Anneka Lohn in conversation with Reto Ingold about Free International Field School for Biodynamic Agriculture
Wanderschule
ANNEKA LOHN A few years ago we were, together with Rolf Keller, in Tunisia on Karl Keller’s date farm. That’s where I got to know you and your commitment to agriculture. Later, we met again on the same continent, in Sekem. Now it’s not about Africa but about Eastern Europe: you have set up Wanderschule. What is that exactly?
RETO INGOLD Wanderschule is a consortium of advisors for biodynamic agriculture. We were active as individuals for many years and reached our limits. You think along, inspire, encourage, listen, but after a while it wears off on the spot. It didn’t lead to the follow-up we had hoped for. We want to work differently, offer training and enable contacts that also involve and foster local people.
When you say ‘we’, who else are you including?
Currently these are Georg Meissner, Hans Supenkämper, Ralf Kunert, Herbert Völkle, Eva Gehr, Stephan Illi, all of them have been involved in consulting and training for many years. We realized that there are many qualified consultants, but where are they, how do they work together, how do they learn from each other? Suddenly it clicked for us. We have to make sure that when we old consultants are asked, younger people can come along.
What are your initial experiences?
In Eastern Europe in particular, we have succeeded in inspiring local players to join in and think along with us. They are very motivated on the ground. We have immediately found institutions that support us and the response has been excellent. At the same time, we are looking for support for the costs, because we don’t want the financing to remain entirely in Eastern Europe, but rather to initiate and donate something so that people can come together and get started.
What is the situation of biodynamic agriculture in Eastern Europe? Is it gaining ground?
If you look at the statistics, you can see that some bio-dynamic projects are emerging. Greece has 40 farms, Hungary has 12, but they are very different in terms of structure. Thousands of hectares on the 12 farms in Hungary and small farms in Greece – on very small areas. Agriculture is very different and adapted approaches are needed. So far, no one has been able to provide this differentiated advice.
What does consulting mean today?
This is usually understood to be the transfer of knowledge or the provision of management capacities. At the Wanderschule, we take a different approach to consulting. We work for an ’empowerment’ concept: for whatever social, linguistic, cultural, financial or geographical reasons, there are people interested in the biodynamic movement who find it difficult to access. We try to find ways to overcome these disadvantages by providing advisory services. Our experience is that the biodynamic farming method is suitable for a wide range of conditions and is adaptable enough that it can be used everywhere by people looking for more sustainable and social solutions for the future of agriculture. We try to provide the missing elements for a successful, independent use of the method by offering consulting. An interactive process is created during the consultation, which is also beneficial for the existing movement. Our advice is therefore also an invitation to exchange ideas on an eye-level in favor of the development of biodynamic agriculture. We try to promote this exchange in a focused way and make the findings available.
What is essential for biodynamic agriculture in the future?
We are still a very small movement (about 2% of the organic movement worldwide), although we have managed to play a large part in public discussions about the future of agriculture.
We must courageously trust that the biodynamic method changes through doing and remains essential. I believe that this is what Rudolf Steiner wanted, that we apply the impulses he was able to give and gain insights for the next steps. At least that has proved to be the case so far. This makes it clear why Wanderschule considers consulting to be so important for the development of the farms. The successful farms are the flagships for the reform of agriculture as a whole. Sometimes it is possible to build bridges to other areas. Health, nutrition and social issues repeatedly provide essential components for further development (e.g. recently the new understanding of healthy soil and the human microbiome). We cannot do everything in agriculture. We must therefore be understandable for everyone and join forces with other good forces. At the risk of no longer being the undisputed pioneers.
A lot happens when you work with consultants. What you then develop on your own can be very different. How would you assess this relationship – consulting vs. handling and development opportunities?
In contrast to certification, which is product-oriented and aims to assert itself on the market, consulting is always also related to the development of projects and people. That’s what really interested us at the Wanderschule. Before we work on specific projects, we always ask ourselves: what is behind them, how can we train ourselves, how can we even translate into the local language? There are so many different languages and cultures in Eastern Europe. We want to strengthen the respective location so that it can continue to develop there. This approach is very fruitful.
It was clear to all supporters that an approach in this direction was needed. Now we can see the first results. A small highlight was the conference of smaller organizations from Eastern Europe, which the Evidenz Foundation supported. We announced it and said that we could pay a small travel contribution. After three days, everyone was on board. Everyone said that we needed a place where we could exchange ideas, where we could mirror each other and help each other. The old organizations also wanted to be there, because biodynamic farming outside of Germany is not easy.
I have been in contact with many small organizations, magazines, info sheets, etc. for years. They all struggle to finance themselves, they all work on a voluntary basis, so to speak. The transition to the next generation is not secure.
This is an exciting question, and not just in agriculture! We were able to open doors through Wanderschule. We used to cooperate with young agronomists who were interested in going in this direction. But now it was a completely different vibe: how can we take new steps, where could this lead in the future? I also realized that we have a certain role in the Wanderschule. On the one hand because we have a lot of experience, so we are old advisors, but on the other hand because our relationship with the movement is loyal, mediating and open, without the familiar rifts or money worries with arguments and competition.
This sounds like a well-founded movement that hopefully or possibly creates the shift into the future with the younger generation for a healthy agriculture! Yes, that is important to us. We didn’t ‘invent’ it, we felt that we should get serious and change the mode. If someone in Eastern Hungary is interested in biodynamic agriculture, access and opportunities should also be available in Hungarian, for example. This is only possible if we stay in contact, form a network and don’t quickly send out individual advice, but build up a network that has up-to-date information and keeps motivating people and giving them the opportunity to supervise individual cases. If everyone thinks they are the best and that bio-dynamics is the only real thing, then battles arise that don’t achieve anything.
ANNEKA LOHN: Thank you very much, Reto, for sharing your project!
RETO INGOLD: I would like to thank you for getting on board without too much effort and giving it a try, we were very pleased! The money is really well spent!