Carbon is a hot issue just now. I hope this paper will stimulate a higher order of thinking on the subject . It is a lightly abridged translation by David Heaf of a transcript of a lecture given on The Agricultural Conference in Dornach on the 7thFebruary 2007 by Gunter Gebhard.

My thanks to Richard Swann, editor of the UK biodynamic journal Star and Furrow for making this translation available.

Phenomenology of Carbon Chemistry Gunter Gebhard

The BioAgriculture Soil Carbon Sequestration Project – How you can be part of the solution to global Climate change

While the political debate on carbon and the environment continues further into tragedy territory Biodynamics2024 is supporting the work of Bio-Agriculture Ltd to acquire and operate state of the art carbon measuring equipment to track the carbon sequestration potential on biodynamic and organic farms.

Bio-Agriculture has been keeping all federal politicians updated on their work and have received only words in support, no action. Bio-Agriculture Ltd has now purchased soil measuring equipment so action can commence in the spring and is now seeking tax benefit donations to fund this work. The work will be done in association with the CSIRO and the DAFF Soil Carbon Research Program (SCaRP).

Biodynamics2024 will be participate in this project and I ask your help in raising tax benefit (Australian) donations to support the purchase this machinery and carry out trials.

see Bio-Agriculture for a tax benefit donation form

Thank you

Hamish

Need Help with your preparation spraying?

For NSW and Victoria contact Shane Martin, Nungra Gardens. 0421 228 499

This conference has been cancelled due to the consequences of the earthquakes in Japan.

I send my best wishes to the Japanese for a swift recovery from a great disaster.

Hamish has been invited to contribute at The Fifth Yoko Civilization International Conference in Takayama, Japan 20 – 23 November, 2011.

The conference subject is:

Coexistence between Nature and Human Beings – viewed through agriculture and is hosted by the

YOKO CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Registration details will be found at:

Yoko Civilization International Conference

There is a very interesting article Japan’s Crisis and Opportunity: Fukushima (Island of Good fortune) by Terry Boardman published in the current edition ofNew View 2nd quarter – Spring 2011. www.newview.org.uk

If you would like a copy email me at office@biodynamics2024.com.au

These are from a book called Disorder in the Courts of America, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.
_________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
_____________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
__________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty?eight or thirty?five, I can?t remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty?five years.
__________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, ?Where am I, Cathy??
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
_________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
_______________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn?t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he
doesn?t know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
_______________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty?year?old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he?s twenty?one…
______________ __ _______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
_______________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh….
_______________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______ _____ _______________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY : Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice
which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead
people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy
on him!
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh?
________________________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure ?
WIT NESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the
autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Life in the Australian Army…

Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad.

(For Those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland )

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin’ on the farm – tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don’t hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack – nothin’!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz there’s lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there’s no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don’t get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we’ve been on a ‘route march’ – geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the back paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin’ – dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum’s bum and it don’t move and it’s not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target – it’s a piece of piss!! You don’t even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don’t have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy – it’s not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster. Turns out I’m not a bad boxer either and it looks like I’m the best the platoon’s got, and I’ve only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers – he’s 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I’m only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin’ wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I can’t complain about the Army – tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter, Sheila

Message on Organic Shop Window, Kyneton. Victoria

Adapting Farming to Climate Change

Submission to House of Representatives Standing Committee New Inquiry. As a citizen in this country, a life-long (77 years) consumer of farming products, experienced Biodynamic compost maker for over 30 years, an economic historian and philosopher, I welcome this inquiry and request that my comments are read and understood from the perspectives from which they are written.

Current and prospective adaptations…

Before roads, bridges, railways, pipelines etc topsoil is the most primary infra-structure for which our country is responsible. If a foreign country was taking away 6.8 tonnes topsoil per hectare per year (our current loss of topsoil), there would be a war! Similarly, if an anonymous agency dumped 4billion dollars worth of chemicals on our land per

year, (causing or aggravating erosion) it would be treated as a terrorist plot.

The more living topsoil farmers can (re-)generate, the more water can be retained and carbon be absorbed in their soil and the less salination will occur. This means that current farming practices like perma-culture, natural sequence farming, organic and biodynamic farming need to be identified and recognised as pioneers in adapting farming

to climate change.

Some impact on downstream processing will be:

The role of government in augmenting the shift etc…

This role might be seen as threefold:

With due respect, I would have thought that we must get this right, because of our duty of care, to ensure that given the changing farming conditions through climate change, our people are going to be properly fed in such a way, that they, too, can healthily adapt to climate change. Especially those institutionalised consumers, who in one way or other are in Governments direct care.

And when it comes to competitiveness: junk-food will compete with junk-food, high quality food will compete with high quality food. I don’t assume that indiscriminate competitiveness is a concern of the inquiry.

Government role in Promoting research etc

First of all, as a matter of simple distributive justice: correct the current imbalance in funding to enable effective comparison of effects and side-effects of current living

topsoil enhancing farming methods with industrial and GM farming effects and sideeffects;

Second: make funds available for independent research and refrain from using corporate research-result as a basis for Government decisions.

Third: extend subsidy regime to cover the specific costs of topsoil enhancing farming practises at least as long as market conditions are still skewed in favour of products of

conventional/industrialised farming products.

In conjunction with the above, fourth: encourage, educate – and enable financially – hospitals, nursing homes, other caring institutions to purchase products of topsoil (re)- generating farms, preferably from local growers, to enhance freshness, nutritious value

and to decrease ‘food-miles’ required.

Fifth: support, stimulate and where needed initiate a whole raft of training programs in those living topsoil enhancing farming methods at TAFE and university levels, in local community centres as well as apprentice programs for prospective farmers who want to work with these methods. Farmers and researchers experienced in these methods will need community and financial support, to enable them to train the trainers.

The role of rural research etc:

The first point of reference for rural research and development are the farmers who practise and develop the methods: for them farming IS research and development. Agricultural science needs to be based on agricultural experience if it wants to avoid theoretical bias [...]]]>

Message on Organic Shop Window, Kyneton. Victoria

Adapting Farming to Climate Change

Submission to House of Representatives Standing Committee New Inquiry. As a citizen in this country, a life-long (77 years) consumer of farming products, experienced Biodynamic compost maker for over 30 years, an economic historian and philosopher, I welcome this inquiry and request that my comments are read and understood from the perspectives from which they are written.

Current and prospective adaptations…

Before roads, bridges, railways, pipelines etc topsoil is the most primary infra-structure for which our country is responsible. If a foreign country was taking away 6.8 tonnes topsoil per hectare per year (our current loss of topsoil), there would be a war! Similarly, if an anonymous agency dumped 4billion dollars worth of chemicals on our land per

year, (causing or aggravating erosion) it would be treated as a terrorist plot.

The more living topsoil farmers can (re-)generate, the more water can be retained and carbon be absorbed in their soil and the less salination will occur. This means that current farming practices like perma-culture, natural sequence farming, organic and biodynamic farming need to be identified and recognised as pioneers in adapting farming

to climate change.

Some impact on downstream processing will be:

1. healthier, more nutritious food, less suffering allergies, obesity and other negative side-effects of chemical and industrial farming methods.
2. less need for pipelines and desalination plants, as the loss of water and the salination of the land are prevented at the source of the problem, not ‘fixed’ somewhere after the damage has been done.
3. greater scope for work-opportunities, in rural areas. Rather than having to commute to cities for work, the labour intensive farming methods required to responsibly care for our land, provide plenty of scope for job-creation in meaningful and healthy work-environments
4. liveable landscapes: organic and biodynamic and other living topsoil enhancing farming practices create landscapes on a more natural scale with ‘inbuilt’ biodiversity, which will not only be environmentally more sustainable, but also humanly more liveable, for rural communities as well as urban visitors or tourists.

The role of government in augmenting the shift etc…

This role might be seen as threefold:

1. negative: the government should refrain from any business interest on the one hand and from any scientific bias on the other. Examples of the mix-up of these two: • An agricultural scientist working for an NSW Govt Department stated that it took him 10 years to fit what he observed on Peter Andrew’s farm with what he knew as his scientific framework. Scientific frame-works not based on – and not constantly modified on the basis of – observation are abstract theories and tend to become dogmas. Adaptation of farming is too urgent to wait another 10 years! • At a public forum on pro- and – cons of GM, organised by the Hepburn Shire Council, I asked how funding for GM research compared to funding for research into alternatives like Organic and BD Farming. The answer from an expert on the panel was: GM research gets millions of dollars, organic and BD some thousands… • A group of mothers, concerned with the safety of food for their children, started last year to investigate thoroughly themselves, as GM is not labelled and Government agencies could not inform them: they discovered that most of the information on which governments in Australia base their policies, are research-results produced by the same corporations that produce the GM seeds. See: MADGE.newsletter@madge.org.au • Statement of Mr Dick Adams, quoted in the committees call for submissions: ‘We must get this right if we are to maintain an internationally competitive Australian agricultural sector.’

With due respect, I would have thought that we must get this right, because of our duty of care, to ensure that given the changing farming conditions through climate change, our people are going to be properly fed in such a way, that they, too, can healthily adapt to climate change. Especially those institutionalised consumers, who in one way or other are in Governments direct care.

And when it comes to competitiveness: junk-food will compete with junk-food, high quality food will compete with high quality food. I don’t assume that indiscriminate competitiveness is a concern of the inquiry.

1. internal: the government should make the shift from thinking in terms of ‘control’ to thinking in terms of ‘enabling’, i.e. no longer ‘outcome driven’ research projects, no longer ‘interest-group-driven’ subsidies.
2. positive: The enabling role of Government as suggested under the next heading:

Government role in Promoting research etc

First of all, as a matter of simple distributive justice: correct the current imbalance in funding to enable effective comparison of effects and side-effects of current living

topsoil enhancing farming methods with industrial and GM farming effects and sideeffects;

Second: make funds available for independent research and refrain from using corporate research-result as a basis for Government decisions.

Third: extend subsidy regime to cover the specific costs of topsoil enhancing farming practises at least as long as market conditions are still skewed in favour of products of

conventional/industrialised farming products.

In conjunction with the above, fourth: encourage, educate – and enable financially – hospitals, nursing homes, other caring institutions to purchase products of topsoil (re)- generating farms, preferably from local growers, to enhance freshness, nutritious value

and to decrease ‘food-miles’ required.

Fifth: support, stimulate and where needed initiate a whole raft of training programs in those living topsoil enhancing farming methods at TAFE and university levels, in local community centres as well as apprentice programs for prospective farmers who want to work with these methods. Farmers and researchers experienced in these methods will need community and financial support, to enable them to train the trainers.

The role of rural research etc:

The first point of reference for rural research and development are the farmers who practise and develop the methods: for them farming IS research and development. Agricultural science needs to be based on agricultural experience if it wants to avoid theoretical bias or dogmatic certainty.

Summary:

• Our forest, wetlands, deserts and farmland are our primary infra-structure: organic topsoil retains water, absorbs carbon, prevents salination.

• All methods of current farming that (re-)generate organic topsoil and their positive

down-stream effects need to be identified and recognised as pioneering ‘Adapting

Farming to Climate Change’.

• Role of Government re ‘augmenting etc’

1. refrain from business interest and scientific bias;
2. shift thinking from control to enabling;

• Role of Government re ‘promoting etc’:

1. correct imbalance in research funding to enable effective comparison;
2. fund research and don’t base decisions on corporate research-results
3. correct imbalance in subsidy to cover specific costs of pioneering topsoil enhancing farming methods.
4. stimulate caring institutions to purchase farming products from local, topsoil (re-)generating growers.
5. support, initiate extensive and intensive training programs, including apprenticeships and training-the-trainers programs.

• Rural research and development: Farming IS research and development. Any science or project ignoring this becomes abstract theory or fundamentalist dogma and

a waste of effort and resources.

Thank you for the invitation to submit.

Adaptation to climate change is best achieved by bringing the soil and the crops, the farmers and the markets in the most healthy conditions. In this way all of us at the receiving end of farming product will also in the best condition to cope with climate change. ‘Quality Food from the Earth up’!

Best wishes with your inquiry and further work, Henk Bak Hist Drs Nijmegen (The Netherlands) Trentham Vic

ABALIMI – Harvest of Hope from seed to table gets GOLD

Dear Hamish

ABALIMI won GOLD at the national Impumelelo Innovations for Sustainability
Awards 2010 – see:
www.impumelelo.org.za, certificate attached and follow the link
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMaBAwjvHtc to the lovely little video clip done by Impumelelo which was shown on award night.

Mama Kaba and Bridget make a great representing pair, and it was they who went on stage to receive the award for all of us.

Viva ABALIMI- Harvest of Hope from seed to table viva!!

And VIVA to you, our Friend, and to all our Donors, over the many years past , also over the many years to come, who have helped and will hopefully still help to launch and spread the micro-farming movement !!!!! – see latest Roll of Honor on “who to thank” at www.abalimi.org.za.

Best regards
Rob Small
Resource mobilization for ABALIMI
www.abalimi.org.za
www.harvestofhope.co.za
www.farmgardentrust.org

Harvest of Hope Certificate

Biodynamics2024 Pty Ltd was legally incorporated on 22nd April, 2009. For many years I have had the objective that biodynamics would become the farming method of preferred choice in Australia by 2024; and I have now incorporated that intention in this new activity. The year 2024 will be the centenary of the lecture series The Spiritual Foundations for the Development of Agriculture given by Rudolf Steiner at Koberwitz in June 1924. Over the past three years community perceptions have changed considerably regarding soil and soil carbon; the speed of this change gives me confidence that biodynamic farmers and gardeners will achieve a significant impact by 2024.

I admire and respect the many individuals and groups who are actively exploring the potential of biodynamics and owe a debt of gratitude especially to those who have given me support in so many ways over this first year of Biodynamics2024. I look forward to developing this activity as a service to the land, its people and our succeeding generations.

Work over the past year has included:

Workshops

Biodynamics2024 has held 18 workshops through the year and these will continue across the country. There are also requests for advanced workshops and the coming year will see more of these as a growing number of people, who have been using biodynamics for some years, are now seeking more information about the Spiritual Foundations from which biodynamics arises. In August the first of a new series of workshop will commence on this theme. This year will also see the start of a biodynamic course with 5 day intensives followed by extensive practical work through the WWOOFing network with further intensives planned for the future.

Preparations

I now have good supplies of Horn Manure, Horn Silica and Biodynamic Soil Activator thanks to the generous support of individuals enthusiastic about promotion of biodynamics in the community. No membership is required to purchase these preparations which are available online via the website in a number of standardised package weights with quoted prices including GST and postage. In the springtime I will have a greater supply of the compost preparations. The fish emulsion and seaweed brews can also be accessed through Biodynamics2024 but not online; please order fish emulsion,
seaweed brews and any non-standard orders via the office.

It remains my hope that biodynamic preparations will be made by local groups and shared around. I sell preparations to help beginners and fund the outreach and education work; I have never conceived of the biodynamic preparations as a product in the purely commercial sense.

Books

An increasing number of books and journals report research projects which confirm the significance of biodynamics in health, economy and nutrition. I will make more of these available in addition to our core biodynamic and spiritual scientific literature. Books are available via the website.

Website

www.biodynamics2024.com.au is designed to be a contact point for my work. It will focus on Biodynamics2024 events and related research with links to individuals, activities and projects that I know of and wish to support. I do not see the need to repeat what others have done so adequately and there are excellent biodynamic sites providing detailed information about biodynamics, which can be accessed via my site as well. The Recent updates page on the website includes all new items added in the previous month.

Office

Mark Fisher is my office associate and he keeps all matters cleared daily. Our objective is to keep administration simple and that all orders will be in the mail within 24 hours of receipt. Ordering and standard transactions are web-based so you can order and pay whenever it suits you, we also welcome calls from those who are not comfortable with online services. I take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank Mark for his great support during the past year.

Horns

Horns are a challenge for biodynamics; however, Biodynamics2024 has accessed a supply of horns. To fund this activity I have issued horn shares and invite you to contribute to the advancement of biodynamics in Australia by subscribing to this share offer. I am heartened and encouraged by the response to date. You will find more horn share information on the website and I am also happy to answer any questions; please feel free to call me.

Associative Economics

The agricultural practices of recent decades have created an urgent need to re-consider our approach. There is equally a need to review the economic structures we find ourselves enmeshed in. Biodynamics2024 will apply for membership of the Associative Economics Association (AEA) to participate in this global activity to connect what I experience as a biodynamic thinking into the world of economy and trade. I believe such a new economy will be made possible in time as more farmers practising biodynamics become interested in associative working. Participation in the work of the AEA will provide peer review to assist the structural development of Biodynamics2024.

Affiliations

Biodynamics has more to offer than just a farming technology. As biodynamic farmers increase in number and experience their production results will resource them to take initiatives in their local community. Australia imports over $4 billion worth of agricultural chemicals. When farmers shed the need for these chemicals there will be $4 billion for them to spend locally on initiatives of their choice. Biodynamics2024 will encourage and support such community oriented contributions. Some of the activities I have been part of during the first year include:

Bio-agriculture

Erwin Berney has done a formidable work identifying research showing the benefits of bioagriculture for the environment and climate change. He has used this research to present a compelling case for solving our global environmental challenges by simply adding bio-agriculture to our business as usual practices. I am collaborating in this project, making Erwin’s work more widely available and supporting the adoption of biodynamics. see www.bio-agriculture.org

Charles Sturt University

In 2009 I was invited to tutor the Biodynamic Agriculture unit of the Bachelor of Ecological Agriculture & Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management, School [...]]]>

Biodynamics2024 Pty Ltd was legally incorporated on 22nd April, 2009. For many years I have had the objective that biodynamics would become the farming method of preferred choice in Australia by 2024; and I have now incorporated that intention in this new activity. The year 2024 will be the centenary of the lecture series The Spiritual Foundations for the Development of Agriculture given by Rudolf Steiner at Koberwitz in June 1924. Over the past three years community perceptions have changed considerably regarding soil and soil carbon; the speed of this change gives me confidence that biodynamic farmers and gardeners will achieve a significant impact by 2024.

I admire and respect the many individuals and groups who are actively exploring the potential of biodynamics and owe a debt of gratitude especially to those who have given me support in so many ways over this first year of Biodynamics2024. I look forward to developing this activity as a service to the land, its people and our succeeding generations.

Work over the past year has included:

Workshops

Biodynamics2024 has held 18 workshops through the year and these will continue across the country. There are also requests for advanced workshops and the coming year will see more of these as a growing number of people, who have been using biodynamics for some years, are now seeking more information about the Spiritual Foundations from which biodynamics arises. In August the first of a new series of workshop will commence on this theme. This year will also see the start of a biodynamic course with 5 day intensives followed by extensive practical work through the WWOOFing network with further intensives planned for the future.

Preparations

I now have good supplies of Horn Manure, Horn Silica and Biodynamic Soil Activator thanks to the generous support of individuals enthusiastic about promotion of biodynamics in the community. No membership is required to purchase these preparations which are available online via the website in a number of standardised package weights with quoted prices including GST and postage. In the springtime I will have a greater supply of the compost preparations. The fish emulsion and seaweed brews can also be accessed through Biodynamics2024 but not online; please order fish emulsion,
seaweed brews and any non-standard orders via the office.

It remains my hope that biodynamic preparations will be made by local groups and shared around. I sell preparations to help beginners and fund the outreach and education work; I have never conceived of the biodynamic preparations as a product in the purely commercial sense.

Books

An increasing number of books and journals report research projects which confirm the significance of biodynamics in health, economy and nutrition. I will make more of these available in addition to our core biodynamic and spiritual scientific literature. Books are available via the website.

Website

www.biodynamics2024.com.au is designed to be a contact point for my work. It will focus on Biodynamics2024 events and related research with links to individuals, activities and projects that I know of and wish to support. I do not see the need to repeat what others have done so adequately and there are excellent biodynamic sites providing detailed information about biodynamics, which can be accessed via my site as well. The Recent updates page on the website includes all new items added in the previous month.

Office

Mark Fisher is my office associate and he keeps all matters cleared daily. Our objective is to keep administration simple and that all orders will be in the mail within 24 hours of receipt. Ordering and standard transactions are web-based so you can order and pay whenever it suits you, we also welcome calls from those who are not comfortable with online services. I take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank Mark for his great support during the past year.

Horns

Horns are a challenge for biodynamics; however, Biodynamics2024 has accessed a supply of horns. To fund this activity I have issued horn shares and invite you to contribute to the advancement of biodynamics in Australia by subscribing to this share offer. I am heartened and encouraged by the response to date. You will find more horn share information on the website and I am also happy to answer any questions; please feel free to call me.

Associative Economics

The agricultural practices of recent decades have created an urgent need to re-consider our approach. There is equally a need to review the economic structures we find ourselves enmeshed in. Biodynamics2024 will apply for membership of the Associative Economics Association (AEA) to participate in this global activity to connect what I experience as a biodynamic thinking into the world of economy and trade. I believe such a new economy will be made possible in time as more farmers practising biodynamics become interested in associative working. Participation in the work of the AEA will provide peer review to assist the structural development of Biodynamics2024.

Affiliations

Biodynamics has more to offer than just a farming technology. As biodynamic farmers increase in number and experience their production results will resource them to take initiatives in their local community. Australia imports over $4 billion worth of agricultural chemicals. When farmers shed the need for these chemicals there will be $4 billion for them to spend locally on initiatives of their choice. Biodynamics2024 will encourage and support such community oriented contributions. Some of the activities I have been part of during the first year include:

Bio-agriculture

Erwin Berney has done a formidable work identifying research showing the benefits of bioagriculture for the environment and climate change. He has used this research to present a compelling case for solving our global environmental challenges by simply adding bio-agriculture to our business as usual practices. I am collaborating in this project, making Erwin’s work more widely available and supporting the adoption of biodynamics. see www.bio-agriculture.org

Charles Sturt University

In 2009 I was invited to tutor the Biodynamic Agriculture unit of the Bachelor of Ecological Agriculture & Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management, School of Agricultural & Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University and will continue this in the spring semester of 2010.

Demeter International

Over the past 30 years I have developed and maintained a relationship with what is now Demeter International (DI); I continue to maintain these connections although certification is not my passion. I understand a need for certification, however I am personally more excited by growers who are clear about their ethics and enthusiastic to see their customers receive the best food possible – at a price that is equitable and realistic.

Organic Federation of Australia

The Organic Federation of Australia (OFA) is Australia’s organic peak body. This provides an important industry participation in government policy and debate. Biodynamics2024 is a member and I continue to serve as an OFA board member.

Outlook Australia (OA), Regenerating our Landscape Project

This is an initiative of the Major General Michael Jeffrey, the former governor-general of Australia, with the intention to regenerate Australia’s soils to full health and a sustainable condition. A number of biodynamic farmers are making important contributions to this project and my participation is directed at ensuring competent biodynamic farmers already running environmentally viable enterprises
become active in this project.

Going forward

Increasing research programs are indicating that the cumulative, generational consequences of poor nutrition will be dire. However, I am confident it is possible to grow food that will prevail over these projections. We can also build networks which recognise and celebrate diversity; where hierarchies of function, unique individual capacities, supersede hierarchies of authority, in which individuals
seek power over others.

If you would like to find out more about Biodynamics2024 please visit my website or contact me. Again a warm-hearted and deeply felt thank you to the many of you who have been so generous in your support throughout this first year; I know, beyond doubt, I could not have succeeded in this way without your help and encouragement. I also wish you well in your biodynamic endeavours.

Aye
Hamish Mackay

April, 2010