biodynamic agriculture, praised by some, the subject of frequent press articles, most of the time laudatory, but returned to its magico-esoteric foundations by its detractors. Installed for decades, this practice inherited from the anthroposophical philosophy, is mainly used in viticulture. If it is marginal (it would represent around 1% of cultivated vineyards in the world, against 9% for organic and 90% for conventional), it is prized by some consumers, and claimed by some of the most prestigious domains ( Pommard, Romanée-Conti). In May, Bernard Arnault announced the upcoming transition to biodynamic farming at the Château d'Yquem estate, the most famous of Sauternes.
Since then, we have again seen strong reactions following the publication in Alim'Agri, magazine of the Ministry of Agriculture, of a laudatory article devoted to biodynamics, entitled "beyond organic". Or even following the announcement by the departmental council of Côte-d'Or of a commitment of the department in biodynamics.
Each time, the media, institutions, or politicians are accused of being accomplices in promoting a "shamanic", "sectarian", "magic" practice. The most virulent detractors denouncing the thrust of anti-science, the decline of reason and the promotion of the anthroposophic doctrine behind the biodynamic practice.
There are specifications for anyone who wants to claim the Demeter biodynamic label (or Biodyvin). Beyond a strict limitation of inputs (more severe than organic, which makes some say that biodynamics is "beyond organic"), the prescriptions include the treatment of plants with preparations, the most emblematic respond to the names of "500" and "501" ...
Nicolas Joly, owner of the Coulée de Serrant domain, near Angers, and convinced promoter of biodynamics, explained: “Each specific plant chosen by Rudolf Steiner corresponds to a planet. These preparations are then added to composts. You have to understand them like the leaven for bread: we put very little, but it is he who makes it rise. To explain this to scientists, I call them cell phone numbers. We call someone thousands of miles away and hear their voice. It works the same way, by a wave, the gigahertz. The preparations create an energy channel which, instead of carrying the voice, carries the force of the planet. Practicing biodynamics is therefore connecting your place to the solar system by waves that carry life. ”...
We don't have to go that far to please our followers, er! clients.
Aubert de Villaine, co-manager of the famous Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, took the opposite view and gave his own version. During an interview with the Cité du Vin, in 2017, he said: "I really like Nicolas Joly, but our biodynamics is not philosophical, it is pragmatic." Recognizing that he works with his preparations for liaison " from telluric and cosmic energies to the development of life forces ”, he above all evoked a“ concrete ”biodynamics
Yep what, the money first
So everything is geared towards caring for the soil, for plants, with products against diseases (such as copper or sulfur) but in lower doses. ”
Jean-Marc Meynard, researcher at INRA and president of the scientific council of Itab (Technical Institute of Organic Agriculture) goes in the same direction: "There is obviously a discourse which for the most part is not scientifically admissible, not provable. But regardless of its justifications, which are undeniably pseudo-scientific, biodynamics is a practice that works. It works, in the sense that it satisfies the operators who practice it, and consumers. And that makes it an admissible subject of study, on which we can do science. ”
Or as long as the demand is there, you have to pump the money or it is
The clothes do not make the man ...
The researcher deplores the virtual absence of scientific studies carried out on the subject
Well there are the Burgundians
https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/201 ... ce_1748023
