

G. Vogt

3. Organic Values 30
M. Sligh and T. Cierpka

4. The Science of Organic Farming 40

D.H. Stinner

5. The Evolution of Organic Practice 73

U. Niggli

II: Policies and Markets

6. The Development of Governmental Support for Organic

Farming in Europe 93
S. Padel and N. Lampkin

v
vi Contents

7. The Organic Market 123

J. Aschemann, U. Hamm, S. Naspetti
and R. Zanoli

8. Development of Standards for Organic Farming 152

O. Schmid

III: Organizations and Institutions

9. IFOAM and the History of the International Organic

Movement 175
B. Geier

10. The Soil Association 187

P. Conford and P. Holden

11. Ecological Farmers Association and the Success of

Swedish Organic Agriculture 201
I. Källander

12. MAPO and the Argentinian Organic Movement 217

D. Foguelman

13. NASAA and Organic Agriculture in Australia 225

E. Wynen and S. Fritz

14. FiBL and Organic Research in Switzerland 242

U. Niggli

15. The Organic Trade Association 253

K. DiMatteo and G. Gershuny

IV: Challenges

16. A Look Towards the Future 264

B. Geier, I. Källander, N. Lampkin,
S. Padel, M. Sligh, U. Niggli, G. Vogt
and W. Lockeretz

Index 275
Contributors

Aschemann, Jessica, Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing,

Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Stein-
strasse 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany. E-mail: j.aschemann@
uni-kassel.de
Cierpka, Thomas, International Federation of Organic Agriculture
Movements, Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5, 53113 Bonn, Germany.
E-mail: [email protected]
Conford, Philip, 88 St. Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 7LR,
UK. E-mail: [email protected]
DiMatteo, Katherine, Wolf & Associates, Inc., 90 George Lamb Road, Ley-
den, MA 01337, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Foguelman, Dina, Movimiento Argentino para la Producción Orgánica
(MAPO), Sarmiento 1562 6° F, Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail:
[email protected]
Fritz, Sandy, Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, 1194
Wattamolla Rd., Berry, NSW 2535, Australia. E-mail: Sandy.fritz@
cma.nsw.gov.au
Geier, Bernward, Colabora, Alefeld 21, 53804 Much, Germany.
E-mail: [email protected]
Gershuny, Grace, Gaia Services, 1417 Joe’s Brook Road, St. Johnsbury,
VT 05819, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Hamm, Ulrich, Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, Faculty
of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstrasse
19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Holden, Patrick, Soil Association, South Plaza, Marlborough Street,
Bristol BS1 3NX, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

vii
viii Contributors

Källander, Inger, Ecological Farmers Association, Gäverstad Gård, 614

94 Söderköping, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]
Lampkin, Nicolas, Organic Research Group, Institute of Rural Sciences,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3AL, UK. E-mail: nhl@
aber.ac.uk
Lockeretz, William, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Poli-
cy, Tufts University, 150 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
Naspetti, Simona, Department DIIGA, Faculty of Engineering, Poly-
technic University of Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona,
Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Niggli, Urs, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse,
5070 Frick, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]
Padel, Susanne, Organic Research Group, Institute of Rural Sciences,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3AL, UK. E-mail: spx@
aber.ac.uk
Schmid, Otto, Research Institute for Organic Farming (FiBL), Acker-
strasse, 5070 Frick, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]
Sligh, Michael, RAFI-USA, PO Box 640, Pittsboro, NC 27312, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
Stinner, Deborah H., Organic Food and Farming Education and Research
Program, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agriculture Research
and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH, 44691,
USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Vogt, Gunter, Friedrich-Naumann-Str. 91, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany.
E-mail: [email protected]
Wynen, Els, Eco Landuse Systems, 3 Ramage Place, 2615 Flynn,
Canberra, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Zanoli, Raffaele, Department DIIGA, Faculty of Engineering, Polytech-
nic University of Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
E-mail: [email protected]
Foreword

When I was asked to write this foreword, it provided me with a won-

derful excuse to sit back, ponder, pull together my thoughts and take a
serious look at this oasis of ours, organic agriculture: what we have
done, how far we have come and, of course, where we are going, how
we will get there, whom we will take with us and how all the work that
has gone on might provide even more benefits for the future.
When does the history of this thing we now call ‘organic agricul-
ture’ begin? Some say that it actually began thousands of years ago,
when hunter-gatherers settled down and took up farming. After all,
farmers of the remote past certainly did not have to deal with synthetic
chemicals! However, true organic agriculture is practised by intent, not
by default; you do not automatically become organic simply because
you never used prohibited chemicals anyway. This makes it clear that
organic agriculture started much more recently. It is hard to specify
exactly when, but early landmarks include the founding of biodynamic
agriculture in the 1920s, the emergence of a strongly organized move-
ment in the UK in the 1940s and the promulgation of the first organic
production standards in the 1960s.
Whenever it may be considered to have begun, throughout most of
its history organic agriculture grew without institutional and political
support, to the surprise of many sceptics. The sector is expanding not
only economically (i.e. market share), but also in its sociocultural
importance. We have gone from ‘earth mothers’ to highly respected
reformers who have developed the concepts which, in turn, have led to
standards that not only provide the basis for growing products while

ix
x Foreword

respecting the environment, but have recently also been including so-
cial justice standards.
Philosophical, environmental and food safety issues have driven
the demand for organic commodities, but organic agriculture also re-
stores a human face to agriculture by giving attention to an ‘agri-culture’
that values farmers’ work and local traditions and foods. Somehow, the
organic ethic has tried to deal with some of the overwhelming aspects
of globalization by balancing science and morality.
This book provides a timely opportunity for all of us – those who
have been involved with organic agriculture for a long time, as well as
those who are circling on the outside trying to decide what they think
of all these ideas about agriculture – to get an overview of what needs
to be done in a variety of contexts to continue reaping benefits, but also
to share those benefits with others. An understanding of the growth of
organic agriculture in developed countries – including both its achieve-
ments and setbacks – offers newcomers from the developing world a
headstart in building upon their traditional systems, with a view to
creating more sustainable food systems.
Of course, organic agriculture has potential for farmers in all nations.
But think about what it means in the developing world in particular,
where farmers – struggling to feed themselves and their families and
hoping to have food left over to sell in the market – can take advantage of
a system that allows them to flourish in the absence of external support.
While modern agriculture has unilaterally privileged a scientific
and economic model based on mechanistic and quantitative concepts
of the non-organic world, the organic community complements scien-
tific investigation with active creativity, whereby farmers can rely on
their intelligence instead of capital and on their own knowledge and
labour to add value to locally available resources. Contrast this with the
global trends towards unbalanced diets (more animal products, sugars
and fats), the concentration of food markets in the hands of a few large
retailers and reduced national control over the flow of resources. Re-
source degradation from intensification and specialization poses chal-
lenges for agriculture and society as a whole.
Organic agriculture offers solutions, but to take advantage of them
it is essential to have informed consumers – consumers who appreciate
that organic agriculture not only promises them safer environments
and foods, but also promises that the rights and traditions of producers
have been respected. Furthermore, it is critical to have more ethical
entrepreneurs who are willing to be transparent and share information
about their products and activities. There are several examples in the
organic community of individual responsibility and economic partner-
ships. My hope is for them to prosper – courageously – and to escape
the trap of ‘conventionalism’.
 Foreword xi

Yes, organic agriculture has matured enough to offer lessons. Now

it is up to us to look to the future, to make sure our standards are real-
istic and adaptable to unique situations. Then we will be in a position
to assure that our maturity does not lead to a midlife crisis. Signs of a
crisis are evident today where organic systems follow the simplified
production and distribution pattern of conventional agriculture in order
to compete with the dominant food supply system.
Without a doubt, diverse forms of organic management will con-
tinue to be practised to suit different needs and different markets. Cer-
tain organic systems are more environmentally or socially just than
others, but all have to obey the common principles of health, ecology,
fairness and care, as reflected in the basic organic standards, which are
constantly improved as knowledge advances. Our choices for future
directions will certainly benefit from an understanding of the history of
organic agriculture in the overall context of agricultural and societal
development – and investing in further investigation.
This book describes the evolution of organic agriculture in the vari-
ous spheres of the food supply chain. In it we can see movement be-
tween two poles: from northern to southern countries; from smallholders
to industrial production; from hippie culture to scientific perspectives;
from input substitution techniques to holistic approaches; from farmers’
standards to government regulations; from informal markets to super-
markets; and from third-party certification to participatory guarantee
systems.
In telling the story of what has happened so far, this book is inspir-
ing. But it also makes me ponder: what next? The book concludes by
offering some general possibilities, but does not propose definitive,
comprehensive answers. Instead, it challenges us to be creative in specu-
lating about what the future of organic agriculture is likely to be, or
ought to be, if it is to remain a vibrant and innovative movement for
cultural and social development.
Nadia El-Hage Scialabba
Senior Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
E-mail: [email protected]
This page intentionally left blank
What Explains the Rise of
1
Organic Farming?

W. Lockeretz

Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy,

Tufts University, 150 Harrison Ave., Boston, Massachusetts
02111, USA

From very modest beginnings in the first half of the last century, organic
farming has grown dramatically in importance and influence world-
wide. A few statistics tell part of the story: from almost negligible lev-
els until the 1980s, the number of organic farms worldwide has grown
to an estimated 623,000, with some 31.5 million ha managed organi-
cally (Willer and Yussefi, 2006, ch. 5). Worldwide sales of organic
products reached some US$28 billion in 2004 (IFOAM, 2006).
But these numbers capture only a small part of what organic farm-
ing has become. Even more impressive is its heightened stature among
researchers, educators and agricultural policy makers, a change that
began in earnest only by the late 1970s.
At one time, organic farming was fair game for attacks, with or with-
out supporting evidence. Thus it was that at the annual meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1974,
a panel of scientists took aim at the ‘organic food myth’, calling it ‘scien-
tific nonsense’ and the domain of ‘food faddists and eccentrics’, and
blaming ‘pseudoscientists’ for confusing the public and thus scaring
them into paying more for food (Washington Post, 1974). They also said
that the ‘organic myth was counterproductive to human welfare, be-
cause the myth leads to a rejection of procedures that are needed for the
production of nutritious food at maximum efficiency’ and was ‘eroding
gains of decades of farming advancements’. Yet, 7 years later, the journal
of this same AAAS published a major research paper that found organic
farms to be highly efficient and economically competitive while using
less fossil energy and suffering less soil erosion than neighbouring con-
ventional farms (Lockeretz et al., 1981).
©CAB International 2007. Organic Farming: an International History
(Lockeretz) 1
2 W. Lockeretz

In light of the once hostile attitudes of at least some scientists (it

is hard to say how prevalent these attitudes were), the growth of
research on organic farming has been particularly striking. At the
first international scientific conference of the International Federa-
tion of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), held in Switzerland
in 1977, a total of 25 presentations was offered. When the IFOAM
conference returned to Switzerland in 2000, that number had jumped
by more than 20-fold, to well over 500 (Alföldi et al., 2000). Before
the 1970s, funds for organic research were extremely limited; today,
significant public money is available in many countries: Denmark,
France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands are all
reported to spend at least €6 million per year on organic research
(Slabe, 2004, p. 11). Often this research also involves publicly fund-
ed advisory and outreach programmes for current and potential or-
ganic farmers, yet another activity that would have been hard to
imagine in the early 1970s. Equally unimaginable are the abundance
and variety of organic curricula and degrees offered at universities
in many countries.
A similar evolution has been evident in the attitudes of policy mak-
ers. Back in 1971, Earl Butz, at the time the Secretary of the US Depart-
ment of Agriculture (USDA), whose department had never done any
research or anything else regarding organic farming, nevertheless made
bold to declare that ‘before we go back to an organic agriculture in this
country, somebody must decide which 50 million Americans we are go-
ing to let starve or go hungry’ (Butz, 1971). Yet, less than a decade later,
under another Secretary of Agriculture, Bob Bergland, that same depart-
ment undertook a comprehensive study of organic farming to under-
stand better its potential and its limits, and to recommend how the
USDA should get involved in it. The resulting report (USDA, 1980),
which Bergland enthusiastically endorsed, was one of the most widely
requested reports in USDA’s history. It had a startling impact, not just
because of what it said, but also because of who was saying it. The re-
port concluded that organic farming would receive an impetus from in-
creasing concerns over energy shortages, declining soil productivity,
soil erosion, chemical residues in foods and environmental contamin-
ation. It also noted that ‘the negative attitudes of . . . the agricultural
establishment toward organic farming have sometimes limited [its] ac-
ceptance’, and that the common view in the establishment that organic
farming is ‘impractical or infeasible’ was ‘to some extent . . . the result of
misperceptions and misunderstandings’ (p. 83). It offered 19 recommen-
dations regarding organic research, education and extension, the last of
which was that ‘it is of utmost importance that USDA develop research
and education programs and policies to assist farmers who desire to
practice organic methods’ (p. 93).
 Rise of Organic Farming 3

In retrospect, Bergland’s view clearly has supplanted that of Butz in

agricultural policy circles, both in the USA and in many other countries.
Many governments that long ignored organic farming now offer farmers
subsidies for producing organically (see Chapter 6). This is commonly
done because of its environmental benefits (though a more sceptical view
is that the real goal is to reduce agricultural surpluses because organic
farming is thought to have lower yields). Likewise, many agencies now
collect statistics on organic production and some promote it through pub-
lic education campaigns and market development activities. A related
development has been the proliferation of national and international reg-
ulations, standards and labels – public as well as private (see Chapter 8).
An important component of the advancement of organic farming
has been its global spread. Five countries were represented when
IFOAM was organized in 1972; by the late 1990s it had members from
over 100 countries (see Chapter 9). IFOAM’s scientific conferences,
which until the mid-1980s had been held only in western Europe and
North America, have since been held in countries as diverse and dis-
persed as Burkina Faso, Australia, Hungary and Brazil, among others.
Further evidence that organic farming has become truly global is that
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has been involved in it start-
ing in 1999, with activities that include networking, market analysis,
environmental impact assessments, improving technical knowledge,
responding to country requests for assistance, and development of
standards through the Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO, 2005).
Similarly, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
has been involved in several aspects of global trade in organic foods
since 2001, particularly in assisting developing countries to increase
their production and exports (Twarog, 2002).
This book will document many more examples showing the re-
markable rise in the importance and stature of organic farming. This
leads to an obvious but difficult question: What caused this rise?
One immediate answer (at least for western Europe) is the subsidi-
zation of organic farming (described in detail in Chapter 6). But subsid-
ies, while stimulating conversion to organic farming since the 1990s,
were a result, not a cause, of the earlier growing interest in organics
in the 1970s and 1980s. So what caused that?
In the absence of a thorough analysis, we can only speculate. But
several possibilities suggest themselves:

● Organic activists were successful in promoting their views to the

public, scientists and policy makers.
● As new concerns emerged regarding the environment, the situ-
ation of farm workers and small farmers worldwide, and food
safety – the last of these sometimes involving outright scandals
4 W. Lockeretz

and near-panic – organic farming became a more attractive alter-

native to the dominant farming systems among both farmers and
the public.
● Over the decades, organic farming changed in ways that made it
more appealing to a broader public, in contrast to its narrow circle
of adherents in the early days.

Impressive national and international organizations have emerged that

promote organic farming among farmers, researchers, consumers and
others. Some of their activities have included public education and
other measures aimed directly at increasing the importance of organic
farming. Other efforts have been directed towards people already in-
volved in organic farming, such as exchanging information on improved
production methods among organic farmers. But these activities no
doubt also have indirect effects on the outside world, for example,
when farmers who are thinking about going over to organic farming see
improved methods at work on real organic farms.
But the effectiveness of such advocacy organizations should not be
overstated. Their resources are far too limited to bring about so great a
challenge to how we produce food. Also, some have not worked as ef-
fectively as they might have, even with their limited resources, because
of internal conflicts or a reluctance to cooperate with other similarly
motivated groups. Moreover, many such organizations came into exist-
ence after organic farming began its rapid growth in the early 1970s.
Thus, while they might deserve credit for some recent advances, they
were a product of the most striking period of growth, not its cause.
Thus, we need to look elsewhere for the rest of the explanation. The
1960s, the decade preceding the initial rapid rise in organic farming,
was a time of great social and political upheaval worldwide. This mark-
edly heightened public awareness of environmental threats, including
from agriculture, and created a strong determination to do something
about them. The most dramatic threat from agriculture came from pesti-
cides, publicized so effectively by Rachel Carson (1962). One of the
early successes of the environmental movement was scored in the early
1970s, when DDT and other organochlorines were banned in many
countries, largely because of the harm they did to birds of prey and
other threatened species. Less dramatic, but still a cause for concern,
was the risk of methaemoglobinaemia (‘blue baby’) from the elevated
nitrate levels found in drinking water supplies, in large part as a result
of high applications of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers.
At the same time, a generalized rejection – or at least a greater
suspicion – was developing towards synthetic chemicals of all
sorts, including not just pesticides, but also food additives. This
prompted growing interest in foods that were less processed and
 Rise of Organic Farming 5

considered more wholesome, natural and safer than what was other-
wise available.
The public’s concern regarding the environmental and food safety
implications of agricultural chemicals was paralleled by growing concern
among farmers regarding their effects on their own health and that of their
families and livestock. This concern was an important reason for farmers
to convert to organic farming (e.g. Lockeretz and Madden, 1987).
All these developments clearly favoured the growth of organic
farming, which offered more natural foods produced in safer and more
environmentally sound ways. But starting in the 1960s other factors
may also have boosted the organic farming movement, although less
directly. The 1960s was a decade of strong anti-establishment activism,
especially in opposition to the Vietnam War. Important targets of this
activism were the giant petrochemical companies that made war mater-
ials such as napalm and the herbicide Agent Orange. These companies
also manufactured insecticides (organochlorine and organophosphate
insecticides both have their origins in World War II). Environmental
and antiwar activists became natural allies in their campaigns against
big chemical companies. Thus, the organic farming movement found
itself very much in tune with the zeitgeist of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Ironically, it gained followers on the left side of the political spectrum,
whereas originally, to the extent that it was political at all, at least in
England the organic movement leaned decidedly towards the right
(Conford, 2001).
Finally, the 1960s are well known as a time of countercultural revo-
lution, embodied in the stereotypic ‘back-to-the-land hippie’. Today,
most people involved in organic farming do not at all fit that stereotype, and
are quick to point out that organic farming is not hippie farming. (As
Danbom (1995, p. 267) described the situation in the USA: ‘In 1980, most
farmers viewed organic producers . . . with bemused contempt, as latter-
day hippies with harebrained notions of how farming should be done.
But their successes in the market have quieted the skeptical.’) However,
since the 1930s, there always have been some organic farmers and advo-
cates who in fact could be characterized as proto-hippies, or at least as
proponents of an alternative lifestyle (as discussed in Chapter 2).
This last point leads directly to the third suggested reason for the
growth of organic farming, namely, changes in organic farming itself
(no doubt in large measure in response to changes in the outside world).
From the start, various kinds of people have favoured organic farming,
for various reasons. But the relative importance of these groups has
shifted over the decades.
As noted, some people find organic farming attractive because it
represents a desirable alternative lifestyle, one that especially rejects
the dominance of industrial power and materialistic values. This may
6 W. Lockeretz

or may not be coupled to metaphysical beliefs concerning the cosmos

and life forces (critical elements in biodynamic agriculture, the first
formal organic concept, as described in Chapter 2). Still others are
interested in it mainly for its potential to reduce agriculture’s damage
to the environment. Another group, which overlaps the previous
one, particularly likes organic farming as a source of wholesome, high-
quality foods.
In recent years, the last two groups have become more important
components of the mix, and the face of organic farming’s constituency
has changed. Along with the countercultural types who (among others)
were there from the beginning, organic farming now is also the domain
(among others) of decidedly non-hippie officials such as may be found
in Brussels, promulgating EU regulations specifying the definition of
‘organic’ (or aging professors who teach about it in universities, such as
in Boston). The process may have fuelled itself. As more ‘respectable’
types got involved, the movement no doubt was seen as less exotic by
others who already shared its environmental goals, but not its embrace
of alternative lifestyles.
Organic farming’s new adherents include farmers who converted
from conventional farming – perhaps inspired by the example of others
who had already done so and were benefitting from the gradual but
steady improvement in organic production techniques (see Chapter 5) –
but who in many respects still were more like their conventional
counterparts than those who had farmed organically all along. They
also include perfectly respectable agricultural scientists, some of whom
had distinguished careers in very conventional kinds of research before
turning their attention to organic farming, possibly after seeing some of
their colleagues do so as the mutual suspicions between conventionally
and organically oriented scientists began to subside (see Chapter 4).
The new adherents also included consumers who now could shop
for organic products in otherwise conventional supermarkets, rather
than having to go to health food stores that were perceived – rightly or
wrongly – as just for health food ‘faddists’ (to use the language of the
AAAS panelists mentioned earlier); again, the demand for organic
products among such consumers in turn could lead more supermarkets
to offer them, which in turn would increase the number of consumers
buying them (as discussed in Chapter 7).
This last suggested cause of the rise in organic farming – changes in
who is involved with it – has been viewed with misgivings in some
circles, their fear being that newer participants will distort or dilute the
fundamental principles of organic farming. Thus, conventional farmers
who recently converted to organic methods are suspected of being in it
just for the money (at least in countries that subsidize organic farming
heavily, or where price premiums have been particularly strong). The
concern is that they will do as little as possible to get certified, and
 Rise of Organic Farming 7

possibly try to weaken the organic standards. Selling organic products

through chain supermarkets (whether conventional or the more recent
natural food chains) worries some people who fear that the concen-
trated economic power of these chains will enable them to force down
the prices that organic farmers receive; so too, they fear that large
supermarkets will favour larger, highly specialized and often more
distant farmers who can supply the high volumes and standardized
products they demand, in contrast to the earlier organic ideal of a decen-
tralized marketing system based on small, diversified, local farms (as
discussed in Chapters 3 and 7). These arguments were already heard in
the 1990s, when the organic sector was considerably smaller than it is
today (e.g. Woodward et al., 1997; Kirschenmann, 2000; Klonsky, 2000);
these days they are heard much more frequently.
A hotly debated subject in organic circles is whether supporters of
organic farming should welcome the growth that comes from these
changes in who is involved with it. Against the arguments just set forth,
others argue that the entrance of new (and possibly larger) farmers at
least means more land is being cultivated in an environmentally benign
way. And whatever else one thinks of supermarkets, their growing role
in organics means that more food is available that has demonstrably
lower pesticide residues.
Like any good question about organic farming that is worth debat-
ing, no simple answers can, or should, be offered. So, too, with the title
question of this chapter. Much more analysis is needed to construct a
credible explanation of the intriguing rise of organic farming. This book
does not offer an explanation. Rather, it tries to supply some building
blocks from which one can be constructed.

References
Alföldi, T., Lockeretz, W. and Niggli, U. Danbom, D.B. (1995) Born in the Coun-
(eds) (2000) IFOAM 2000: The try: A History of Rural America.
World Grows Organic. Proceedings Johns Hopkins University Press,
of the 13th International IFOAM Sci- Baltimore, Maryland.
entific Conference, 28 to 31 August FAO (2005) Organic agriculture at FAO.
2000. vdf Hochschulverlag AG an United Nations Food and Agriculture
der ETH Zürich. Organization. Available at: www.fao.
Butz, E. (1971) Quoted in Yearbook of org.organicag (updated December
Spoken Opinion: What They Said in 2005)
1971, p. 123. IFOAM (2006) The world of organic
Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring. Houghton agriculture: more than 31 million
Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts. hectares worldwide (press release,
Conford, P. (2001) The Origins of the Or- February 14). International Feder-
ganic Movement. Floris Books, ation of Organic Agriculture Move-
Edinburgh, UK. ments, Bonn, Germany. Available at:
8 W. Lockeretz

www.ifoam.org/press/press/Statistics_ agronavigator.cz/attachments/CORE_
2006. html seminar_listopad_2004.pdf
Kirschenmann, F. (2000) Organic Twarog, S. (2002) UNCTAD’s work on
agriculture in North America: the organic agriculture. In: Rundgren,
organic movement. In: Allard, G., G. and Lockeretz, W. (eds) Reader,
David, C. and Henning, J. (eds) IFOAM Conference on Organic
L’agriculture biologique face à son Guarantee Systems: International
développement – Les enjeux futurs. Harmonization and Equivalence
Lyon (France) 6–8 décembre 1999. in Organic Agriculture, 17–19
INRA Editions, Paris, pp. 63–74. February 2002, Nuremberg,
Klonsky, K. (2000) The consumption of Germany. IFOAM, Tholey-Theley,
food in the United States: confluent Germany, p. 51.
demand and availability. In: Allard, USDA (1980) Report and Recommenda-
G., David, C. and Henning, J. (eds) tions on Organic Farming. United
L’agriculture biologique face à son States Department of Agriculture,
développement – Les enjeux futurs. Washington, DC.
Lyon (France) 6–8 décembre 1999. Washington Post (1974) Organic farming
INRA Editions, Paris, pp. 227–246. ‘scientific nonsense’. 28 February.
Lockeretz, W. and Madden, P. (1987) Willer, H. and Yussefi, M. (eds) (2006)
Midwestern organic farming: a ten- The World of Organic Agriculture:
year follow-up. American Journal of Statistics and Emerging Trends
Alternative Agriculture 2, 57–63. 2006. International Federation of
Lockeretz, W., Shearer, G. and Kohl, D. Organic Agriculture Movements,
(1981) Organic farming in the Corn Bonn, Germany. Available at: www.
Belt. Science 211, 540–547. orgprints.org/5161
Slabe, A. (2004) Consolidated Report: Woodward, L., Fleming, D. and
Second Seminar on Organic Food Vogtmann, H. (1997) Health, sus-
and Farming Research in Europe: tainability and the global economy:
How to Improve Trans-national Co- the global dilemma. Ecology and
operation. Available at: http://www. Farming 17, 32–39.
The Origins of Organic Farming
2
G. Vogt

Friedrich-Naumann-Str. 91, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany

2.1 Introduction

The concept we know today as ‘organic farming’ is an amalgam of different

ideas rooted mainly in the German-speaking and English-speaking worlds.
These ideas arose at the end of the 19th century, especially the knowledge
of biologically oriented agricultural science, the visions of Reform move-
ments and an interest in farming systems of the Far East.
Between the two World Wars ‘modern’, chemical-intensive, technic-
ally advanced farming faced a crisis in the form of soil degradation, poor
food quality and the decay of rural social life and traditions. As a solution
to this crisis, organic farming pioneers offered a convincing, science-based
theory during the 1920s and 1930s that became a successful farming sys-
tem during the 1930s and 1940s. But it was not until the 1970s, with
growing awareness of an environmental crisis, that organic farming at-
tracted interest in the wider worlds of agriculture, society and politics.
The leading strategies proposed to achieve sustainable land use in-
cluded a biological concept of soil fertility, intensification of farming
by biological and ecological innovations, renunciation of artificial
fertilizers and synthetic pesticides to improve food quality and the
environment and, finally, concepts of appropriate animal husbandry.

2.2 Context of the Origins

Organic farming developed almost independently in German-speaking

and English-speaking countries in the early 20th century. Its origins
©CAB International 2007. Organic Farming: an International History
(Lockeretz) 9
10 G. Vogt

need to be understood in the context of four developments going on at

the time: (i) a crisis in agriculture and agricultural science; (ii) the emer-
gence of biologically oriented agricultural science; (iii) the Life and
Food Reform movements; and (iv) growing Western awareness of farm-
ing cultures of the Far East.

2.2.1 Crisis in agriculture and agricultural science

Agriculture and agricultural science underwent a crisis between the

two World Wars in which they faced ecological and soil-related as well
as economic and social problems. The use of mineral fertilizers, pesticides
and machinery – the chemical-technical intensification of farming – was
variously seen as either a cause of or a solution to these problems.
Scientific and agricultural debates in Germany discussed the increased
use of mineral fertilizers and the corresponding neglect of organic manur-
ing (summarized in Vogt, 2000a) as a major cause of several problems:

● Inappropriate use of mineral fertilizers was disturbing plant me-

tabolism, especially because cultivars at that time were not yet
adapted to higher nitrogen levels in soil. Weakened plants could be
attacked more easily by pathogens and insect pests, and effective
pesticides had not yet been developed.
● Physiologically acidic mineral fertilizers acidified the soil, leading
to diminished root growth, disturbances in the soil’s mineral bal-
ance and degradation of soil structure.
● Soil compaction caused by the use of machinery and reduced or-
ganic manuring lowered the soil’s water-retaining capacity, causing
drought problems.
● Soils experienced a decline in fertility – referred to as ‘soil fatigue’
(Bodenmüdigkeit) – that could not be explained by harmful organ-
isms or the lack of nutrients; this was attributed to a disturbed bal-
ance among soil organisms, with the resulting accumulation of
harmful organic substances.
● The use of the previous harvest as seeds often led to a decrease in
yields that could not be explained by plant diseases, pests or min-
eral deficiencies. Higher nitrogen levels in soil and plants prevented
the complete ripening of the seeds; such immature seeds interfered
with the plant’s development the following year.

Similar discussions regarding decreasing soil fertility had arisen in the

UK and the USA with different starting points, respectively manage-
ment problems and concurrent yield decreases, and the Dust Bowl in
the Great Plains.
 Origins of Organic Farming 11

Despite an increased use of mineral fertilizers, German agriculture

suffered from a dramatic drop in yields (up to 40%) after World War I;
only at the end of the 1930s – after more than 15 years – did yields
again reach pre-war levels (Bittermann, 1956). These yield decreases
were at least partly linked to the above-mentioned problems, which
were attributed to the increased use of mineral fertilizers in combin-
ation with the lack of suitable cultivars and pesticides, as well as by the
neglect of organic fertilization. At the time, some German agricultural
scientists did not believe in the long-term success of mineral fertilizers
and feared an overexploitation of soil fertility; they attributed the yield
losses to the short-term success of mineral fertilizers before World War I
(Vogt, 2000a).
In addition, some consumers were worried about declining food
quality: food that did not stay fresh, tasteless vegetables and fruits, and
residues from pesticides based on toxic elements such as arsenic, mer-
cury or copper. The public discussed the increased use of mineral fer-
tilizers and pesticides as a major cause of this decline, and suspected,
for example, that an elevated level of potassium in cancer cells was
caused by increased potassium fertilization. Scientists like Robert
McCarrison in the UK or Werner Schuphan and Johannes Görbing in
Germany confirmed some of these suspicions, such as lower vitamin
levels in fruits and vegetables caused by increased nitrogen fertilization
(McCarrison and Viswanath, 1926; Schuphan, 1937).
Finally, the social and economic situation in the countryside
changed dramatically with the mechanization of agriculture, industrial-
ization of the food sector, migration from the land and import of
agricultural products. An imbalance arose between the urban centres
and the countryside, and national food self-sufficiency no longer was
guaranteed. Severe economic problems caused by low prices (due to
imports) and indebtedness (due to purchase of machines, fertilizers and
pesticides) forced many small and medium-sized farms to give up.
Furthermore, social life in the countryside saw a decline of rural tradition
and rural lifestyle.

2.2.2 Biologically oriented agricultural sciences

Following the discovery of mycorrhizal fungi by Albert Bernhard Frank

in 1885 and nitrogen-fixing bacteria by Hermann Hellriegel and Hermann
Wilfahrt in 1886, soil biologists started to investigate the soil from a bio-
logical point of view. At the turn of the century a new agricultural discip-
line emerged: agricultural bacteriology, dealing with bacteria in soil,
manure, silage and milk. Soil biology pioneers included Felix Löhnis
(1874–1931), Lorenz Hiltner (1862–1923) and Raoul Heinrich Francé
12 G. Vogt

(1874–1943) in Germany, and Selman A. Waksman (1888–1973) in the

USA. In 1910, Löhnis’ Handbuch der landwirtschaftlichen Bakteriologie
(Handbook of Agricultural Bacteriology) was published, the first defini-
tive book on soil biology (Löhnis, 1910).
By integrating the research findings of these pioneers, agricultural
bacteriology developed an inclusive biological concept of soil fertility
focusing on the community of soil organisms, the dynamics of soil
organic matter and the relations between plant roots and soil. This
concept of soil fertility recommended feeding the soil organisms by
organic fertilization (rotted organic material and green manuring),
whereas the agrochemical approach recommended the increase of soil
minerals. By applying those biological research findings to farming
practice, scientifically trained farmers improved farming methods in
areas such as soil cultivation, composting, organic fertilization, green
manuring and crop rotation. In this scientific point of view, organic
farming is an intensification of farming by biological and ecological
means in contrast to chemical intensification by mineral fertilizers and
synthetic pesticides.
Agricultural bacteriology called the dominant agrochemical theories
into question. Subsequent fundamental debates regarding the importance
of soil organisms and organic fertilization arose between agricultural bio-
logists and chemists in Germany during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
Agricultural biologists stated that organic manure is the prerequisite for
(small) additional mineral fertilization; they emphasized biological and
chemical interactions, such as biological nitrogen fixation, active mobil-
ization of minerals by soil organisms and plant roots, as well as soil or-
ganic matter as reservoirs of minerals. Agricultural chemists made a strict
distinction between mineral fertilization and organic manuring: the
(more important) mineral fertilization to increase the soil’s mineral con-
tent (and yields), and organic manuring to sustain the soil’s biological fer-
tility. Only one interaction was mentioned: mineral fertilization leading
to higher yields will produce more organic plant residue, which increases
soil organic matter (Vogt, 2000a).

2.2.3 Life Reform and food reform movements

Starting at the end of the 19th century, reform movements such as the
German ‘Life Reform’ (Lebensreform) and the American ‘Food Reform’ dis-
approved of industrialization, urbanization and the growing dominance of
technology in the ‘modern’ world. They called for a ‘natural way of living’
consisting of vegetarian diets, physical training, natural medicine and go-
ing back to the land. Other interests included abstinence from alcohol and
 Origins of Organic Farming 13

other drugs; educational reform; protection of nature, animals, and local

and regional native culture; and garden cities and garden plots.
The movements consisted of a variety of associations that were con-
tinually being founded and disbanded. To disseminate their ideas they
gave public lectures and published countless journals covering all topics
of the movements. Reform stores, vegetarian restaurants and natural
nursing homes offered products and services necessary for a ‘natural’
way of living. Finally, they organized expositions on Life Reform topics
and took part in official hygiene expositions (Krabbe, 1974).
Eating habits changed dramatically with the increases in industrial
food processing and high-meat diets that were rich in fats and protein
but poor in fibre. Diseases caused by ‘modern’ nutrition appeared or
increased: overweight, indigestion, circulation disorders, diabetes and
caries. Food Reform proposed a vegetarian or low-meat diet with little
or no industrial food processing; this diet was thought comparable to
the supposed diet of early human beings.
Thus, Life Reform and organic farming met on two points: going back
to the land and farming organically on the one hand, and nutrition through
healthy, organically grown food on the other. But organic farming did not
become a key part of the urban Life Reform movement: vegetarian nutri-
tion played a more important role than high-quality organic food, and
only a few members of the Life Reform movement dared to leave the urban
centres, settle on the land and work as farmers (Baumgartner, 1992).

2.2.4 Farming cultures of the Far East

People involved in the early development of organic farming admired

the farming cultures of the Far East because of their sustainability over
centuries and millennia, and many aimed at transferring Far Eastern
farming concepts to European agriculture. They were influenced by
reports on voyages to Far Eastern countries that focused on agriculture,
such as that of Franklin H. King in the early 20th century (King, 1911).
Organic farming tried to adopt several farming and gardening practices,
including composting techniques, transplanting cereals (such as wetland
rice) and recycling of municipal organic waste.
In retrospect, however, Far Eastern farming systems had almost no
practical influence on organic farming, in several respects:

● From the beginning organic farming preferred aerobic composting

instead of the anaerobic methods used in the Far East.
● Efforts to mimic wetland rice farming – starting cereal plants in small
beds and then transplanting the young plants to large fields – failed.
14 G. Vogt

● Only a few local projects in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to re-
cycle municipal organic waste from households, factories and sew-
age treatment plants to use them as fertilizers. Nowadays fertilization
with sewage sludge is forbidden for organic farmers because of con-
tamination by heavy metals and other harmful substances.
● The replacement of water closets by composting toilets, a goal dur-
ing organic farming’s pioneer period, was never achieved.
● A vegetarian diet was not in accordance with Far Eastern habits.

Nevertheless, the Far East played a key role in the development of or-
ganic farming by presenting a model of a sustainable society based on
gardening and farming.

2.3 Natural Agriculture and Its Successors in the

German-speaking World
Two main currents of organic farming had been established in German-
speaking countries by the early 20th century: the science-based natural
agriculture (which, being a part of the Life Reform movement, also
called itself ‘Land Reform’) and the anthroposophic biodynamic agri-
culture (since 1924).

2.3.1 Concepts of natural agriculture

Since the beginning of the 20th century the Life Reform movement pro-
posed a ‘natural way of living’. While the majority of people in the
mainly urban reform movement only talked about going back to the
land, some tried to realize their ideals by leaving the urban centres, liv-
ing in rural nature and working as farmers and gardeners. Their con-
cepts of organic farming included a healthful vegetarian diet, gardening,
fruit growing and farming without animals.
Because of their vegetarian beliefs and their rejection of technology
they had to deal with two dilemmas: their ideology was opposed not
just to agricultural machines but also to draught animals, and not just
to artificial mineral fertilizers but also to animal manure. Compromises
regarding their beliefs, an emphasis on gardening and finally the bio-
logical understanding of soil fertility solved or at least reduced these
problems.
The biological concept of soil fertility confirmed the seriousness of
the farming concept they developed. Natural agriculture’s soil cultiva-
tion included careful composting, conservation tillage, green manuring,
rock powder fertilization and mulching. Friedrich Glanz (1922) and
 Origins of Organic Farming 15

Heinrich Hopf (1935) promoted conservation tillage; they recom-

mended decompacting soil without using a mouldboard plough, which
destroys the ‘natural’ soil layers. Heinrich Krantz (1922) developed
a new composting method called ‘noble manure’ (Edelmist), combining
a short period of aerobic rotting with a long period of anaerobic fermen-
tation. Johannes Schomerus (1931) favoured a permanent soil cover of
living plants or organic residues to protect the soil from drought, rain
and erosion.
In their view, artificial fertilizers were responsible for decreases in
food quality, soil fertility and plant health; consequently, they relied
solely on organic manure. But at the same time they rejected animal
manure because they could not reconcile animal husbandry with their
vegetarian ideology. Therefore, green manuring and composting of
plant residues had to play the key role in fertilization. They also tried
to establish a municipal waste and humus economy including recyc-
ling of human faeces by composting toilets. Composted urban wastes
were to be used as organic and mineral fertilizers to replace lost
minerals. Finally, rock powder was used as mineral fertilizer to replace
minerals removed in the harvest.
Natural agriculture’s adherents faced another dilemma regarding
farm work: they refused to use draught animals because of their vege-
tarian beliefs, or to adopt agricultural machines, which were considered
incompatible with a natural way of living. However, rural everyday life
forced them to use agricultural machines; consequently, they sought to
develop small-scale and intermediate agricultural technology suited to
organic farming and gardening. They also accepted a small number of
animals. As a result, they developed the first concepts of appropriate
animal husbandry: high-quality fodder, grazing on pastures and a high
standard of hygiene.

2.3.2 Organization and pioneers

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Natürlicher Landbau und Siedlung (Natural

Farming and Back-to-the-Land Association) was founded in 1927/28. It
developed the first standards for organic farming, which were pub-
lished in the movement’s monthly journal Bebauet die Erde (which
translates as both ‘Cultivate the Soil’ and ‘Cultivate the Earth’) in 1928
and 1933. Organic products produced according to those standards
could be sold under the trademark ‘Biologisches Werterzeugnis’ (Bio-
logical Premium Product), which was displayed with different designs
in 1933 and 1937. Training and advisory projects complemented their
activities. The Siedlerschule Oberellen (Oberellen Back-to-the-Land
School) offered several courses in 1933, lasting from a weekend to half
16 G. Vogt

a year. In December 1934, forced into line by the Nazi government, the
association had to join – as Arbeitsgemeinschaft Landreform (Land
Reform Association) – the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Lebensreform
(German Society for Life Reform).
The journal Bebauet die Erde was founded by Walter Rudolph
in 1925. It reported on the movement’s efforts, failures and successes.
The main focus of the journal was to promote sustainable soil culti-
vation based on biological grounds. The journal was the main forum
to exchange experiences by means of articles and readers’ letters.
Classified advertisement had been an important marketplace for
seeds, (small) machines, work, land and finally organically grown
food. From the 1930s it was edited by Ewald Könemann and Erich
Siebeneicher until it was closed down in 1943 because of World
War II.
The key person of natural agriculture was Ewald Könemann (1899–
1976): ‘by plough and book’ he combined the various biologically based
farming methods into a convincing, scientifically based organic farm-
ing concept. His first article on organic farming, ‘Viehloser Ackerbau –
naturgemäße Bodenbearbeitung’ (Farming without Animals – Natural
Soil Cultivation), was published in the Life Reform journal TAO
in 1925 (Könemann, 1925). His three-volume work Biologische-
Bodenkultur und Düngewirtschaft (Biological Soil Culture and Manure
Economy), published in 1931, 1932 and 1937 (Könemann, 1939),
summed up the principles of natural agriculture. Besides countless
articles in Bebauet die Erde as well as in other Life Reform and agricul-
tural journals, Könemann published several brochures on practical
issues such as composting, manuring, plant protection and food
preservation. He was also engaged in organization, training and
marketing.
Before Könemann, several members of the Life Reform movement
published instructions for organic gardening aimed at healthy nutri-
tion, self-sufficiency and going back to the land. First came Gustav
Simons’ Bodendüngung – Pflanzenwachstum – Menschengesundheit
(Soil Fertilization – Plant Growth – Human Health) (Simons, 1911).
Starting in 1925, Richard Bloeck published many articles on soil fertil-
ity and soil cultivation in Bebauet die Erde. Other important books
were Der natürliche Landbau als Grundlage des natürlichen Lebens
(Natural Farming as the Basis for Natural Living) (Rudolph, 1925) and
Bodenfruchtbarkeit durch neuzeitliche Bodenbearbeitung (Soil Fertil-
ity by Modern Soil Cultivation) (Herr, 1927). Wilhelm Büsselberg’s
Natürlicher Landbau – Bodenständige und gesunde Ernährung (Nat-
ural Agriculture – Native and Healthy Nutrition) (Büsselberg, 1937)
was published in 1937 but was banned by the Nazi authorities before
being distributed.
 Origins of Organic Farming 17

In Switzerland, Mina Hofstetter (1883–1967) picked up the ideas of

Ewald Könemann. Her farm at Ebmatingen near Zurich was an
experiment station as well as a training centre. She wrote several books
on organic farming (Hofstetter, 1942), published regularly in Swiss and
German Life Reform journals and gave lectures all over Europe. Other
Swiss pioneers included Anna Martens and Hans Schwager in the field
of organic fruit growing and gardening (Martens and Schwager, 1933).
Finally, Wilhelm and Karl Utermöhlen experimented with rock powder
fertilization inspired by the book Brot aus Steinen (Bread from Stone)
(Hensel, 1939) written by the Life Reform doctor Julius Hensel in
1898.

2.3.3 Further development: natural, biological and ecological

agriculture

The science-based tradition of organic farming in Germany and

Switzerland continued after World War II. During the 1950s and 1960s
organic farming was called biological agriculture, and later during the
1980s and 1990s, ecological agriculture. Most important, some key
principles of Life Reform had been abandoned: vegetarianism, farming
without animals, back-to-the-land concept and recycling of municipal
organic wastes. Without these principles organic farming came closer
to the mainstream of agriculture, society and politics (Vogt, 2000a).
Organic farming’s proponents incorporated present-day knowledge
of the biologically oriented agricultural sciences: biologically stabilized
soil structure (Lebendverbauung), rhizosphere dynamics and systems
ecology. They also developed ecological technologies concerning soil
management, plant cultivation and appropriate animal husbandry.
Important innovations had been Johannes Görbing’s spade diagnosis
(Görbing, 1947) and Richard Köhler’s concept of ‘bio-technical’ farming
(Köhler, 1949). Ernst Weichel invented several soil cultivation tools
to decompact soil and recommended the use of combinations of tools to
minimize soil-compacting operations.
During the 1950s organic farming, under the name ‘agriculture
biologique’, gained a foothold in France, influenced by British and
German science-based organic farming. A key figure was Claude Aubert,
whose L’agriculture biologique (Aubert, 1970) became a fundamental
book for organic farming. The French association Nature et Progrès was
founded in 1964. It played a key role in the founding of the International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) in 1972 (see
Chapter 9, this volume). A distinctive French approach was the ‘mé-
thode Lemaire–Boucher’; an organization of the same name was founded
in 1963. Raoul Lemaire and Jean Boucher introduced the use of calcified
18 G. Vogt

algae as organic fertilizer; their concepts included a transformation of

chemical elements proposed by C. Louis Kevran.

2.3.4 Organic-biological agriculture

In the 1950s and 1960s the Schweizerische Bauern-Heimatbewegung

(Swiss Farmers’ Movement for a Native Rural Culture) searched for an
alternative to the industrialization of farming. The aim was to save a
rural way of living rooted in Christian faith in the modern world. Led
by Hans Müller (1891–1988) and especially by his wife Maria Müller
(1899–1969), the farmers developed an original organic farming prac-
tice called ‘organic-biological agriculture’, which was characterized by
ley farming, sheet composting and conservation tillage. They combined
their own traditional techniques with natural agriculture, British or-
ganic farming and some experiences of biodynamic agriculture (dis-
cussed below).
The third key person of organic-biological agriculture was the
German doctor and microbiologist Hans Peter Rusch (1906–1977); his
concept of nature as a cycle of living particles (Kreislauf lebendiger
Substanz) built the theoretical background of organic-biological agri-
culture (Rusch, 1955, 1968). He declared the existence of eternal bio-
logical entities, ‘living particles’; their totality represented an ultimate
‘cycle of nature’. Those living particles were able to switch between a
healthy and an ill state; the fertility of soil, the quality of food and the
health of organisms depend on the number of healthy living particles.
He associated these entities with the DNA-containing particles of the
cell; even in the early 1950s, when DNA molecules were discovered,
his theory was quite strange. Based on his concept he introduced a bio-
logical soil test to indicate the quantity and quality of living particles
in soil.
The Swiss journal Kultur und Politik (Culture and Politics) reported
on organic farming starting in 1946; farmers wrote on their experiences,
efforts and failures. Maria Müller reported on her experiences in or-
ganic gardening and healthy nutrition; Hans Peter Rusch regularly pre-
sented aspects of his ‘cycle of living particles’ and his soil test. Another
key topic of the journal was rural culture and Christian faith. Organically
grown food was marketed by the cooperative Heimat (Rural Home).
They sold organic food to customers directly by post, to the cooperative
Migros and to food enterprises belonging to the Reform movement.
During the 1960s organic-biological farming concepts spread from
Switzerland to Austria and Germany.
Organic-biological agriculture abandoned Rusch’s concept of the
‘cycle of living particles’ during the 1970s, and adopted the science-based
 Origins of Organic Farming 19

concepts of natural and biological agriculture. The two merged to be-

come today’s organic farming, called ecological agriculture in Germany.
Professional organizations concerned with extension, certification and
marketing were established during the 1980s. Organic farming’s goals
regarding agricultural and social politics changed from preservation of
rural life during the 1950s and 1960s to environmental protection during
the 1980s and 1990s.

2.4 Biodynamic Agriculture

The second major source of organic farming in the German-speaking

world was the Landwirtschaftlicher Kurs (Agricultural Lectures), given
by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) at Koberwitz near Breslau, Silesia, in
1924. An audience of about 60 persons, mainly anthroposophic farmers,
listened to the eight lectures subtitled Geisteswissenschaftliche Grund-
lagen zum Gedeihen der Landwirtschaft (Spiritual foundation for the
renewal of agriculture) (Steiner, 1985). Steiner did not present a com-
plete organic farming concept; he only proposed some guidelines.
Based on his outline, biodynamic agriculture was developed by a group
of anthroposophic farmers. His Agricultural Lectures were first pub-
lished in 1963; until then only a limited number of copies were circu-
lated in anthroposophic circles, numbered and marked ‘for personal
use only’ (Koepf and von Plato, 2001).

2.4.1 Biodynamic concepts

The concepts of biodynamic agriculture are derived from anthroposo-

phy, an esoteric-occult world view. Nature is conceived as a ‘spiritual–
physical matrix’, consisting of four levels: physical, ethereal, astral and
ego forces (Ich-hafte Kräfte). This spiritual–physical matrix could be
manipulated on the level of ‘ethereal and astral forces’ by the ‘bio-
dynamic preparations’. The key concept presented by Steiner is the
farm as a living organism and individuality, characterized by ‘ego
forces’. Finally, Steiner called for an intimate ‘personal relation’ to na-
ture as the basis of agricultural work (Steiner, 1985). The term ‘biody-
namic’ was coined in 1925 by Erhard Bartsch (1895–1960) and Ernst
Stegemann (1882–1943), combining two main aspects: the biological
character of fertilization on the one hand, and the dynamic effects of
the natural forces on the other (Koepf and von Plato, 2001).
Anthroposophists do not merely compare a farm to an organism; to
them a farm is a real (living) organism and individuality, and like a
human being it can be characterized by physical, ethereal, astral and
20 G. Vogt

ego forces derived from the biodynamic concept of nature. A farm

organism must consist of a variety of ‘organs’ such as crop production,
animal husbandry, gardening and fruit growing, with a diversity of
plants, animals and biotopes. Based on interactions among its ‘organs’,
as well as its adaptation to local environmental conditions, a bio-
dynamic farm should be able to reproduce itself without supplies from
outside. Finally, only a closed farm organism will attain high levels of
soil fertility, plant and animal health, and food quality (Remer, 1954;
Schaumann, 1994).
Although biodynamic agriculture is a successful version of organic
farming, none of its four essential aspects – its concept of nature, its char-
acteristic preparations (see below), the notion of a farm as a living organ-
ism and individuality, and the intimate, ‘personal relation’ to nature – have
been incorporated into ‘modern’, science-based organic farming.

2.4.2 Biodynamic pioneers and their activities

The development of biodynamic agriculture occurred mainly on estates

in the eastern parts of pre-World War II Germany. Famous biodynamic
estates were Marienstein near Göttingen, Heynitz and Wunschwitz near
Meissen, Pilgrimshain in Silesia and Marienhöhe in Bad Saarow. The
vast estates offered favourable financial and working conditions to ex-
plore and develop a new organic farming practice. During the 1920s
and 1930s, biodynamic pioneers successfully established an organic
farming practice by combining the suggestions of Rudolf Steiner with
traditional and modern farming methods.
The gardener Max Karl Schwarz (1895–1963) introduced elaborate
composting techniques to biodynamic farming. Immanuel Vögele
(1897–1959) worked on manuring. He favoured green manuring –
despite the critical remarks by Steiner – and the use of composted ur-
ban organic waste. Ernst Stegemann and Immanuel Vögele were engaged
in breeding cultivars adapted to biodynamic farming conditions. Ironic-
ally, the key concept presented by Steiner – the farm as a living organ-
ism and individuality – did not play any role during the pioneer period.
Furthermore, while focusing solely on biodynamic preparations and
manuring, there was no attempt to create concepts of appropriate
animal husbandry.
A major area of emphasis was the testing of the biodynamic prepar-
ations: the field preparation (horn manure and horn silicea) and the
compost preparations (yarrow blossoms, camomile blossoms, stinging
nettle, oak bark, dandelion flowers and valerian flowers). Inconsistent
results led to a different use of the preparations depending on the plant
species, soil and climate.
 Origins of Organic Farming 21

From the late 1920s biodynamic agriculture was the topic of public
agricultural and scientific debates on food quality, the sustainability of
farming and the effectiveness of the preparations. Most field trials and
farm comparisons showed lower yields on biodynamic farms, but some
confirmed a higher quality of the food (summarized in Vogt, 2000a).
Almost no scientific experiments specifically showed any effects of
biodynamic preparations regarding plant development, yield or quality,
and that is still true. Most comparative trials or farmers’ field observa-
tions could not prove that biodynamic preparations had any effects be-
cause besides the use or non-use of the preparations they also included
other treatment differences, such as mineral versus organic fertiliza-
tion. Therefore, even if different outcomes were observed, they could
not definitively be related to biodynamic preparations. In addition, the
design of many comparisons either favoured or discriminated against
the biodynamic treatment, depending on the intentions of the researcher
or farmer. In all, there are no convincing results – from either formal
research or farm observations – on the effects of biodynamic prepar-
ations that take into account different locations and last through several
growing seasons (summarized in Vogt, 2000a).
A further difficulty in testing biodynamic preparations is that opin-
ions on how they interact with nature have changed over the decades.
At first, during the pioneer period, biodynamic preparations were be-
lieved to directly benefit plant development, quality, health and yield.
Later (after World War II) it was stated that the supposed beneficial ef-
fects on plant development and soil fertility depended on careful or-
ganic soil cultivation. Today the effects of the preparations are not
discussed any more on the level of plants and soils, but rather on the
level of the whole farm organism; in addition, the preparations are said
to have a regulating or normalizing effect, so that they also could lower
yield, decrease quality or hinder plant development (Spiess, 1978).

2.4.3 Organizations and activities

The early biodynamic organizations consisted of the initial experimen-

tal group Versuchsring anthroposophischer Landwirte (Experiment
Circle of Anthroposophic Farmers), regional associations, centres for
information and advice, marketing cooperatives and a supporting
society. In 1933 all these organizations merged into the umbrella orga-
nization Reichsverband für biologisch-dynamische Wirtschaftsweise
(Association of the Reich for Biodynamic Farming), led by Erhard
Bartsch and Franz Dreidax (1892–1964). The association joined the
Nazi organization Deutsche Gesellschaft für Lebensreform (German
Society for Life Reform) in 1935.
22 G. Vogt

During the late 1920s fewer than 100 farms were worked bio-
dynamically; in the 1930s estimates of the number of biodynamic farms
differ widely, from no more than 200 to as many as 2000. The trade-
mark ‘Demeter’ was introduced in 1928; the first standards published
in 1928 distinguished between biodynamic products ‘Demeter I’ and
conversion products ‘Demeter II’. Annual conferences on biodynamic
farming were held first in Berlin and Basel, and later in Göttingen and
Bad Saarow (Koepf and von Plato, 2001).
In addition to several internal newsletters, the biodynamic journal
Demeter was published starting in 1930. The journal’s main topics were
reports on biodynamic farms, results of field trials and debates on theor-
etical and practical issues. The first detailed publication on biodynamic
farming was the 1929 edition of the anthroposophic yearbook Gäa So-
phia, which was devoted to agriculture (Wachsmuth, 1929). Between
1939 and 1941 five brochures on different biodynamic farming topics
were published: an introduction to biodynamic farming, by Franz
Dreidax; medical plants, by Franz Lippert; fruit growing, by Max Karl
Schwarz; animal husbandry, by Nicolaus Remer; and manuring, by
Hellmut Bartsch and Franz Dreidax. Two books that were more theor-
etical were Die Fruchtbarkeit der Erde, ihre Erhaltung und Erneuerung
(Soil Fertility: Renewal and Preservation) (Pfeiffer, 1938) and The Agri-
culture of Tomorrow (Kolisko and Kolisko, 1939).

2.4.4 Biodynamic agriculture during the Third Reich

Although the Nazi leadership disapproved of anthroposophy because

of incompatible ideologies, the biodynamic umbrella organization
Reichsverband für biologisch-dynamische Wirtschaftsweise was not
closed down. Several Nazi leaders – Rudolf Hess, Richard Walther
Darré (Minister of Agriculture and Peasant Leader of the Reich) and
Heinrich Himmler – were interested in biodynamic agriculture and de-
manded that its potential be tested. Sceptical regarding the long-term
success of artificial fertilizers, they aimed at developing a non-
anthroposophic, science-based ‘agriculture in accordance with the laws
of life’ (lebensgesetzlicher Landbau). Their commitment was based on
various interests: sustainability of farming, food quality and soil fertil-
ity, the farm’s and society’s self-sufficiency regarding fertilizers, and
personal esoteric interests. Nazi officials regularly visited biodynamic
farms and conferences, and demanded several expert reports on bio-
dynamic agriculture.
Alwin Seifert (1890–1972), a non-anthroposophic landscape archi-
tect and later Reichslandschaftsanwalt (Landscape Counsel of the
Reich), mediated between the Nazi authorities and the biodynamic
 Origins of Organic Farming 23

organizations. To avoid an impending ban and to spread biodynamic

farming, the biodynamic leadership presented an organic farming prac-
tice without the anthroposophic background, integrated elements of
the Nazi doctrine of Blut und Boden (blood and soil) into biodynamic
concepts and willingly collaborated with the Nazi authorities. The an-
throposophic gardener Franz Lippert (1901–1949) supervised the bio-
dynamically cultivated herbal plantation at the Dachau concentration
camp; several members of biodynamic organizations worked on estates
of the SS; Erhard Bartsch agreed to train settlers to cultivate conquered
land in the East.
This ‘alliance’ was not based on ideology; rather it was a tacit agree-
ment. The biodynamic organizations were allowed to continue their
work; the Nazi circles might have acquired – if biodynamic farming
proved successful – results that were in accordance with their ideology.
In spite of the biodynamic concessions to the Nazi authorities, the
Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service), led by Heinrich Himmler, prohib-
ited the remaining anthroposophic and biodynamic associations dur-
ing a campaign against ‘esoteric doctrines and lores’ in June 1941.
Ironically, that same month Himmler arranged to establish field experi-
ments comparing organic and conventional farming as well as testing
biodynamic preparations (Vogt, 2000b).

2.4.5 After World War II

The centres of biodynamic agriculture – the vast estates in the eastern

parts of pre-World War II Germany – were lost after 1945; West Germany’s
family farms required a change of biodynamic farming practice and
concepts. Biodynamic agriculture, like organic-biological agriculture,
now focused on the preservation of rural life. The Forschungsring
für Biologisch-Dynamische Wirtschaftsweise (Research Circle for Bio-
dynamic Farming), founded in 1946, was led by Hans Heinze (1899–
1997). The journal Lebendige Erde (Living Soil or Living Earth) first
appeared in 1950.
Scientific-biological knowledge was integrated into biodynamic
concepts during the 1950s and 1960s, especially by Nicolaus Remer
(1906–2001), thereby bringing them closer to those of general
organic farming. Simultaneously the anthroposophic aspects of bio-
dynamic farming became less important. This ‘scientificization’ of
biodynamic farming led to a biodynamic counter-movement initi-
ated by Hellmut Finsterlin (1916–1989), emphasizing the esoteric-
occult tradition of anthroposophy and biodynamic farming. Their
journal, which appeared from 1975 to 1991, was named Erde und
Kosmos (Earth [or Soil] and Cosmos).
24 G. Vogt

During the 1980s and 1990s the focus of biodynamic agriculture

passed from the preservation of rural traditions to environmental
protection and sustainable farming. Concepts of appropriate animal
husbandry were developed, and efforts were initiated to breed cultivars
adapted to organic farming conditions. First Nicolaus Remer and later
Manfred Klett and Wolfgang Schaumann explored the key concept
of biodynamic agriculture, the farm as a living organism and individu-
ality (as described above), as intended by Rudolf Steiner in his Agri-
cultural Lectures. Many biodynamic projects successfully combine
agricultural work with social work, integrating people who are handi-
capped or have mental, drugs-related or educational problems.

2.5 Organic Farming in the English-speaking World

The roots of organic farming in the English-speaking world can be

found in India, where two scientists had been working: an agricultural
scientist, Albert Howard (1873–1947), and a doctor, Robert McCarrison
(1878–1960).

2.5.1 Beginnings in India

In Pusa, New Delhi, India, Howard worked on plant breeding and plant
protection. At the agricultural research station at Indore, India, he de-
veloped an aerobic composting technique known as the ‘Indore Pro-
cess’ (Howard, 1933, 1935). Another goal was to compost urban organic
residues and use them to maintain soil fertility (Conford, 1995). Howard
worked together with two sisters: Gabrielle Howard (1876–1930), his
first wife, and Louise Howard (1880–1969), whom he married after
Gabrielle’s death. Both women’s contributions to the development of
organic farming are still underestimated. North American, as well as
British, organic farming was fundamentally influenced by their team-
work (Inhetveen, 1998).
Having worked in several agricultural areas – plant breeding,
plant protection, soil science, composting, manuring – Howard fi-
nally started to examine the whole farm. By reintegrating the differ-
ent agricultural research disciplines, he concluded that the health of
soil, plants, animals and humans are interrelated. A humus-rich soil
is the key for successful (organic) farming; soil fertility is the precon-
dition for healthy plants and animals. His famous book An Agricultural
Testament (Howard, 1940) summarizes his experiences, emphasizing
the whole farm as the starting point and basic unit of agricultural
research.
 Origins of Organic Farming 25

Robert McCarrison’s research at the Nutrition Research Laboratories

in Coonoor, India, had been on the relationships among soil fertility,
food quality and human nutrition. Studying the health and physique of
the Hunza tribesmen living at India’s north-west frontier, he discovered
the meaning of nutrition for health: their nearly vegetarian diet con-
sisted mainly of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and milk products; meat
and alcohol did not play a major role. His findings opened a new per-
spective for medicine: to examine the conditions that determine one’s
health, rather than simply to cure diseases.
McCarrison also examined the decrease in food quality caused by
increased use of mineral nitrogen fertilizers (McCarrison and Viswanath,
1926; McCarrison, 1936). According to Schuphan (1937), his experi-
ments were the first to examine the relations among artificial mineral
fertilizers, quality of food and human nutrition. By his observations
and experiments he defined the ‘Wheel of Health’, consisting of soil,
plants, animals and humans: properly composted organic residues will
create a fertile soil, on which strong plants will grow, offering a healthy
diet for humans and animals.

2.5.2 Organic farming in the UK

Influenced by Howard’s concepts, farmer and animal breeder Friend

Sykes (1888–1965) and herbalist Newman Turner (1913–1964) devel-
oped organic farming concepts similar to those developed in Germany.
Based on a biological understanding of soil fertility they developed an
organic soil management concept emphasizing ploughless soil cultiva-
tion, organic soil cover, green manuring and ley farming (Turner, 1951;
Sykes, 1959). George Stapledon (1882–1960) worked in grassland culti-
vation: his fields of activity were the establishment and cultivation of a
diverse grass turf, breeding of grassland plants and improvement of the
quality of fodder (Moore-Colyer, 1999).
Inspired by the ideas of Howard and McCarrison, in the 1940s Eve
Balfour (1898–1990) founded the British organic farming organization
The Soil Association (described in detail in Chapter 10, this volume)
and the journal Mother Earth (Balfour, 1943). She also initiated the
Haughley Experiment, in which the effects of organic and conventional
farming systems were compared at the whole farm level for some three
decades. The Haughley Experiment was the first long-term experiment
on organic farming.
In the 1930s the right-wing journal New English Weekly – Review of
Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts sympathized with the beginnings
of the organic farming movement. The journal worried about a dis-
turbed balance between urban centres and rural land, a lost national
26 G. Vogt

self-sufficiency in food, and the vanishing of small and medium-sized

farms. They also put ecological issues on their agenda, such as decreas-
ing soil fertility and food quality. Organic farming was advocated as a
solution to these rural (and urban) problems. Many pioneers of British
organic farming published in the New English Weekly (Conford, 2001).

2.5.3 Organic farming in the USA

Since the beginning of the 20th century, wind erosion seriously dam-
aged the soil in the Great Plains, parts of which became known as the
‘Dust Bowl’ during the ‘Dirty Thirties’. The Friends of the Land, a group
of scientists in fields such as soil protection, landscape development
and ecology, promoted a sustainable way of farming that prevented
erosion. Their journal The Land was intended to interest people in eco-
logical and agricultural issues. Among the members of the group were
two people who had an important influence on the early organic farm-
ing movement, Edward H. Faulkner and Louis Bromfield; the other
members included the prominent ecologists Paul Sears and Aldo
Leopold and the first head of the US Department of Agriculture’s Soil
Conservation Service, Hugh H. Bennett (Nelson, 1997).
The politician and part-time farmer Edward H. Faulkner (1886–1964)
saw in Plowman’s Folly (Faulkner, 1943) the roots of the erosion prob-
lem. He rejected the use of the mouldboard plough because the soil-
turning effect destroys surface layers and structure of soils. Instead of
ploughing he favoured a ‘trash mulch system’: he combined a surface
layer of organic residues – so-called sheet composting – with ploughless
soil cultivation to prevent erosion (Beeman, 1993a). In Pleasant Valley,
Ohio, the novelist Louis Bromfield (1898–1956) experimented with sus-
tainable farming during the 1940s (Bromfield, 1949; Beeman, 1993b). His
Malabar Farm became a showpiece of organic farming. He linked organic
farming with the romantic agrarian ideal of a ‘Jeffersonian Republic’:
small, organic farms as ‘cells’ of a sustainable society.
Similar romantic agrarian ideas can be found in the urban American
Food Reform movement during the 1940s and 1950s. Its activities – similar
to those of Germany’s Life Reform movement – concerned vegetarian food
reform, back-to-the-land initiatives and organic gardening. A key figure in
the movement was the editor Jerome I. Rodale (1898–1971), who started
the magazine Organic Gardening and Farming in 1942. His book Pay Dirt
was published in 1945 (Peters, 1979).
Curiously, although the writings of the prominent American soil
biologist Selman A. Waksman were well known in Germany during
organic farming’s pioneer period (and were even translated into German),
there are no hints that his scientific work on soil organisms (Waksman,
 Origins of Organic Farming 27

1930) and the humus economy (Waksman, 1926) played any role in the
developing organic farming movement in the USA or the UK. Neither
the writings of the organic pioneers in those countries nor the historical
studies on the organic farming movement give much attention to his
work.

***

When we examine organic farming of today in the light of the ideas and
activities of the pioneers described here, we see that many of the import-
ant founding principles remain relevant. Yet organic farming has
changed and developed over the decades. The remaining chapters por-
tray these changes, depicting the evolution of the organic concept in
response to the changing technological, political, economic and social
environment.

References

Aubert, C. (1970) L’Agriculture biologique. Ernährung. Deutsche Volksgesund-

Le courrier du livre, Paris. heit, Nürnberg, Germany.
Balfour, E.B. (1943) The Living Soil. Faber Conford, P. (1995) The alchemy of waste:
& Faber, London. the impact of Asian farming on the
Baumgartner, J. (1992) Ernährungsreform – British organic movement. Rural
Antwort auf Industrialisierung und History 6, 103–114.
Ernährungswandel – Ernährungsre- Conford, P. (2001) The Origins of the Or-
form als Teil der Lebensreformbewe- ganic Movement. Floris Books,
gung am Beispiel der Siedlung und des Edinburgh, UK.
Unternehmens Eden seit 1893. Peter Faulkner, E.H. (1943) Plowmen’s Folly.
Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Grosset & Dunlap, New York.
Beeman, R.S. (1993a) ‘The trash farmer’: Glanz, F. (1922) Die Wühlarbeit im Ack-
Edward Faulkner and the origins of erboden. Carl Gerold’s, Vienna.
sustainable agriculture in the United Görbing, J. (1947) Die Grundlagen der
States, 1943–1953. Journal of Sus- Gare im praktischen Ackerbau.
tainable Agriculture 4, 91–102. Landbuch, Hannover, Germany.
Beeman, R.S. (1993b) Louis Bromfield Hensel, J. (1939) Brot aus Steinen durch
versus the ‘Age of Irritation’. Envir- mineralische Düngung, 3rd edn.
onmental History Review 17, Meyer, Leipzig. (1st edn. 1898).
77–92. Herr, F. (1927) Bodenfruchtbarkeit und
Bittermann, E. (1956) Die landwirtschaftli- neuzeitliche Bodenbearbeitung.
che Produktion in Deutschland Neulohe, Affoldern, Germany.
1800–1950. Kühn-Archiv 70, 1–145. Hofstetter, M. (1942) Neues Bauerntum –
Bromfield, L. (1949) Out of the Earth. Altes Bauernwissen. Selbstverlag,
Harper & Brothers, New York. Ebmatingen, Switzerland.
Büsselberg, W. (1937) Natürlicher Land- Hopf, H. (1935) Ackerfragen – Bodenleben
bau – Bodenständige und gesunde und Ackergeräte. Paul Parey, Berlin.
28 G. Vogt

Howard, A. (1933) The waste products Martens, A. and Schwager, H. (1933) Der
of agriculture: their utilization as neue Land-, Obst- und Gartenbau.
humus. Journal of the Royal Society Lebensweiser-Verlag, Gettenbach,
of Arts 82, 84–121. Germany.
Howard, A. (1935) The manufacture of hu- McCarrison, R. (1936) Nutrition and
mus by the Indore Process. Journal of national health. Journal of the Royal
the Royal Society of Arts 84, 25–59. Society of Arts 84, 1047–1066,
Howard, A. (1940) An Agricultural Tes- 1067–1083, 1087–1107.
tament. Oxford University Press, McCarrison, R. and Viswanath, B. (1926)
London. The effect of manural conditions on
Inhetveen, H. (1998) Women pioneers in the nutritive and vitamin values of
farming: a gendered history of agri- millet and wheat. Indian Journal of
cultural progress. Sociologia Ruralis Medical Research 14, 351–378.
38, 265–284. Moore-Colyer, R.J. (1999) Sir George
King, F.H. (1911) Farmers of Forty Stapledon (1888–1960) and the
Centuries. Translated as 4000 Jahre landscape of Britain. Environment
Landbau in China, Korea und Japan and History 5, 221–236.
(1984). Siebeneicher, Munich, Nelson, P. J. (1997) To hold the land: soil
Germany. erosion, agricultural scientists, and
Koepf, H.H. and von Plato, B. (2001) Die the development of conservation
biologisch-dynamische Wirtschafts- tillage techniques. Agricultural His-
weise im 20. Jahrhundert. Verlag am tory 71, 71–90.
Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland. Peters, S.M. (1979) The land in trust – a
Köhler, R. (1949) Biotechnischer Acker- social history of the organic farming
bau. Bayerischer Landwirtschafts- movement. PhD thesis, McGill
verlag, Munich, Germany. University, Montreal, Quebec.
Kolisko, E. and Kolisko, L. (1939) Agri- Pfeiffer, E. (1938) Die Fruchtbarkeit der
culture of Tomorrow. Kolisko Archi- Erde, ihre Erhaltung und Erneuerung –
ve, Stroud, UK. Das biologisch-dynamische Prinzip
Könemann, E. (1925) Fiehloser Ackerbau – in der Natur. Zbinden & Hügin,
natürliche Bodenbearbeitung. TAO 11, Basel, Switzerland.
1–20. Remer, N. (1954) Bodenständige Dauer-
Könemann, E. (1939) Biologische Boden- fruchtbarkeit. Forschungsring für
kultur und Düngewirtschaft, 2nd edn. biologisch-dynamische Wirtschafts-
Siebeneicher, Tutzing, Germany. weise, Stuttgart, Germany.
Krabbe, W.R. (1974) Gesellschaftsverän- Rudolph, W. (1925) Der natürliche Land-
derung durch Lebensreform. Van- bau als Grundlage des natürlichen
denhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, Lebens. Fürs Land, Horben-Freiburg,
Germany. Germany.
Krantz, H. (1922) Veredelung von Rusch, H.-P. (1955) Die Naturwissen-
Wirtschaftsdüngern – Bekohlungs- schaft von morgen. Hanns Georg
kraft – Saatguttüchtigkeit. Deutsche Müller, Krailling bei München, Ger-
Landwirtschaftliche Presse 49 (87–88), many.
549–550; 49 (89–90), 561–562; 49 Rusch, H.-P. (1968) Bodenfruchtbarkeit –
(91–92), 571–572. Eine Studie biologischen Denkens.
Löhnis, F. (1910) Handbuch der K.F. Haug, Heidelberg, Germany.
landwirtschaftlichen Bakteriologie. Schaumann, W. (1994) ‘Organismus’ und
Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin. ‘Individualität’ im Landwirtschaftlichen
 Origins of Organic Farming 29

Kurs Rudolf Steiners. Lebendige Erde Sykes, F. (1959) Modern Humus Farming.
45, 315–325. Faber & Faber, London.
Schomerus, J. (1931) Die Bodenbedeck- Turner, N. (1951) Fertility Farming. Faber
ung – Ein wertvolles Kulturverfahren. & Faber, London.
C. Heinrich, Dresden, Germany. Vogt, G. (2000a) Entstehung und Entwick-
Schuphan, W. (1937) Untersuchungen lung des ökologischen Landbaus im
über wichtige Qualitätsfehler des deutschsprachigen Raum. Ökolo-
Knollenselleries bei gleichzeitiger gische Konzepte 99. Stiftung Ökolo-
Berücksichtigung der Veränderung gie & Landbau, Bad Dürkheim,
wertgebender Stoffgruppen durch Germany.
die Düngung. Bodenkunde und Vogt, G. (2000b) Ökologischer Landbau
Pflanzenernährung 2, 255–304. im III. Reich. Zeitschrift für Agrarge-
Simons, G. (1911) Bodendüngung, schichte und Agrarsoziologie 48,
Pflanzenwachstum, Menschenge- 161–180.
sundheit – Ein Ratgeber für den- Wachsmuth, G. (ed.) (1929) Gäa-Sophia –
kende Gartenfreunde, 2nd edn. Band IV: Landwirtschaft. Orient-
Lebenskunst-Heilkunst, Berlin. Occident, Stuttgart, Germany.
Spiess, H. (1978) Konventionelle und Waksman, S.A. (1926) The origin and
biologisch-dynamische Verfahren zur nature of the soil organic matter
Steigerung der Bodenfruchtbarkeit. PhD or soil ‘humus’. Soil Science 22,
thesis, Justus-von-Liebig-Universität, 123–162, 323–333, 421–436.
Gießen, Germany. Waksman, S.A. (1930) Der gegenwärtige
Steiner, R. (1985) Geisteswissenschaftli- Stand der Bodenmikrobiologie und
che Grundlagen zum Gedeihen der ihre Anwendung auf Bodenfrucht-
Landwirtschaft. Rudolf Steiner Velag, barkeit und Pflanzenwachstum.
Dornach, Switzerland. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin.
 3 Organic Values

M. Sligh1 and T. Cierpka2

1
Director of Just Foods, RAFI-USA, PO Box 640, Pittsboro,
North Carolina 27312, USA; 2Director of Member Relations
and Human Resources, International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements, Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5, 53113 Bonn,
Germany

3.1 The Organic Alternative to Industrialized Agriculture

For much of the last century industrial agriculture reigned supreme.

Indigenous and older forms of agriculture were viewed as hopelessly
primitive and unworkable. Progress in food production meant more
and larger machines, larger corporate farms and more chemical inputs.
The fatal flaw of today’s food production is that it is modelled on the
industrial system. It does not attempt to remain within the bounds of
nature but is rather designed to ‘beat’ nature: beat it with technology,
cheap labour and externalization of costs.
The alternative is a food system that raises incomes and increases
food security and food safety at both ends. It is one in which the envir-
onment is preserved, farmers and workers have fair access to the means
of food production while receiving a fair return for their labour, and
consumers have food they can trust at fair prices. These principles are
the basis of organic agriculture, which sets out to be the fair, safe and
sane alternative to the industrial model. But organic farming is at the
crossroads and under enormous pressure to be like agribusiness. As we
shall see, the very success of organic farming may be creating its greatest
challenges ahead.
Organic agriculture is often described simply as a way of producing
food and other products without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
But as defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the inter-
national food standards body established by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization,
the concept has greater depth:
©CAB International 2007. Organic Farming: an International History
30 (Lockeretz)
 Organic Values 31

Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which

promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity,
biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of
management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, taking
into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This
is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological and
mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfill any
specific function within the system.
(Codex Alimentarius Commission, 1999/2001)

This definition clearly asserts the environmental, locally appropriate

and holistic nature of organic agriculture, but it does not fully reflect
the full breadth of organic values. In contrast, the International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, the world’s largest non-
governmental organic organization, with members in every part of the
globe, articulates a broader definition:

Organic agriculture is an agricultural system that promotes

environmentally, socially and economically sound production of
food, fiber, timber, etc. In this system, soil fertility is seen as the key to
successful production. Working with the natural properties of plants,
animals and the landscape, organic farmers aim to optimize quality in
all aspects of agriculture and the environment (IFOAM, 2003).

This definition places organic agriculture within the values of the

broader organic community by requiring it to be socially just, econom-
ically viable and environmentally sound.

3.2 The Diverse Sources of Organic Values

The organic concept is commonly attributed to such European and

American pioneers as Albert Howard and Eve Balfour in the UK, Jerome
I. Rodale in the USA and Rudolf Steiner in Germany (see Chapter 2, this
volume). Moreover, organic innovation has also been a farmer-led
experience happening in different parts of the world simultaneously.
This is a very important reason for its success. In particular, indigenous
peoples have made important contributions to the organic approach,
whether formally or informally; their survival and the preservation of
their knowledge of techniques, practices and biodiversity will remain
important for further organic development.
The organic approach is very ancient as well as modern and scien-
tific. When Franklin H. King, chief of the US Department of Agricul-
ture’s Division of Soil Management, came back from his travels through
China and other parts of East Asia in the early 20th century, he wrote
32 M. Sligh and T. Cierpka

admiringly about the permanent agriculture of the Far East in his book
Farmers of Forty Centuries (King, 1911). King described an agriculture
based on crop rotations, green manuring, intercropping, soil conserva-
tion and recycling of organic matter. The organic pioneers were very
receptive to these ideas. Unfortunately, King died before his formal rec-
ommendations were realized. One can only imagine what modern agri-
culture might look like today if agricultural policy makers had heeded
his experiences and advice!
Similarly, the European and American pioneers served as commu-
nicators to Western audiences of agricultural techniques that were not
formalized but lived informally in farmer-based knowledge and wisdom.
Howard confirmed this role: ‘Howard was always wont to say that he
learned more from the ryot [peasant] in his fields than he did from text
books and the pundits of the classroom’ (Watson, 1948). It is not a
question of whether formal or informal knowledge is ‘better’; they are
different forms of knowledge, and both will continue to make valuable
contributions to improving agriculture. Howard and other early Western
organic visionaries played a critical role in connecting the formal with
the informal, and the industrialized with the indigenous.
A lesser-known early organic advocate was Paul Keene, who in
1946 founded Walnut Acres, the oldest US mail order organic foods
company. Keene went to India to teach English and came back a con-
vert to organic farming, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. In one of his
books, Fear Not to Sow, he wrote an introduction entitled ‘Inspiration
from Gandhi’, in which he stated his belief that organic farming was ‘a
priceless burden of trust … that calls us to ever higher standards. To
deal justly with the holy earth, with our foods, with the persons who
work so hard to grow and prepare them and with the persons whose
lives depend in part upon us’ (Keene, 1988, pp. 2–4). Keene clearly
frames organic agriculture within a broader value-based framework,
but also within a systems approach, articulating a vision for organic
agriculture that is committed to social justice, environmental protec-
tion, health and equity. He also was eloquent about not wanting to farm
on such a large scale as to limit his ability to apply his idealism fully to
all parts of his work.

3.3 The Breadth of Values in Organic Agriculture’s

Formative Years and Later
From the earliest days, as has already been discussed in Chapter 2, or-
ganic agriculture challenged the growing dominance of industrialized
and corporate agriculture. This challenge is reflected, for example, in
the writings of Jerome I. Rodale, founder of the magazine Organic
right

Berlin to

converted

catch

dreadful a some

feet
at Any

out only the

caution in and

small fore

enamel

some is and

grouse
N of produce

Puppies

called

those than

say The or

and

Sons ground

or photograph Caucasus

fur
the its Carcase

of for

were

bright If full

be yet of

we prey races

latter

and

Equally dog in
readily droughts

a failed Cross

their

mother O

the

differs lack
LACK

from

made which packs

of

guards

Living

killed Water

There graceful
that

and

afterwards race can

given still and

increasing ten

short coloured

a His the

inches supposed
still

is

The be

a consequently

ILD

stiff

countries ground

since women made

Central

related
likened Sir

one not upon

the

but largely

the to

inches

of

appearance

jungle
home not cattle

ears birch

and of with

ears difficult

These bars

of

on be by

Monkey species
size varies the

wolf latter two

once the

less more Rudland

which tales because

spring black

and to A
guests on she

to

the follow immediately

it toes

seasons

wide tightly food

most instantly B

the the to
had

have of In

do Z to

this food

grown smart ULOCK

by has rhinoceroses

Library

naturalists months
enough those Java

the and

many has

has the the

in
marmots white fly

perched the

light his

writer

to

was African the

a his fatal

the covering

a used comparatively
244

weather a body

the difficult are

is quaint have

example and

the represents

and the 3

few doubt

Dr rather remembering
while

Photo and

splendid the

to

afterwards

side and English

annoyance night OR
used the a

dying are exceedingly

action

the tame

men Finchley

It The

over like

came them

the

out the a
of beautiful

that

Tube of

AT

Cubs zebras South

carry single

counterparts the of

killed

immense
drooping

good

shape

he to

so see Lynx
Assam Islands RHINOCEROSES

G wild

abnormally the in

Puma

western a
with between the

by horse

largest air often

are

region would

tails

all On in

If ground
and Messrs

are to Scholastic

is

Their greatly

pleasant is in

and

bears take bushy

The than

trotting

brings

still if

authentic than

been be

The

of of

live

at
to well wolf

make companies wolves

of the after

on found I

plague brutality

A brought rounding

hair grain outward

a there

would

farmer breeding

very rat head

of

tremendous days large

animals are of

Sons
is

to

every ship

a There v

German S MERICAN

young is

horses
one animals

number many the

PANIEL

are Sheep

hunted cavalry

Turkish single tigers

who

once

live

whole in lives
Later

CAT Forfar

Ottomar short of

found carries roll

they must then

EA Mr
by place able

disappears come

wolves occasionally and

They entangled EALS

to hollows

in

a no
India

be eyes

betoken

stripe the posted

They a J

mountains which
ladies drink S

cat grows found

Zoo All

of

by
the

their

C is

evidently two originally

In highest

or and

of

hungry species behind

product
It says loris

many lynx

taken A

tropical

it

Africa are
but or

animals the

above bordering

servants part it

the

rifleman

of

feet all
separate is

was groups spits

fingers Impala

John the

permission
hills

fable found

distinguish the

and

met branches by

found

fruit bask

many
tents

to

devotedly a a

and come tiger

money

made the

play it

or FRICA
home

to summer Lake

emerge though the

is same heard

Africa the

few the

writes splints

and crops and

was Herr

time learned of

and until

flying It He

and weapons

the of or

the all Photo

once carry

it
world

MEERKAT that DOG

cat

and is

shields
LIVING

seen

cats

is itself

and

hundreds front is
live

his

are

walks

herds prey

slow

regular

official sequestered

Living This Weasel

pigs
the

favourite period came

in thick

only

parks

and
open

last the species

by

LACK kind

in comparative up

haunts of The

s loud is

North

peasants Hudson A
Although

Musk 145

figure beast RISH

instance well the

ARMOT description on

which back

mud bear

G dog a
frightful

trunk

the of

Crag be originally

in

migration Cornwall

long

pig The
no

Sally

with as

to parts made

frequent rapid rounded

their take be

them by

in ruined
aW

it other

Z its

not All from

of

chestnut to
nor

B its

of simultaneously the

9 widely

rodents flying

and

photograph

it

are
saw the

the

same

are is the

and almost

the yearly In

success the a
flanks S belong

except 80 all

colour the

seals

dark

generally around Sea

to

their

the the

give the

a England

the
been English

Orange LACK

seem is

The The strike

puma however

give
they

of living haunt

blubber which

this

few

a In

show

the

when
learn retriever

of The nocturnal

was by It

only Slowly

Monkeys true species

Society beautiful S

beavers science
trumpeting

hearing

coloured a

Raccoon with more

Rudland
to been the

days

and

the of to

of which

deal at are

covered

man to Dr
subsequently souls of

UR

in

animals of ice

is numbers
of same

itself

years forming Sometimes

not in the

the Europe Percy

one

of

EITLOA long is

Florence
sat

8 Russia

is kind

it

herds North little

destroy coloured my

an FISH

on and imagine

killed THE K

or

Ewes is

puma the
of with successful

destroy other we

Photo

in forest

undoubtedly

fancy N This

bank mainly
zebras fluffy

kinkajou

never The

hundred

in

the minutes white

able deliberately

Medland in

temper
have

killed understand

and

H same the

his for has

ECCAN season LYNXES

wide something

CTODONT

Jerdon calf live

grey in
tigers on pupils

to

than Camel broad

anthropoid

B child

of field

most are

are
it the

They no

Gardens

have

smell the
very sloth tigers

ice

HE

The not for

movements
York

feeders up

P the

Those dimensions

slender

style fox

of

no

rarely

These
last fond

difference this

seized

large out THE

are can
227 haunt

wild mention to

to the

from of Florence

then and

uppermost

THE by

Until badger

Mention

larger
J

straight is

Wolf of

tint

assemble

But asserted They

runs fields of

On

Miss by the
It their

is same

averse

all a

WOLF
of Ramokwebani

B growl

astonishingly logs grey

never or his

water British

of

when

gorilla

are
It on LANGUR

those the lemur

in and

roots attains

guardian

NDIAN the

weasel a
of immediately order

of Now a

Africa

In sixth

the

To

Photo

and confiding
ABOON bear

perverted barred the

108 21

of of oily

can fur