The history of organic farming

Early in the twenties, german farmers worried about the shortage of humus and the fertility of the soil. Similary, the effects on their plants and animals of an increasing use of chemical fertilizers started to preoccupy them. They asked Rudolf Steiner (german scientist and philosopher) to give them a course on the environmental influences (cosmic and earthy) and the consequences regarding the biological balance on their farms. Biodynamic Farming was born.

In Switzerland, it was Hans Müller, a politician, who with Hans Peter Rush created a movement for organic farming in the thirties. Their objectives were for farmers to be self-sufficient and to sell their products directly to the consumers, while using at the maximum renewable ressources.

In the forties, it was Sir Albert Howard who put forward the theory that farmers were on the move and thus the Soil Association was founded. The Soil Association emphasized the fundamental role of humus in the plants' health and the fertility of the land. Compost is one of the main foundation of this theory.

In France, it was in the sixties that Raoul Lemaire and Boucher started to organise an organic way for improuving soil fertility based on the use of seaweeds. An independant association, Natur et Progrès, free from any commercial interest, challenged this theory.

It was in the seventies that organic farmers created l'IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement) .

In 1985 ,the Ministry of Agriculture created yhe label AB.

On the european level, the first regulations for organic farming came into effect in 1992 (Regulation n° 2092/91) followed ,in august 1999, by the rules relating to production, labelling, breeding conditions (Regulation n° 1804/1999 )

The basic regulations do not allow the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides ! The use of genetically modified organism is also forbidden.

Organic products have their own brands which are protected in Europe.

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