Creating a Movement

Ag Innovations was approached by the leaders of the Biodynamics Association and the Demeter Association in early 2017 about a project to bring together the biodynamic agriculture community around a shared agenda for the future. Motivated by the upcoming 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s first agriculture lectures in 1924 and the growing demand for biodynamic products, the time was ripe to strengthen their network and get to work supporting farmers, ranchers and the whole value chain dedicated to the biodynamic approach. The work on the project got underway in earnest in January of 2018 and represents the culmination of over a decade’s worth of experience at At Innovations helping groups find, articulate, and act on their plans for a better future.

The project has three main steps:

  1. A robust search for the animating ideas, aspirations, and actions that are shared across the biodynamic community. To collect this information we are holding 8 virtual focus groups and surveying over 5,000 individuals.
  2. Synthesis and refinement of a vivid picture that captures the passions and common ground identified and put it into a call to action for the community. To accomplish we will synthesize thousands of pieces of data into themes that will then be refined by members of the biodynamic community at a fall 2018 retreat.
  3. Ground truthing the results at the Biodynamic Association annunal meeting. We will be preparing a synthesis of everything that was learned and it will be offered to the biodynamic community as a jumping off point for future collaboration and action.

What makes this project unique is both the scale of the community engagement and the unique role biodynamic agriculture plays as consumers become more and more careful about the food they eat. Representing some of the highest standards in the world for purity and biologically friendly farming practices, biodynamic farmers and ranchers are in the vanguard of regenerative agriculture–agriculture that actually restores health and vitality to land.

Watch for more on this important project throughout 2018.

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