“ Elite » organic, « beyond organic », marketing terms to promote biodynamic wine boast its environmentally friendly nature. During wine fair periods, customers are bombarded with these advertisements. Misleading?
There are in any case numerous criticisms concerning biodynamic wines, due to the basis of thought on which this type of agriculture is based, stemming from the precepts of Rudolf Steiner, Austrian thinker and founding father of anthroposophy, a current of thought and esoteric belief.
More organic than organic?
What do we know about the concrete consequences of biodynamic agriculture, particularly on the environment? For the moment, few scientific studies have looked into the question. According to certain results, the ecological quality of the soil is generally higher in plots operated biodynamically, compared to “classic” organic farming.
This is in particular what the project aims to achieve Ecovitisol, launched in 2019 and which aims to study the impact of production methods on biodiversity and soil organic matter, by working in a participatory manner with wine growers. “We were able to take stock of the microbiological quality of the soil, which shows that there is an improvement from organic to biodynamic,” confirms Lionel Ranjard, research director at INRAE and coordinator of the Ecovitisol project. These results are corroborated by those of a meta-analysis published in 2022 (of which Lionel Ranjard is one of the authors).
“We are still lacking data, but a trend appears in the first results. »
If the trend seems to be confirmed from year to year (the project is renewed each year in a different territory), the causes remain unclear. For Lionel Ranjard, the difference between organic and biodynamic does not only lie in the use of the famous biodynamic preparations. “There is a second thing that we see, which is that biodynamic winegrowers are closer to their plots. They gain in technicality, observation, and anticipation, explains the scientist. We are in the process of involving social science researchers in the project to focus on these differences.”
The effectiveness of the preparations has not been demonstrated
Another concrete difference: the authorized copper rate, which is 3 kg per hectare per year in the Demeter specifications (one of the main certification bodies for products from biodynamic agriculture), i.e. one kilo less than in organic farming. For what impact?
Here too, scientists lack data. “We have references on what is in the preparations from a microbiological point of view, but we do not know the effectiveness of the preparations and their impact on the quality of the soil,” explains Lionel Ranjard. Today I am making observations, but experimentally we must launch studies on the specific effect of each of these preparations.”
A review of scientific literature published in 2013 which focused on the effectiveness of biodynamic preparations based on the postulate that “the only difference between organic agriculture and modern biodynamic agriculture lies in the application of Steiner preparations” concluded: “ There are no clear, consistent or conclusive effects of biodynamic preparations on organically managed systems.”
Esoteric roots
To understand the particularities of biodynamic wines and agriculture, we must go back to the foundations of biodynamics: a course divided into eight lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in front of farmers from a village, in 1924.
The thinker sets out the major ideas and practices of his vision of agriculture, which are added to the constellation of theories which form the universe of anthroposophical thought.
“ […] Anthroposophy brings together a set of beliefs drawn from traditional religions and esoteric movements”, summarizes the Miviludes (Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses), in its latest report (2022).
Horn dung…
As presented on the Demeter label websitebiodynamics “aims to strengthen all the elements of the ecosystem that is the farm: the soil, plants, animals and humans, in full harmony with living things”.
More precisely, biodynamic agriculture is based on the same principles as organic farming, namely the absence of synthetic products, but enhanced with very specific practices. The latter are based in particular on “ biodynamic preparations “. We find “horn dung” (called preparation 500), obtained after allowing cow dung to ferment introduced into cow horns, buried underground. This preparation or its derivatives are then “energized”.
Dynamization is a process which consists of stirring preparations diluted in a volume of water. This process borrows from the homeopathic method, whose dynamisation is one of the four fundamental principles. Subsequently, the preparations sprayed on the soil, crops or fertilizers “in homeopathic doses”, that is to say in doses extremely weak.
In its evaluation of homeopathic medicines which led to their delisting in 2019, the commission of the High Authority of Health recalled: “the principles on which homeopathy is based [dont la dynamisation et le principe de haute dilution] are not supported by current scientific data.
…and lunar cycles
Another particularity of biodynamic agriculture: work according to the rhythms of the “lunar, solar and planetary” cycles. As explained on the Demeter label website“biodynamic farmers rely on the rhythms of the elements of the Cosmos: the sun, the moon and the planets to optimize their work and the quality of their products”.
Taking into account the cycles of the moon on plant growth has also not demonstrated its effectiveness from a scientific point of view. In his 2016 report “Gardening with the moon: myth or reality”, the National Horticultural Society of France concludes about the effect of the moon, that it “is so weak that it can easily be masked or even canceled by the use adapted agronomic practices and improved varieties. It is therefore not, […] of no use in horticulture.
A gateway to esoteric beliefs?
Since 2021, the number of member farms to the Demeter label went from 985 to 1124. A growth which has a very real economic effect. The company Demeter International pays 100,000 euros per year to the Universal Anthroposophical Society, as explained by a article from World in 2021.
In June 2023, Unadfi (National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and Individual Victims of Sects), relayed the detailed testimony of a woman, Camille B. involved for around ten years in biodynamic viticulture “until she became aware of the inconsistency of the discourse and practices of biodynamics”. In this story of a “conversion” then a “deconversion”, Camille B explains: “My adherence to biodynamics is not the cause of my conversion to esotericism, but rather its most significant consequence. Biodynamics has been the main component of a belief system that for me has been very harmful.”