A synthesis of studies presented in ‘Living Farms’, the magazine published by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum, illustrates how biodynamic farming contributes to food quality, animal wellbeing and ecological sustainability.
Farming is facing multiple challenges – economic, ecological and social. One approach to meeting them applied in biodynamic farming is to cultivate communities both in the soil and in the operations.
There are two new buildings worthy of awards in the Goetheanum Park: the expressive Preparation Pavilion (designed by Yaike Dunselman) received the 2025 Iconic Award and the 2026 German Design Award; the Bee Sculpture (designed by Barbara Schnetzler) an ‘Honourable Mentions’ award from the architecture and design platform March and an appreciation award from the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland.
Anthroposophical visions are being put into practice and developed around the world in business, education, agriculture and medicine. Brands such as ‘Alnatura’ or ‘Sonett’, ‘Waldorf Schools’ and ‘Demeter’ are examples of this and they all contribute to sustainable development, as is illustrated in the compendium ‘On the Earth We Want to Live’, published by Springer Nature.
Fertile soils with a diverse microbiome are an essential prerequisite for providing people with healthy and nurturing food. In promoting and enabling sustainable food systems, biodynamic farming supports the cause of World Food Day on 16 October 2025 which has the theme ‘Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future.’
The spreading of deserts worldwide constitutes a challenge for the earth’s climate and therefore also for plants, animals and humans. Biodynamic initiatives in the Sahara region prove that even deserts can be transformed into living spaces.
The use of specific preparations is a central part of biodynamics, but until recently there had been no scientific explanation for the way they work. Jürgen Fritz, agronomist at Kassel University, Germany, presents a model for the effectiveness of biodynamic preparations in ‘Living Farms’, a journal published by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum in Switzerland.
Agriculture is under pressure due to climate change, monocultures and soil erosion. Fields are devastated by wars and the earth is poisoned by weapons. Fertile soil is being lost and deserts are spreading. Many farms are struggling to survive. With its action plan for 2025 to 2027, the Goetheanum‘s Section for Agriculture wishes to encourage a sustainable approach to farming.
After six years of development and testing, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, has handed over study modules on biodynamic farming to Heliopolis University in Cairo, Egypt, as part of a degree programme in organic agricultural science.
The smallholder farmers of indigenous cultures seek to live in harmony with the earth. Biodynamic farming is for them a way of bringing together tradition and innovation to achieve a unity of earth, humans and cosmos.
Biodynamic projects give small farmers and their families access to food through self-sufficiency, promoting self-reliance and sustainable food systems along the way.
A study on the Biodynamic Movement and Demeter in Nazi Germany describes the proximity of the biodynamic movement to the Nazi regime, even though the movement never adopted any central Nazi ideologemes such as antisemitism.
Farming nurtures human beings. As the world population is growing, the number of people working in agriculture is going down. Biodynamic farming has been trying for a hundred years to offer meaningful and attractive work contexts and to develop solutions for the challenges of our time.
Many people are familiar with Demeter as a brand name but they don’t necessarily know what it stands for. A new magazine – ‘Living Farms’ – published by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum illustrates the Demeter principles and how they are applied around the world.
For the centenary of biodynamic farming Elif Oskan and Selassie Atadika offer a culinary evening at the Goetheanum with biodynamic ingredients from its own garden. The organizer, experimental gastronomy initiative ‘Steinbeisser’, likes to combine Haute Cuisine with artistically designed objects such as cutlery.
Agriculture nurtures human beings, fosters the earth and creates culture. Rudi Bind and Ueli Hurter explore this theme in their book ‘Biodynamic!’ on the ‘birth of biodynamic farming at the beginning of the ecological movement.’
Cows emit methane, a gas that affects climate. This effect does not have to be harmful. From the point of view of biodynamic agriculture, what cows eat, how they are kept and the facilitating of natural cycles can make them carers of land and climate.
Biodynamic agriculture was initiated a hundred years ago, in 1924, pioneering the eco-movement. Today, its dedication to healthy soil and food also provides impulses for a healthy social life. The method is implemented by both smallholders and large biodynamic enterprises.
The climate question is keeping governments busy. In their essay ‘Breathing with the Climate Crisis’, Lin Bautze, Ueli Hurter and Johannes Kronenberg show that it is a question that concerns everyone. On the occasion of the UN climate conference COP27 they call for an understanding of the earth as a living organism and partner.
On 1 February at 14.00 hrs, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum invites you to an media roundtable about agriculture as a cultural impulse, with Helmy Abouleish, Nadia El Hage, Vandana Shiva and Nathaniel Williams, chaired by Jean-Michel Florin, co-leader of the Section.
