- Origin & Cultivation
Esoteric or meaningful?
Karsten Suhr
In the jumble of all organic labels, the Demeter sign sticks out: The strange orange writing, that appears like it is from the last century, and then the name itself: Demeter. The mother of gods for the ancient Greeks. She presided over the fertility of the earth and the grain. That makes sense. Because Demeter stands for sustainable farming where humans, plants, animals, soil, and cosmos are interdependent and seen as a whole.* (Translated from German). The criteria for that go much further than the ones from the EU-organic production-regulation. And that is why the Demeter label is currently considered the strictest one.
However, the Demeter farmers or rather the organization – which by the way is one of the oldest organic organizations (since 1924) – are often put into the crazy esoteric corner. “Those with the cow horn horns filled with manure” (translated from German) was a headline in 2021 followed by a text in which the methods of the biodynamic cultivation and its preparations (e.g. cow horns filled with manure that are buried in the soil) were derided or rather criticized as scientifically questionable.
foto:
La Chacra D´dago
foto: La Chacra D´dago
Putting my personal opinion aside, my orthopedist likes to say, “Those who heal, are right”. And that Demeter cultivation means that the soil is much more vital as compared to the soil of conventional cultivation is quite obvious – also for amateurs.
If you are interested to find out more about this topic, meanwhile there are scientific studies on it: Click here for the link.
When you think about the principle of Demeter cultivation, it becomes quite clear, why it works: A farm is seen as a living organism. Every part plays a role in it. No matter if human, animal, plant, soil. “It’s all connected”, says Dagoberto Marin, our friend and coffee farmer in Peru. And his exceptionally aromatic coffee is not the only proof of that. The farm La Chacra D’dago is a special place with an atmosphere that is calming and filled with energy at the same time – as we were able to experience once again a couple of weeks ago. But biodynamic agriculture can do even more – it makes the world a better place, believes Dagoberto. And that that is actually quite simple. Check out this short film to find out what he means by that.
What do you think? Is it as easy as that?
Here are two links for everyone who wants to look a bit further behind the scenes:
utopia.de/siegel/demeter/
www.nzz.ch/gesellschaft/anthroposophie-wie-viel-esoterik-steckt-in-demeter-und-weleda-ld.1625162
