I have often heard people talk about the ‘ravages of agriculture over the last fifty years’. However, you should know that the problem is much older, even if it has certainly accelerated and become more widespread over this time period. Some individuals even became aware of it as early as the 1920s. According to Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, farmers who witnessed the damaging effects of modern agricultural techniques, sought advice from Rudolf Steiner in such terms: How can one stop the degeneration of seeds and nutritional value? (Reported by E. Pfeiffer in the appendix of the Agriculture Course.) For Steiner the problem was very clear. In 1924 he wrote, ‘…over the course of the last decades one has seen a degeneration of all agricultural products with which man nourishes himself, a degeneration at an extremely rapid pace.’
The end of the First World War in 1918 marked the introduction of two significant types of product in agriculture. The following emerged from the reconversion of arms factories: ammonium nitrate (nitrogen fertilisers) and organophosphates (derived from chemical weapons and the basis of powerful insecticides). From a symbolic point of view, it is staggering to think that a large part of agrochemistry is built on knowledge generated for military purposes with the aim of inflicting death!
The origins of this trend are undoubtedly to be found in the previous century, during the era known as the agricultural revolution, then, during the industrial revolution which followed. In this regard, viticultural history is emblematic as the primary viticultural pathogens first appeared in the middle of the nineteenth century. Before that time it was possible to grow vines without purchasing treatment products from a retailer. A few dates:
1847: the arrival of powdery mildew in France (‘came from North America’ it seems …). 1863: the arrival of phylloxera (again, ‘from North America’). Thousand year-old French vineyards were essentially decimated in less than twenty years!
1878: the arrival of mildew (from … North America).
Still today, mildew and powdery mildew are the two vine diseases that growers fear most. One and a half centuries of chemical struggle have not been very conclusive. This agricultural revolution has witnessed the arrival of new techniques and innovations only to be followed a few decades later by new diseases! Could there be a connection?
I would like to draw your attention to a more profound question. Apart from new methods, the agricultural and industrial revolutions have led to an upheaval in attitudes, and the status of the ‘peasant’ has changed completely. This period has witnessed the disappearance of commonsense farming, in favour of progress brought about by materialist science. The following quote which really touches me comes from an interview on this topic by François Bouchet who was the first biodynamic consultant for viticulture. He talks about his early days as a winegrower in the 1950s. Concerning traditional peasantry, he writes:
People would tell me: ‘Me, I do it like this, but I cannot explain why. You, you went to school, therefore you know better than me.’ This farmer’s modesty touched me profoundly and I did everything possible to save this lost knowledge.
Contrary to what one thinks, they did not have the slightest notion of ecological awareness. They did not know they were poisoning nature. They did not know that they were poisoning themselves … And that was extremely distressing given that no one had informed them about these types of things. They spread fertilisers because ‘those who knew’ told them to do so. They were reticent about all of it, but could not formulate it. (Bouchet 2005)
And I will add to these sentiments, Steiner’s own observation which can be found on the last page of the Agriculture Course:
I have always found science to be extremely stupid. Thus, in order to make this science more intelligent, we … are trying to bring some ‘peasant stupidity’ into it. Then this stupidity will become wisdom in the eyes of God.