Exploring Sustainability and Viability on Biodynamic Farms in the UK – a four farm case study research project
Biodynamic farming and what it offers has been little investigated by mainstream research and is sometimes disregarded as being more labour-intensive than organic farming.
And so a challenge was set to show how viable, sustainable, diverse and resilient biodynamic farming can be. Facilitated by a grant from the Anthroposophical Society, this four-farm case study research project was undertaken.
Each farm is Demeter Certified and shows its individuality, strengths and aspects.
This study was undertaken in 2019 and presented at the Oxford Real Farming in early 2020. In 2022 we returned to the four farms to film their story.
All of them are still working well with biodynamics and providing quality, food, carbon sequestration, biodiversity increase and other agroecological and biodynamic services in caring for the earth, and our planet at every level.
The four farms that took part in the study are:
Yatesbury House Farm in Wilshire
Plaw Hatch farm in Sussex,
Nantclyd Farm in West Wales
Loves Land Farm in Somerset.
You can read more about the study in our journal, Star & Furrow here https://tinyurl.com/ye27utx8 and watch the farmers and researchers involved in the project share their findings and answer questions on our YouTube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGv18ypI0B4
We thank the farmers and researchers involved for their willingness, time and expertise, the Organic Research Centre, Coventry CAWR, and RAU for their support, and the Anthroposophical Society for the funding to carry this out.