From 7–10 May 2025, the Egypt Biodynamic Association, together with the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum and the Fund for Crop Development (Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz), organised the first workshop for biodynamic plant breeding at Sekem Farm. Participants were teachers, assistants and students from Heliopolis University Cairo, Demeter Egypt staff, several practitioners of biodynamic agriculture and international biodynamic wheat breeders, 11 to 15 people in total.
The ambitious goal was to develop plant varieties that could meet market demands. They had to be high quality, grow healthily and vigorously using biodynamic farming methods, and be resilient to climate change.
It quickly became clear that the topic of seed breeding has been neglected at universities up to now. There is far too little time for it in lectures and students are unable to familiarise themselves with the breeding profession and therefore do not choose it as their profession. In the workshop, the experienced breeders in particular provided insights into breeding work, which immediately aroused some enthusiasm among the students: "It's a great profession!" And: we definitely need to set up an additional module for this within the biodynamic courses for the students.
The topic was brought to life in practice through daily field visits. As the "centrepiece" of biodynamic breeding, the participants dealt every day with basic ideas from Rudolf Steiner's agricultural course: what tasks do the different types of cultivated plants have in the farm organism and what influence do they have on the cycles? How do qualitative aspects arise from plant growth itself? With the "aroma painting" exercise, the participants tried to approach the concept of quality.
In the concluding outlook, perspectives for future cooperation were developed – internships for students in Germany and abroad, further workshops and training for interested parties and prospective breeders. The prospect of the Heliopolis University’s Faculty of Agriculture moving to Sekem's Adleya Farm in the near future and the possibility of daily contact with the field is favourable for taking up the topic of seeds. In addition, Dr Marwa Mokhtar and Dr Hamed Hosni are two experts in the Heliopolis University team who are enthusiastic about the seed topic. Under their leadership, a working group will be formed in Egypt. The breeding and seed work will be affiliated with "Mizan", a Sekem company that produces and sells grafted seedlings, among other things, so that a commercial operation is guaranteed from the outset.
