Research Institute of Organic Agriculture

Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau

90 years of bio-dynamic agriculture –

from a scientific perspective

Urs Niggli

Institut de recherche de l’agriculture biologique

www.fibl.org

Talk is about:

› Conceptual background of organic farming and

role of bio-dynamic agriculture.

› Bio-dynamic – organic – integrated and

conventional farming: environment and

productivity.

› Influence of bio-dynamic agriculture on

agricultural research.

› Limitations of bio-dynamic farming with regards

to global food security.

www.fibl.org

Conceptual background of organic farming

› A new paradigm in agriculture and agricultural research(Kuhn, 1962: The structure of scientific revolutions).

› «The whole is more than the sum of its parts». Aristoteles.

› The concept of a farm as an organism of Steiner.

› Subjectivity as element of scientific insight and progress.

› Interactions between partial systems are important in agriculture.

› Contextualizing of analyses and solutions (farm, landscape,

economy, ethic, culture).

› (Agro)ecosystems: homeostasis, self-correcting systems with

positive and negative feedback loops. Gregory Bateson, † 1980,

English anthropologist, social scientists and cyberneticists.

*

www.fibl.org

90 years of research in

bio-dynamic farming

› Steiner to Lili Kolisko: „Studieren Sie die

Gestaltungskräfte!“

› She spent her entire life on the

experimental research of the bio-dynamic

preparation and their potential effect on

the growth and health of plants and

animals.

› In 1923 development of the paper chromatography

method (‚Steigbildmethode‘).

› ‚Agriculture of the future’ Eugen Kolisko und Lili Kolisko, 1953

(German translation).

www.fibl.org

Long-term agronomic experiment since 1978

The DOK farming system comparison

N M

D1 D2

O1 O2

K1 K2

N M

D1 D2

O1 O2

K1 K2

D1 D2

N M

K1 K2

O1 O2

O1 O2

K1 K2

N M

D1 D2

D: Bio-dynamic

O: Bio-organic

K: Integrated

1: low input (0.7 LSU/ha)

2: standard input (1.4 LSU/ha)

Control treatments:

M: Integrated no manure

N: unfertilized

8 treatments

3 crops

4 replicates

96 plots at 100m2

Maize

Soybeans (catch crop)

Winter wheat I (catch crop)

Potatoes

Winter wheat II

Grass-clover

Grass-clover

Mäder, Fliessbach, …., Niggli (2002), Science 296

www.fibl.org Mäder, Fliessbach,..., Niggli (2002), Science 296

DOK trial in CH, since 1977: Organic yields 83 %, excellent

input/output ratio

Parameter Unit Organic

farming

Integrated

farming (IP)

with FYM

Organic

in %

of IP

Nutrient input kg Ntotal ha-1 yr-1 101 157 64 %

kg Nmin ha-1 yr-1 34 112 30 %

kg P ha-1 yr-1 25 40 62 %

kg K ha-1 yr-1 162 254 64 %

Pesticides applied kg ha-1 yr-1 1.5 42 4 %

Fuel use L ha-1 yr-1 808 924 87 %

Total yield output

for 28 years % 83 100 83 %

Soil microbial

biomass as „output“ tons ha-1 40 24 167 %

Inp

ut

Ou

tpu

t

www.fibl.org

PGPR (Plant growth-

promoting rhizobacteria)

Mycorrhizal fungi

Ground beetles

(Carabides)

Manifold effects on soil biology and physics

Has become the number 1 research field in

modern agricultural research.

www.fibl.org

0

50

100

150

Percolation stability

Aggregate stability

Bulk density

A Physical

BIODYN

BIOORG

CONFYM

CONMIN

100

200

Microbial biomass

Dehydro-genase

Protease

Phosphatase

Saccharase

Mycorrhiza

C Microbial

0

50

100

150pH

Organic carbon

Phosphorus

Potassium

Calcium

Magnesium

B Chemical

0

0

100

200

Earthworm biomass

Earthworm abundance

CarabidsStaphilinids

Spiders

D Faunal

Mäder, Fliessbach, Niggli (2002), Science 296

Soil properties in the DOC experiment (year 24)

www.fibl.org

DOK: Soil microbial biomass

Long-term average (1995-2002)

Calculated for 0-20cm at an average density of 1.4 g cm-3

Mäder et al., 2006, ISOFAR

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

So

il m

icro

bia

l b

iom

ass

(kg

Cm

ic h

a-1

)

NOFERT

CONMIN

BIODYN

BIOORG

CONFYM

a

b

c

d d

www.fibl.org Fließbach et al., 2000a

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Soil microbial biomass (mg Cmic g-1

soil)

So

il a

gg

reg

ate

sta

bil

ity

(% s

tab

le a

gg

reg

ate

s >

250 m

m)

NOFERT

CONMIN

BIODYN

BIOORG

CONFYM

y=0.24ln(x) - 0.77

r2=0.46

Correlation between soil aggregate stability – soil

biomass

www.fibl.org

Biodynamic farming (BIODYN) Conventional mineral fertilizers

(CONMIN)

Soil structure in the DOC experiment (year 24)

www.fibl.org

Bio-dynamic with

composted manure

Conventional, mineral

fertilizer

Fo

tos:

Fli

essb

ach

No

v. 2

002

Soil properties in the DOC experiment (year 24)

www.fibl.org Mäder et al., 2002: Science 296, 1694

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1978-1984 1985-1991 1992-1998

BIODYN

BIOORG

CONFYM

CONMIN

Winter wheat grain yield (t DM ha-1)

Yields of winter wheat

trend organic

www.fibl.org

Frick soil tillage field experiment (since 2002)

Plough vs. reduced tillage system.

Slurry vs. composted manure + slurry top.

+/- biodynamic preparations.

Berner et al., 2008, Soil & Tillage Research

Stagnic Eutric Cambisol

2.2% organic carbon

45% clay

7.0 pH

1000 mm precipitation

www.fibl.org

Equipment

Chisel plough

Depth 15 cm

Mouldboard plough

Depth 15cm

Reduced Tillage Conventional Tillage (plough)

WeCo-Dyn-System

EcoDyn, Schwanau, Germany

Rotary harrow (Rototiller)

Rau, Weilheim, Germany

Rototiller

Depth 5cm

www.fibl.org

Mouldboard

plough

Reduced

tillage

www.fibl.org

Microbial biomass in soil (year 2008)

763

1049

900

899

913

914

0 500 1000 1500

mg Cmic /kg Boden TS

Ohne Präparate

Mit Präparaten

Pflug

Reduzierte

Bodenbearbeitung

Vollgülle

Mistkompost / Gülle

n.s.

***

n.s.

Berner und Gadermeier 20091) Tiefe 10-20cm: +9% *

+37%1)

Soil depth 0-10cm

Without biodynamic preparations

With biodynamic preparations

Plough

Reduced tillage

Slurry

Composted manure + slurry top

1) Depth of 10-20 cm: + 9 % Berner and Gadermeier, 2009

soil TM

www.fibl.org

Development of carbon concentration

Soil depth 0-10 cm

Gadermaier et al., 2011: Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems

+17%Reduced tillage

Plough

www.fibl.org

Abundance and biomass of earthworms (g/m2)

Treatment All Juvenile Cocons

Weight Number Weight Number Number

Plough 56.1 156.5 11.2 103.8 21

Reduced 83.3 261.8 18.8 187.0 113

Red/Plough +48% +67% +68% +80% +438%

20

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Yields of tillage experiment (2003-2011)

Reduced

Tillage

in % of

plough

86% 105% 92% 129

%

123

%

135

%

122

%* 93% 113%

Average

yields

5.5 3.52 2.68 8.59 8.7 14.39 4.37 2.6 2.7

Unit t/ha with

15%

moisture

t/ha with

8%

moisture

t/ha with

15%

moisture

t DM /

ha

t DM /

ha

t DM /

ha

t/ha

with

15%

mois-

ture

t/ha

with

8%

mois-

ture

t/ha

with

15%

mois-

ture

Win

ter

wh

eat

2003

Su

nfl

ow

er

2004

Sp

elt

2005

Clo

ver

gra

ss

2006

Clo

ver

gra

ss

2007

Cro

p a

vera

ge

Ma

ize

2008

Win

ter

wh

eat

2009

Berner et al. 2008: Soil & Tillage Research

Krauss et al., 2010: Soil Use & Management

Su

nfl

ow

er

20

10

Sp

elt

20

11

* No harvest with plough

www.fibl.org

System comparison research in the

tropicsCentral Indian cotton belt (Madhya Pradesh)

Eco-zone: Semi-arid tropics

Fertile vertisols, high yield potential

www.fibl.org

LTE India: Results cotton yield

2007 2008 2009 2010

BIODYN

BIOORG

CON

CON-GM

Forster D, Andres C, Verma R, Zundel C, Messmer MM, et al. (2013) Yield and Economic Performance of Organic and

Conventional Cotton-Based Farming Systems – Results from a Field Trial in India. PLoS ONE 8(12): e81039.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081039

www.fibl.org

Influences of bio-dynamic farming on research agenda:

Animal welfare

Human – livestock interaction versus wild animal

behaviour studies (e.g. Stolba)

Reduktion von Antibiotika

Johanna Probst (2013) Stress reduction in slaughter cattle by

improving the human-anamial relationsship

www.fibl.org

Influences of bio-dynamic farming on research agenda:

Cattle breeding for longevity, robustness and roughage-

based feeding regimes.

www.fibl.org

“Rumiwatch”

Maulbewegungen beim Wiederkauen (Fotos: Roesicke)

Hightech to support breeding

Florian Leiber, Anet Spengler et al.

www.fibl.org

Influences of bio-dynamic farming on research agenda:

Food quality research

www.fibl.org

Correlation between the technical quality of

apples and the vital quality index of Ursula Graf

(pair comparison IP-Organic 1997, 1998, 1999)

40

45

50

55

60

tech

n.Q

uali

.Za

hl

30 40 50 60 70 80 90

BalzQualit

r2 = 0.68

Tech. Qual. Index’97

Vitality-Quality-Index

Kahl et al. (2014)Weibel et al. (2003)

Apples

Cereals

www.fibl.org

Weizenversuche in Mandori (State Haryana)

No inoculum AMF+PGPR inoculum

Mäder, P. ; Kaiser, F. ; Adholeya, A. ; Singh, R.; Uppal, H.S. ; Sharma, A.K. ; Srivasta, R. ; Sahai, V., Aragni,

M. ; Wiemken, A. ; Johri, B.N. and Fried, P.M. (2011) Inoculation of root microorganisms for sustainable

wheat-rice and wheat-black gram rotations in India. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 43, 609-619.

+ 15 %on richer soils

+ 41 %in average

+ 80 %on poor soils

Methodische Einflüsse auf die Forschung:

Bodenfruchtbarkeit und das ‚Feinstoffliche‘

www.fibl.org

Soil cultivation eliminates weeds and helps to keep the precious moisture in the soil.

Brazil: 84 % of all farmers manage 24 % of the total farm land

and produce on it the majority of foods.

Kenya: If all farmers produced the same yields as

the small holders do, the production would double.

Hungry for Land. GRAIN.

http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4929-hungry-

for-land-small-farmers-feed-the-world-with-less-

than-a-quarter-of-all-farmland

Influences of bio-dynamic farming on research agenda:

Each individual farmer is the key to success

www.fibl.org

Influences of bio-dynamic farming on research agenda:

Bio-dynamic farmers and breeders are the pioneer of

participatory breeding.

Different innovation pathways will be

need

Subsistence farmers, pastoralists, agrosylvicultural farmers

Intensive small holder farmers with mixed farms

Family farms with specialisation

Big farm entreprises