www.biodynamics.
in
Cover Story Spotlight
25 years of Peter Jaycee Organics
Proctor's first Integrated Farm
training in India
2 3
From The Editor
Transitions, transformations and
transmutations.
The Double Farmer Income (DFI)
initiative strives to posit small farm
holdings as viable economic units
dovetailed to a consumer economy that
is urban-centric. It’s an imperative not
only for political success during the
coming national elections but also to
arrest the increasing ‘agrarian distress’
identified by the report.
Biodynamics is both a technology and a
philosophy. It addresses both Matter
and Spirit. As a technology, the use of BD
preps, CPP, BD Compost, tree paste and
liquid manures and their prescribed
application according to the planting
calendar encapsulates a practice. It is
sophisticated, the certification is capital
intensive and the supply of certified BD
preps is not plentiful. The large export
demand for BD certified produce
sustains the biodynamic ecosystem. As
an idea, it looks at the self-contained
farm making its own inputs or that is in
a barter relationship with other farms
for farming inputs. The farmer is the
‘Ego” of the farm and takes both
BIODYNE is published quarterly by the Secretary, BDAI, from #20, 16th “C” Main,
2nd ‘A’ Cross, 4th Block, Koramanagala, Bangalore 560 034, India
Email: office@biodynamics.in Phone: +91-80-25530182 (10:00am – 6:00pm, M-F)
BIODYNE FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
Participant’s Notebook News Desk My Story
Basic Training Course – The Third My Journey
Biodynamic Agriculture Organic Asia as a farmer
Congress
4 5
systemic and process ownership. How
may Biodynamics be a part of the
solution eagerly sought after by policy
makers?
The solution lies in transiting to an
integration of a sustainable and
economically viable technology with a
cultural-spiritual frame. Moving to a
sustainable farming model requires a
re-skilling - transiting from a chemical,
quick fix method (economic index) to
that which is more labour intensive yet
increases the availability of the soil
carbon and other nutrients (ecological).
A study — “Farmers of Future:
Challenges of Feminisation of
Agriculture in India” — conducted by
Itishree Patnaik, Assistant Professor at
Gujarat Institute of Development
Research (GIDR), found that while men
have moved out of agriculture as main
workers and carry on as only marginal
workers, the role of women in
agriculture has increased in both main
work and marginal work. The picture in
the mind of a typical farmer needs to
transform from that of the male
stereotype model to that of the
empowered women who farm and
BD Research Planting
The 1st International Calendar
Conference on Oct - Dec 2018
Biodynamic Research
6 7 8
support one another by working
together as informal work collectives to
produce sustenance farm produce for
their families. The ‘palta’ practice in
Northern India echoes through the land.
There are many voices adding to the
cacophony on how to farm. Zero budget
farming, Fukuoka, Permaculture, EM
and many others advocate themselves
as the solution which is still evasive.
What sets apart Biodynamics is not the
technology. From a cultural-spiritual
frame, it posits the farmer as an artisan
and not as a technologist. This paradigm
places the new age farmer in a matrix of
an ethos, a tradition, a guild and
innovation-led trade practices. Krishī
sanskāra, paramparā, birādarī and
kāydā. In the spiritual axis, the ichhā
(conative), gyān (cognitive) and krīya
(creative) Shaktīs must come together to
immerse (samarpan) the farmer into the
ocean of Biodynamics. This is the
transmutative quality of Biodynamics.
Yours truly,
Sanjay Doctor
Editor
Editor: Sanjay Doctor
Deputy Editor: Harsha Gangwal
Digital Edition: Murugesh Chandran
Email: biodyne@biodynamics.in
BIODYNE
COVER STORY
25 years of Peter Proctor’s
First Training in India
Sundeep Kamath, Secretary, BDAI
When: October 12th, 2018
Where: Indore, India
The Biodynamic Association of India (BDAI) and the All
India Biodynamic and Organic Farmers Association
(AIBOFA), collaborated and organized an event for the
25 years commemoration of the first biodynamic
workshop in Indore conducted by Peter Proctor in 1993.
TGK Menon on a visit to New Zealand had invited Peter
Proctor to India, an invitation he accepted leading to the
first biodynamic workshop held for three days 18th –
20th October 1993. The BD 500 preparation was buried
for the first time very near the site where Sir Albert
Howard had prepared his compost pits.
Binita Shah, Sarvdaman Patel, Christoph Simpendoerfer, Rachel Pomeroy, Ravi Sethi, TGK Menon, David Hogg, Evelyn Daniel,
Sundeep Kamath, Jaison Jerome, representatives of AIBOFA and other guests.
NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3
The event commenced with a visit to the College of
Agriculture, Indore, where Rachel Pomeroy, lit a lamp, at
the site where Peter had buried the horns with cow
manure in this first three-day workshop and incidentally
the same place that Sir Albert Howard made composts,
which was later called the Indore Method of
composting. Some founder members of AIBOFA and all
office bearers of the BDAI along with members Jaison
Jerome and David Hogg were present at this event.
Rachel gave a keynote speech on the journeys of Sir
Albert Howard and Peter Proctor in India after a warm
welcome address by Ravi Sethi, the chairman of AIBOFA.
The other participants, some of who were attendees of
the first course, shared their experiences and memories
of Peter and the impact on their lives of this encounter
with him. SUPA Biotech gifted mementoes of a bust of
Peter Proctor which was presented to all the pioneers,
representatives of AIBOFA, BDAI and Demeter Intl.
The celebration brought back fond memories of Peter
Proctor. He lives with us.
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BIODYNE October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3

SPOTLIGHT The crop patterns have been The entire farm is organic and has
carefully chosen with various been certified by LACON, Germany.
Jaycee Organics horticultural perennial trees such as The products are also exported.
Integrated Farm Amla (Indian goose berry), different
The farm has one of the largest
varieties of mangos, lemons, sapota
biodynamic composting facilities
With 200 acres of lush greenery and being planted across the farm.
in the country managed
various species of trees and There are around 60,000 trees,
impressively by the well-trained
medicinal plants, the Jaycee which include plantation trees such
staff. A team of highly
Organics Integrated Farm is a feast as Malia Dubia (Malai Vempu),
experienced people in the farm
for eyes. Mahogany, Teak, Agar and some
prepare the required liquid bio
The agricultural farm, situated at other traditional trees.
manure and the pesticides.
about 23 kilometers from
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, is developed
by Mr. K. Jayachandran, a sugar
technologist, and his brother, Mr. K
Chandrasekaran, lawyer and
Company Secretary, who bring their
experience of more than 45 years to
this initiative.

An integrated fruits and vegetable

Wooden Oil Press
processing unit is being set up in the
farm in order to process the The promoters plan to provide local
produce generated, in addition to a farmers with technical advice on
solar dryer for processing moringa, cultivation, supply seeds and
curry leaf and other herbal and seedlings and buy back the entire
medicinal plants. Wooden cold produce of associate farmers at a
Water Percolation Tank pressed oil units for extracting the very reasonable price to enhance
sesame, groundnut and coconut oil their living standards.
Jaycee Organics is well laid out with
are also being set up, which will
thoughtfully planned internal roads
provide employment to more than
for the efficient movement of men
150 people in the village.
and materials. A total of six open
wells and thirty bore wells are
interconnected to facilitate
irrigation and judicious use of water
throughout the year. The entire
farm is also equipped with drip
irrigation system, which extends the
area of irrigation and ensures the
management of weeds as the water
goes only to the plants. With a view
to the efficient implement the rain
water harvesting system, six water
percolation ponds have been
constructed along with numerous
check walls in the canal flowing in
the farms, which helps retain the
rain water and improves the ground
Solar Dryer
water level in the farm.
JayCee Organics LLP: Kollangulam Road, Udayampuli Village, Alangulam Taluk, Tirunelveli District,
Tami Nadu Contact: 86674 47341, 81100 02085 Email: jayceeagro.gmail.com

NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA 3|

BIODYNE October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3

PARTICIPANT’S NOTEBOOK The observation walks at dawn were

Basic Training Course –
Biodynamic Agriculture
Harsha Gangwal
When: 24th-29th September, 2018
Where: Kodaikanal, India
While we were all seated around the
table one day, having our lunch,
amidst conversations and laughter,
one of the participants
unconsciously started spinning his
coffee in his glass to create a vortex.
That’s when we realized how
indelibly the training was etched in
our minds.
Kodaikanal - “the Gift of the Forest”,
true to its name, surrounded by hills
and often covered with fog, was like
an oasis in the desert. The breath-
taking landscape was an added
delight to the already informative
and transformative sessions. I had
expected to learn merely the basics
of Biodynamic Farming, but the
course offered a lot more. It gave us
an insight into Anthroposophy,
Eurythmy and cosmic rhythms, in
addition to the various principles
and preparations of BD Agriculture.
the icing on the cake.
The practical sessions held at Kurinji
Farms, named after the proverbial
Kurinji flowers that blossom once in
12 years, strengthened our
understanding of biodynamics, and
our capacity to work with our hands.
Pounding cow dung with our feet
was altogether a different
The trainers- Ravi, Grace, Walter and
experience. While we were busy
Jakes, were a storehouse of
making CPP and BD compost, we
knowledge and information, who
strengthened our team dynamics
did not tire away from answering
and learnt to work together. The
our repeated questions.
highlight of the practical sessions
was definitely the CPP preparation, Biodynamic Agriculture trans-
while the group “tap-danced” on forms not only the soil but the
soul too. It requires one to
the pile of cow dung to the beautiful observe the plants in a way that
songs sung by one our trainers- widens the spectrum of one’s
Grace. understanding.

EVENT CALENDAR (OCT-DEC 2018)

Date Event Name Location

21st Organic State, Malleshwaram,

Annual General Body Meeting of the BDAI, 2018
October, 2018 Bangalore

25th-27th BIOFACH India, 2018 Pragati Maidan,

October, 2018 http://biofach-india.com/home New Delhi

2nd-4th Festival of Anthroposophy Bangalore Steiner School,

November, 2018 http://anthroposophicalsocietyindia.org/festival-theme/ Bangalore

12th-16th Bhaikaka Krishi Kendra, Anand, Gujarat Workshop on

December, 2018 https://www.organichutbkk.com/upcoming-events Biodynamic Farming

17th-20th Bhaikaka Krishi Kendra, Anand, Gujarat Workshop on

December, 2018 https://www.organichutbkk.com/upcoming-events Vegetable Production

NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA 4|

BIODYNE
NEWS DESK
The Third Organic
Asia Congress
Sundeep Kamath, Secretary, BDAI
When: 16-21 September 2018
Where: Bislig City,
Surigao del Sur, Philippines
The 3rd Organic Asia Congress
carried the theme “Go! Go! Go!
Organic Asia! One Big Family on
Innovations and Sustainability”.
The 6th Asian Organic Rice
Conference was held on September
18th, while the 3rd Organic Asia
Congress and OFIA Summit were
held on the 20th and 21st
respectively.
The foci of the theme were:
• The One Big Asian Family with
similar values
• Similar levels of organic
agriculture development and
cooperation among the Asian
nations
• Achieve the ultimate goals of
sustainable agricultural
development in line with the UN
Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3
Organic Asia Congress, Philippines, Sept 16-22, 2018
The Organic Asia Congress brought Our members made presentations
the people of Asia together to share on various topics:
and exchange their best practices in
• Joy Daniel shared a contribution
organic agriculture development
on ‘Sustaining Organic
and to find common grounds on
Agriculture-Based Livelihoods In
how to develop the organic sector
A Changing Climate’;
forward.
• Anthoni Selir (Selvi) on ‘The
Akshayakalpa Approach to
Organic Dairy’;
• Fr. Hubby Mathew on ‘Farmer
Innovations at PDS Spices’;
• Ajit Mathai on ‘AHOPE: A Mobile
Application for Homesteads’.
The 3rd OAC was a very unique
event in Asia as representatives
from the governments of 22
countries in Asia, the stakeholders
from the organic sector, the youth,
indigenous groups and the local
people of Bislig City gathered in one
place to discuss how organic
agriculture can be a multi-solution
provider to attain the goals of the
SDGs. More than 2000 organic
practitioners, scholars and
researchers witnessed 3 days of
extensive organic agriculture –
themed presentations from
different parts of Asia.
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BIODYNE
MY STORY
My Journey as a farmer
Arifa Rafee
A decade ago, I wouldn’t have thought
of being a farmer. This decade of
farming has taught me a lot of patience,
perseverance and compassion. AR4
Mangoes is my identity now. Our
concept “From our farm to your home”
was coined 6 years ago, where
customers order Mangoes online and
home delivery is done across INDIA and
the USA. AR4 is from the initials of all the
family members as each one takes part
actively in the farm and the business.
AR4 Family: (L-R) Ruwayfe, Rifaa,
Rafee and Rumaisa with Arifa.
As a child, I remember gardening with
my grandpa where we only grew roses,
flowers and a guava tree, which didn’t
do well after two years of harvest. We
only read it in books how food is grown,
saw farms while travelling by train
during our vacations & admiring the
beauty of it, never realised the hard
work that went into it - Grass is greener
on the other side.
It was a year that I had left my bank job
as an officer, was looking for various
options to keep myself busy along with
taking care of my 3 kids (youngest was 4
years old). We had purchased some
land as an investment but a visit to this
land one day gave me an idea of having
a farm to keep myself occupied, little did
I realise that this idea would one day
make me a passionate farmer.
It was a new field altogether, a great
deal of research had to be done
regarding various farming concepts,
various crops, etc. Organic farming was
not known to many when we started but
it appealed to me and owing to the
health of the family and soil, we decided
NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3
it was organic farming that we would go
ahead with. As I had to find a balance
between taking care of kids and farm, I
opted for Mango as it is a summer crop
and would be easier to manage during
summer vacations. We did try other
crops but our main crop was Mango.
When we purchased the land, we had no
plans of farming and the land was
barren for ages with the topsoil washed
away due to the slopes and the soil was
eroding during monsoon, we had to
plan bunds, luckily we had a hill in our
land which we dug and moved the
stones with tractors to form bunds. We
dug pits and filled it abundantly with
farmyard manure, as the soil had
nothing in it. First three years, we had to
nourish the soil with manures regularly,
pest attack was regular and regular
decoctions prepared in the farm were
sprayed. After 3 years, there was a huge
difference in the soil and the plants from
where we started. The sense of
satisfaction that it brought when the
trees bloomed as if smiling at you for
taking care of them was immense and
hooked me to farming.
We adopt different farming
techniques or methods. We also
practise biodynamic farming and
prepare most of the manures at
our farm. CPP is made on a regular
basis in good quantities. Taste
and quality are enhanced since 4
years of practicing biodynamic
farming, the difference is evident.
For preparing the manures and
decoctions, we have 8 cows of
indigenous local breed, they are part of
our farm family where each cow is
named, they are very affectionate and
amaze us with the bonding they have
despite the fights that happen amongst
them. They are mainly used for manure
than for milk.
Composting, mulching, water
harvesting are crucial to any farm, we
had to work on these factors especially
conserving water was a herculean task
owing to the dry region we live in. Step
by step, we were able to overcome many
challenges but nature throws a new
challenge quite often. Mango crop in our
regions is affected by hail storms,
unseasonal rains, sudden rise in
temperature, this year it was long
monsoon that affected the crop and last
year it was a fungal affection which
attacked. Despite all our hard work
throughout the year, we have to face the
consequences of global warming which
leads to unpredictable weather and the
crop is affected. We are slowly trying to
diversify but Mango has become my
identity and it will remain the main crop.
To meet our expenses on the farm, we
realised we will have to market our
mangoes to avoid the middlemen who
take the major chunk of the profits. We
explored the option of marketing
through e-commerce website where the
customers can place orders, make
payments and delivery across India, and
the world had to be worked out. It was a
risky proposition owing to the delivery of
perishables but our commitment
convinced couriers like FEDEX to partner
with us, it was a big breakthrough for us.
6 Years of marketing and interaction
with customers gives us immense
satisfaction when they wait for the
produce every year, their response gives
us the energy to toil in the farm for the
year despite bad seasons consecutively
for 3 years. We have a customer base of
8000 and the orders keep pouring in
throughout the day in the season that is
short (2-3months).
My kids actively take part in farming,
their confidence in organic farming is
reflected when they answer any
question posed by our visitors to the
farm, their teachers and friends. Glad
that they know the pains of a farmer and
are careful with their food habits.
Farming has also inculcated habits of
healthy eating and living, our family is
more conscious about the choices we
make.
Arifa Rafee is a post-graduate in literature, a
Network Engineer, trained at IIM-Lucknow
for entrepreneurship and at Bhaikaka Krishi
Kendra in biodynamics. Arifa, along with her
family is actively engaged in the farm
management. She presented her paper,
‘Organic Mango Farming - From Our Farm To
Your Home’ at the OWC 2017, New Delhi.
Contact Details:
Arifa Rafee, AR4 Agro International
Contact: +919912340404, +917730040404
www.ar4mangoes.com
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BIODYNE October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3

BD RESEARCH
The 1st International Conference on Biodynamic Research
When: 5th-8th September, 2018
Where: Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland

The 1st International Conference on Biodynamic Research was organized by the Section of Agriculture (Dornach,
Switzerland) in collaboration with the Faculty of Organic Agriculture Sciences of the University of Kassel (Germany),
the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) and the Forschungsring (Research in Biodynamic
Agriculture, Darmstadt, Germany). The Conference saw a huge participation from India too.
A few of the research articles presented in the Conference have been described briefly below.

Effect of biodynamic preparations on
the soil biological and agrochemical
properties and the quality of potato
tubers
Jariene E., Vaitkeviciene N.,
Ingold R., Peschke J.
Soil and crop management practices
involving intensive use of synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides in the
cultivation/ production of plant raw
materials cause long-term adverse
consequences related to the safety
of food products and human health.
Biodynamic Agriculture is a unique
system of organic agriculture which
contributes to the development of
sustainable farming.
The research was conducted over a
period of three years (2013-2015),
and the aim was to evaluate the
effect of biodynamic preparations
500 and 501 on soil biological and
agrochemical properties and potato
tuber quality. The experiment
included two factors: three coloured
potato cultivars, and treatment with
biodynamic preparations as field
sprays.
The results indicated that the use of
BD 500 stimulated the activity of soil
enzymes saccharase and urease and
increased the nutrient content
important for plant growth in the
soil. The application of BD 501 was
found to exert the greatest positive
effect on investigated biochemical
constituents and their antioxidant
activity in potato tubers with a
coloured flesh.
.
Achieving Microbial Balances in Soil
through Biodynamic Agriculture
Practices
Dr. Regina Sharmila Dass,
Pondicherry University
The production of food for
humankind has been a tremendous
challenge in the recent past.
Sustainable agricultural practices
have provided solutions to a certain
extent in the Indian subcontinent
with Organic and Biodynamic
Agriculture practices.
A research study was conducted in
2016 to assess the impact of
different agricultural management
practices and to achieve safe food
production. Soil samples were
collected from four different
geographical locations of India.
Conventional methodologies were
adopted to detect the presence or
absence of select four food-borne
pathogenic bacteria from BD and
non-BD farms. Three out of four
pathogens were isolated from non-
BD soil, while the pathogens were
undetected in BD soils.
The evidence supports the
hypotheses that ecosystems
managed by biodynamic
agricultural methodologies are
significantly safer in terms of food
safety than conventional methods.
Alternative herbs and materials for
BD manures and BD preps for
tropical countries like India
Dr. Perumal K.,
Dr. Arunkumar J.
Biodynamic preparations regulate
the biological processes and
strengthen the life forces on the
farm. Five herbs that are used in BD
preparations are grown only in
tropical regions and processed for
the formulation of herbal
preparations.
An investigation was carried out to
identify alternative herbs and
materials which have similar active
ingredients and functions. Their
availability will have significant
contribution to biodynamic
agriculture in India. The locally
available weeds with similar
medicinal properties were identified
and utilized for BD preparation.
These preparations were analysed
for their physiochemical and
biochemical properties,
Based on the investigation, it was
concluded that alternative herbs
could be used for production of
biodynamic manures without
compromising with the efficacy.

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BIODYNE October – December 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3

Planting Calendar for October – December 2018

The Calendar is prepared by Ravi Koushik for India and multiple locations around the world, using Astronomical Data provided by Dr. Brijmohan
Thakore, Gujarat, India and Dario Anderle, Trieste, Italy. For download of the full version, please visit www.organichutbkk.com or
www.biodynamics.in. The chart design and artwork is prepared by Murugesh Chandran, (Asst. Editor – Digital Edition), Chennai.

The primary
objective of the BDAI is to BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (BDAI)
promote and coordinate the
Biodynamic Movement in India. OFFICE BEARERS MANAGING COMMITTEE
We provide training, network with President Sarvdaman Patel
national and international agencies, Ajit Mathai Girish Krishnamurthy
promote and support trade and Vice President Evelyn Daniel Jayachandran Krishnareddy Perumal Karuppan
commerce connected with Treasurer C.S. Mani Ramabadhran Gopalan Sanjay Doctor
Biodynamic Agriculture
Secretary Sundeep Kamath Vikash Abraham
in India.

NEWSLETTER OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION OF INDIA 8|