The Agriculture Course: The Birth of the Biodynamic Method: Eight Lectures by Rudolf Steiner

by Rudolf Steiner, G. Adams (Translator), George Adams (Translator)

Overview

8 lectures, Koberwitz, June 7-20, 1924 (CW 327)

When Rudolf Steiner gave these lectures eighty years ago, industrial farming was on the rise and organic methods were being replaced in the name of science, efficiency, and technology. With the widespread alarm over food quality in recent years, and with the growth of the organic movement and its mainstream acceptance, perceptions are changing. The qualitative aspect of food is on the agenda again, and in this context Steiner's only course of lectures on agriculture is critical to the current debate.

With these talks, Steiner created and launched "biodynamic" farming--a form of agriculture that has come to be regarded as the best organically produced food. However, the agriculture Steiner speaks of here is much more than organic--it involves working with the cosmos, with the earth, and with spiritual beings. To facilitate this, Steiner prescribes specific "preparations" for the soil, as well as other distinct methods born from his profound understanding of the material and spiritual worlds. He presents a comprehensive picture of the complex dynamic relationships at work in nature and gives basic indications of the practical measures needed to bring them into full play.

These lectures are reprinted here in the "classic" translation made by Rudolf Steiner's English interpreter, George Adams. This edition also features a preface by Steiner's colleague the medical doctor Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, as well as eight color plates.

This is the course that began the biodynamic movement. Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course is the essential work for anyone wanting to understand and use Steiner's methods of food production.

This book is a translation from German of Geisteswissenschaftliche Grundlagen zum Gedeihen der Landwirtschaft. Landwirtschaftlicher Kursus (GA 327).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781855841482
Publisher:	SteinerBooks, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/28/2004
Series:	Classic Translation
Edition description:	Classic Translation
Pages:	175
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 10.86(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (b. Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner, 1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe's scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.

Dr. Ehrenfried E. Pfeiffer (1899-1961) was born in Munich. He worked closely with Rudolf Steiner to test and document many of the effects of biodynamic practices. Pfeiffer visited the U.S. several times during the 1930s, and was awarded a doctorate for his groundbreaking theory of Sensitive Crystallization Processes as a blood test for detecting cancer. In 1940, he immigrated to the U.S., where he pioneered biodynamic agriculture and helped establish the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association. He died in Spring Valley, New York.

George Adams (1894-1963) was born in Maryampol, Poland, and received an honors degree in Chemistry from Cambridge University. He was a close student of Rudolf Steiner, and translated many of his lectures given to English-speaking audiences. Being a Jew, when Hitler rose to power he changed his name in 1940 from Kaufmann to Adams and left Germany for England, where he continued his anthroposophic activities and scientific research. Beginning in 1935, Olive Whicher worked with George Adams in their research into mathematics and physics until his death in 1963. He translated and published numerous books, lectures, and articles.