Biodynamic pioneers
After Rudolf Steiner, pioneers such as Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Maria Thun and Peter Proctor shaped biodynamic practice, and authors such as Wistinghausen, Masson and Stappung documented it.
Who shaped biodynamics after Steiner?
Rudolf Steiner provided the impulse in 1924, but it took the generations after him to turn the biodynamic method into tested practice. Steiner expressly saw his Agriculture Course as a prompt for research; the actual development, testing and worldwide spread were the work of others. A few figures stand out.
The pioneers of practice
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899–1961) was a student of Steiner's, a soil researcher 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 of 1924. Pfeiffer developed the method of "sensitive crystallisation", wrote the first account of biodynamic agriculture for a general readership in 1938, and after emigrating to the USA in 1940 took the method there and helped found the American biodynamic movement.
Maria Thun (1922–2012) developed the sowing calendar (from 1963) and the division into root, leaf, flower and fruit days through decades of growing trials. The barrel compost also goes back to her.
Peter Proctor (1928–2018) from New Zealand took biodynamics to India from the 1990s and helped set up the first Demeter-certified farms there, such as tea gardens in Darjeeling. He developed the "cow pat pit" (CPP), a variant of barrel compost intended for tropical climates, and became widely known through the film "One Man, One Cow, One Planet".
The authors of specialist knowledge
Today's preparation practice is well documented above all thanks to three authors, who form the source base of this lexicon:
Eckard von Wistinghausen wrote the standard works on making and using the field spray and manure preparations, the most detailed step-by-step reference on preparation practice in the German-speaking world. Pierre Masson wrote a comprehensive handbook for agriculture, gardening and winegrowing from France, the heartland of biodynamics; it is particularly influential in winegrowing. Walter Stappung produced an exceptionally detailed account of the manure preparations that brings together how they are made, how they are used and the state of research.
Other names
The history of biodynamics includes many other voices, from early trailblazers such as Erhard Bartsch to present-day advisers and researchers. Where such people appear in the lexicon, their contributions are set in context with sources; biographical details are given only where they are reliable.
Frequently asked questions about the pioneers
Who made the first biodynamic preparations?
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer was involved, with Ita Wegman and Gunther Wachsmuth, in making the first horn manure, even before the Agriculture Course of 1924.
Who took biodynamics to India?
Peter Proctor (1928–2018), who set up farms there from the 1990s and developed the cow pat pit.
Which authors is today's preparation practice based on?
Mainly Wistinghausen (making and using the preparations), Pierre Masson (gardening and winegrowing) and Walter Stappung (manure preparations).