Thu, 05 Jan 2006

New databases to collate information about biodynamic methods

LONDON (NNA) - A new website (www.considera.org) has been set up to collect and collate information about the influence of the stars and planets on plant growth and other biodynamic methods.

Considera, a not-for-profit organisation set up by amateurs in Estonia and Great Britain, has created two databases to collate the results of observations by people who have used such methods in horticulture and agriculture, and is appealing for individuals to submit their observations.

The Considera website describes existing research and various differing schools which plant by the moon and stars, but concentrates on the work undertaken within biodynamics, particularly by Maria Thun whose sowing and planting calendars are sold worldwide.

“An intention of the site is to analyse the data for correspondences between plant results and the astronomical arrangements at the time of planting and sowing,” says Mark Moodie, one of the initiators of the site. “An ideal would be for the various rhythmic influences to be isolated in their individual effects so that the current recommendations can be improved upon and stated with confidence.”

The initiative is primarily based on the Internet. However, a template with the experimental method and results can also be downloaded and sent in for addition to the databases.

END/nna/cva

Item: 060105-01EN 5 January 2005

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Demeter condemns German agriculture minister for stance on genetic engineering

STREICHSMÜHLE, Germany (NNA) – The biodynamic standards organisation Demeter has sharply criticised the announcement by the new German agriculture minister, Horst Seehofer, that he intends to promote the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Germany.

The minister had presented consumers, who were strongly opposed to genetically modified foods, with “a lovely surprise“ for Christmas, Demeter board member Joachim Bauck commented. Bauck, who manages a biodynamic farm on Lüneburg Heath in northern Germany, said the question arose as to how the agriculture minister intended to keep his promise to protect people and the environment.

Horst Seehofer from the right-wing Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of the federal centre-right Christian Democratic Party (CDU), replaced the previous Green agriculture minister Renate Künast, not a friend of genetic engineering, after the elections last November, when an indeterminate outcome produced a grand coalition government of Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats.

“If Seehofer, in his other capacity as consumer affairs ministers, took the wishes of the people seriously, he should actually do everything in his power to prevent the cultivation of genetically modified crops,“ the Demeter statement says. The demand of organic farmers to protect their methods of cultivation from contamination by genetically modified crops represented a minimum demand.

Anyone who diluted the current law on genetic engineering made coexistence [between genetically modified and organic farms] impossible and deprived organic farmers of their existence, the statement adds.

Bauck referred to the positive example set by Switzerland where the controversial question of genetic engineering had been settled in favour of the wishes of citizens by means of a referendum. A more sensitive approach might have been expected from a high profile former health minister such as Seehofer, he continued.

Demeter nevertheless hopes that biodynamic farmers will be able to tell the minister their concerns at a personal meeting.

NNA/end/ung/cva

Item: 060105-02EN 5 January 2005

Copyright 2006 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See http://www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: http://www.nna-news.org/