The use of biodynamic methods in agriculture is rising steadily. There are currently around 5,900 Demeter-certified farms worldwide, with a total area of over 200,000 hectares. However, compared to organically farmed land (71.5 million hectares), biodynamic methods continue to play a niche role. The study addresses the issues of the effectiveness of biodynamic agriculture in terms of agricultural ecosystems and human health, its influence on biodiversity and its degree of sustainability.
Based on current information, there is only a limited sample of peer reviewed studies on biodynamic agriculture. In their literature review, the research group further limited their sample to English publications that had been published in science journals with an impact factor. The impact factor indicates how often a study has been cited in the scientific literature and gives an overview of its relevance in its particular research field. The results of the literature review were divided into three groups. From a total of 147 studies published between 1990 and 2018, 93 deal with biodynamic agricultural methods, 26 with sustainability and 28 with food quality. Over 70% of the studies are from Europe, with the remainder coming from Oceania, North America, Asia and South America, in order of decreasing frequency. The majority of studies were published during the past ten years. Amongst the scientific articles examined there are several about the DOK study in Switzerland (D: dynamic, O: organic, K: conventional), which has compared various agricultural methods for over 40 years.
Results:
Some of the studies examined in the literature review compare only organic with conventional growing methods. For those studies that include biodynamic methods, this review undertook a comparison of all three methods in pairs. The comparison was based on the topics of 'influence on agricultural methods', 'sustainability' and 'food quality'.
- Biodynamic versus conventional: Biodynamic methods came out better than conventional growing methods in all three topic areas, but particularly in sustainability.
- Organic versus conventional: Organic growing methods showed better results than those of conventional agriculture in terms of their effect on soil parameters and sustainability. No clear difference was apparent in terms of the quality of the food produced.
- Biodynamic versus organic: No clear differences could be detected in any of the topics for all the studies under review.
After making further comparisons of the studies, the researchers concluded that biodynamic methods improve both soil quality and biodiversity. In terms of socio-economic sustainability and the quality of the food produced, no conclusive evidence was found due to the small amount of available data.
Conclusion:
The authors stress that the ecological compensation areas in biodynamic farming have a positive effect on the biodiversity of the whole agroecosystem. In the DOK study, the soil microflora also came out better when compared to organic farming. Moreover, the closed nutrient cycles characteristic of biodynamic farming reduce dependency on imports.
The authors state that, from a scientific viewpoint, further research is needed on the operating principle of the biodynamic preparations.
The validity of the results of the study as well as their comparability can be markedly influenced by site-specific characteristics. The researchers argue in favour of selecting larger, more homogeneous study areas and clearer test parameters for future studies in order to obtain more convincing results. For instance, it is difficult to examine the effect of biodynamic preparations in comparison to organic farming methods if the study areas are treated with compost or manure from different sources. Any resulting effects cannot then be attributed with certainty to the effect of the preparations. Avoiding these kind of methodological problems could contribute significantly to the validity of the results obtained.
Systems theory states that the totality of a system (farm) cannot be fully captured by studying the subsidiary systems, such as plant cultivation, cattle husbandry or compost. The behaviour of a complex system is influenced by the interaction of the different effects of all the subsystems. The concept of the agroecosystem provides a holistic approach to assess this kind of overall system. However, it is a very complex task to assess this in its entirety and certainly requires further research involving farmers, consumers and other stakeholders. In addition, greater clarification and research work are also necessary on the topics of biodynamic preparations, comparative studies of agricultural methods including biodynamics, and an expansion of the study remit to socio-economic sustainability and the quality of food produced by biodynamics. It would also be interesting to carry out further research on microbial soil life as part of the one-health concept, which creates a link between the health of soils, plants, animals and human beings.
Details on the original publication:
Authors: Santoni M., Ferretti L., Migliorini P., Vazzana C., and Pacini GC
Title: A review of scientific research on biodynamic agriculture
Journal: Organic Agriculture, 12, 373-396 (2022)
Link to complete study (Open Access):
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13165-022-00394-2
Further comparative studies from biodynamic research are available in the following publications:
- Brock, C.; Geier, U.; Greiner, R.; Olbrich-Majer, M.; Fritz, J. "Research in biodynamic food and farming – a review" Open Agriculture, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 743–757, 2019. Link to complete study (Open Access).
- Turinek, M.; Mlakar, S. G.; Bavec, M.; Bavec. F. ”Biodynamic agriculture research progress and priorities” Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 24(02): 146–154, 2009. Link to study overview and PDF download.