Biodynamic pioneers: the people behind the method
From Rudolf Steiner through Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Maria Thun to Peter Proctor: the pioneers who developed biodynamic agriculture, tested it and carried it out into the world.
Biodynamic agriculture did not come into being in a single stroke. Rudolf Steiner gave the impulse in 1924 — it was only the generations after him who turned it into a tested practice used worldwide. This article introduces the most important pioneers: those who developed the method and carried it out into the world, and the authors who documented it.
The origin: Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), founder of anthroposophy, gave the Agriculture Course at Koberwitz in 1924 — the basis of all biodynamic preparations and of the idea of the farm as a living organism. Important for understanding: Steiner explicitly saw his indications as a stimulus for one's own research, not as a rigid recipe. It is precisely this openness that made the later development possible.
The pioneers of practice
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899–1961) was a student of Steiner's and one of the most important early pioneers. Together with Ita Wegman and Gunther Wachsmuth, he was among those who made the first batch of horn manure 500, even before the Agriculture Course. Pfeiffer developed "sensitive crystallisation" as an image-forming method, wrote the first generally accessible account of biodynamic agriculture in 1938 and, after emigrating in 1940, brought the method to the USA.
Maria Thun (1922–2012) shaped biodynamic practice through decades of growing trials. The sowing calendar with its division into root, leaf, flower and fruit days goes back to her, as does the barrel compost.
Peter Proctor (1928–2018) from New Zealand took biodynamics to India from the 1990s onwards and helped to set up the first Demeter farms there. He developed the "Cow Pat Pit" (CPP), a variant of the barrel compost intended for tropical climates, and became known to a wide audience through the film "One Man, One Cow, One Planet".
Alongside them are other early trailblazers — for example Erhard Bartsch, who organised the early experimental circle and trading association, and the Australian Alex Podolinsky, who made biodynamics practicable on a large scale and developed prepared horn manure (500P). Their contributions are documented; we give detailed biographical data only where they are beyond doubt.
The authors of the specialist knowledge
Today's practice with the preparations is well documented above all thanks to three authors — they also form the source base of the Präparatekiste glossary. Eckard von Wistinghausen wrote the standard works on making and applying the field spray and fertiliser preparations, the most detailed step-by-step reference in the German-speaking world. Pierre Masson wrote a comprehensive handbook for agriculture, horticulture and viticulture from France, the heartland of biodynamics, particularly influential in viticulture. Walter Stappung produced a richly documented account of the fertiliser preparations that brings together their making, their application and the state of research.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded biodynamic agriculture?
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) with the Agriculture Course of 1924. The practical elaboration was carried out by pioneers such as Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Maria Thun.
Who made the first preparations?
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, together with Ita Wegman and Gunther Wachsmuth, was involved in the first making of horn manure.
Who brought biodynamics to India?
Peter Proctor (1928–2018), who set up farms there from the 1990s onwards and developed the Cow Pat Pit.