Products from Organic and Biodynamic Agriculture
ORGANIC – BIODYNAMIC
DISCOVER THE DIFFERENCE
Biodynamic Agriculture is based on the interconnection between soil and sky. According to Steiner, founder of this discipline in the twenties (therefore before organic farming), the farm is an organism in which the relationships between the elements that compose it allow its mutual survival: and therefore everyone – farmers, animals and plants – must contribute to fertilizing, nourishing and keeping the entire ecosystem healthy.
All this with the aim of increasing the fertility of the earth and improving the soil and producing healthy plants and foods that strengthen the human metabolism.
The principles of biodynamic agriculture:
- are biodiversity
- crop rotation;
- the observation of the phases of the moon and planetary cycles in sowing and cultivation;
- the use of “preparations”, i.e. self-produced biodynamic compost for fertilization,
- the ban on the use of chemicals.
Biodynamic agriculture is regulated by the Demeter association, the only one able to provide certification to products obtained following the guidelines of biodynamic agriculture (all these products must also be certified organic).
An organic agricultural product must be grown on land far from sources of contamination, such as highways and factories, without the use of synthetic chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides; and, in the case of products of animal origin, it must come from livestock fed with feed that has not been chemically treated, without the use of antibiotics, hormones or other growth stimulants. Only foods that comply with these limits can obtain the Organic label and be sold as such: for example in the case of organic wine.
Unlike Demeter’s Biodynamic certification, the Organic certification has a different legal value than biodynamic. Organic certification, in fact, is regulated by Italian and European laws. The European Union, with Regulation 834/07, has defined more precisely what organic production methods consist of and made it mandatory to certify products by one of the private control bodies.