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by Dewane Morgan

Although biodynamics is an enormouslypopular and successful form of sustainableagriculture practiced throughout the world,its acceptance has been more gradual in theUnited States. Dewane Morgan discoveredRudolph Steiner’s Agriculture lectures in1974 and was drawn to the holistic visionand ecological soundness of the method theyenvisioned. Here he details his personalstruggle to learn, apply, and adapt biody-namics to the specific conditions and needsof his farm — at a time when there werefew, if any, U.S. practitioners of the methodto whom he could turn for advice. His ex-periences taught him many valuable lessons— often learned the hard way — and theinsights he has gained over the years shouldprove invaluable to growers considering asimilar transition, as well as fascinating foranyone who is curious about this increas-ingly influential approach to agriculture.

For many years, beginning around mid-June, I would experience periods of intenseenvy followed by severe depression. Thecause? I was very envious of everyone’selse’s hay fields. Their alfalfa hay, eitherstanding or mowed, looked so lush com-pared to the thin weed patches on my land,with its mineral-poor, worn-out, erodedsoils where quackgrass, hoary alyssum,wormwood and sorrel flourished. Therewould be a thin scattering of red clover, tim-othy and orchard grass mixed in with theweeds, and as I mowed around the hay fieldsI could see an occasional alfalfa plant. De-pression would raise its ugly head each fallwhen I realized I faced another winter shortof hay and grain to feed our milk cows.Being short of feed meant I would have toborrow more money from the bank to makeit through the winter. I was already deep indebt, having started farming with no equi-ty, so the money I borrowed was added tothe existing operating loans I had acquiredin the past. What made the whole situationworse for me during the early 1970s wasthe fact that I knew nothing about chemi-cals used in agricultural production. Norwas I about to use chemical fertilizers or

Biodynamic Agriculture:How I Made the Transition

herbicides. As a young, beginning farmer,I was very idealistic and firmly commit-ted to organic farming methods withouthaving a practical working knowledge ofwhat that meant, except what I refer to nowas “organics by default” or “no inputs ofany kind.” In 1974, however, I discovered and readRudolf Steiner’s Spiritual Foundations forthe Renewal of Agriculture, and my wholefarming situation began to change. Today,anyone can walk across my farm and seevery dramatic results from our use of bio-dynamic preparations and methods. On mynow-lush hay fields,which once yielded1/2 to 1 ton of hay per acrein a good year with ade-quate summer rain, I nowharvest 21/2 to 3 tons of hayper acre even in a relative-ly dry summer. On mypoor sandy-loam and loamy-sand soils withtheir low natural inherent fertility levels(low C.E.C. soils) I have watched the top-soil more than double its depth in a periodof seven years using little or no compost.

I was particularly impressed in my firstreading of Steiner by a passage in Lecture 2: “Now, a farm comes closest to its ownessence when it can be conceived of as akind of independent individuality, a self-contained unity. In reality, every farm oughtto aspire to this state of being a self-con-tained individuality. This state cannot beachieved completely, but it needs to be ap-proached. This means that within our farms,we should attempt to have everything weneed for agriculture production, includingof course the appropriate amount of live-stock. From the perspective of an ideal

farm, any fertilizers andso forth that are broughtin from outside would in-deed have to be regardedas remedies for a sickfarm. A healthy farmwould be one that couldproduce everything it

needs from within itself.” This statement expressed the inner con-viction I had always had when I thoughtabout how I should be farming. The transformation was not immediate,

During the 1970s, before he began the transition to a biodynamic system, DewaneMorgan’s hay fields were full of hary alyssum, the tall white-flowered weed, with sorrelin the bare spots.

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however, nor was it easy. Although I had astrong inner conviction that biodynamicpreparations and methods were the onlyway for me to care for my cropland, I wasunaware of anyone else in North-centralMinnesota with similar soil and climateconditions to whom I could look for helpand guidance. As any beginner would dowithout the benefit of experienced advice,I made many costly mistakes, with corre-sponding failures, year after year. In addition, I could find no informationin English explaining how one applies themethods on a farm that, due to its regionallocation, cannot generate enough animalmanure to make compost to cover all cropand hay land with several tons of compostper acre each year. From what I had read,this use of massive amounts of compost wasdone on all biodynamic farms to promotea healthy, self-sufficient, sustainable farmorganism. Another factor warranting considerationwas the history of agriculture and land usein the area where I live, especially in thepast 100 years. A University of Minnesotasurvey conducted from 1929 to 1933 inHubbard County, Minnesota, where I live,found the leading crops raised on farms atthat time were tame hay, oats and corn. Nocommercial fertilizers, lime or gypsumwere being used. The entire county couldhave been considered “natural organic” bytoday’s standards, but none of the farmswere biodynamic. At that time, on what wenow consider our heavy soils — that is,sandy-loam topsoil with a sandy-clay-loam

subsoil (as compared to loamy-sand top-soil with sugar-sand or gravel subsoil) —the average farm was 160 acres, with 126acres devoted to crop and livestock produc-tion. The following crops were raised: 4acres, corn; 3 acres, barley; 8 acres, oats; 3acres, potatoes; 12 acres, red clover/timo-thy hay; 1 acre, alfalfa. Unplowed land av-eraged 5 acres of wild hay and 88 acres oflow wetland and pine/hardwood forest usedfor continuously grazed pasture. On thesefarms the average number of animals raisedwas: 7 milk cows, 7 sheep, 1 hog, 2 horses,and 7 head of “other cattle.” The farms were managed in such a waythat all winter-collected manure was usedto raise corn and potatoes. A typical croprotation was potatoes grown on newlycleared land, followed by corn, small grainsunderseeded with red clover/timothy grass,then hay, hay. The farms’ milk productionwas separated on the farm with the skimmilk being fed to calves and pigs. Thecream was sold to local independent farm-er-owned cooperativecreameries located in thesmall towns. Seasonalmilking was practiced.From late fall through win-ter, when the cows weredry, farmers worked in thewoods clearing more landand sold logs for winter income. This sus-tainable system of low-input, subsistencefarming lasted for about four decades, andthen collapsed due to the introduction ofsmall tractors and the availability of gaso-

line after World War II. Before then, allfarming was done with horses. Many ruralfarms did not get electricity until 1950.Compounding the problem was economicchange in local farm markets, as well asattempts to farm nutrient-deficient soils. Generations of farmers before me hadworked the soil to the point of exhaustionOne could say they mined the fragile soilof almost every available nutrient and ether-ic life force, putting virtually nothing back.The question I asked myself many timeswas, “How am I going to create a self-con-tained sustainable farm organism with thekind of independent farm individualitySteiner was suggesting, when past genera-tion of hardworking people with good in-tentions failed to maintain their once-sus-tainable system of regional agriculture?” One answer lies in a grounded, practicalunderstanding of the fundamentals of howone makes the transition to biodynamic ag-riculture. A transition to biodynamics mustbe based on the natural biological activityin the individual nature of various soils.Experience has taught me that there are fiverequirements to be met before one beginsto make the conversion to biodynamic ag-riculture in the upper Midwest: 1. Know your farm’s soils. 2. Start with a balanced or unlocked soilfertility. 3. Establish a nitrogen cycle suited to theindividual nature of the farm’s soil and croprotation. 4. Gently fracture the hardpan and com-pacted soils. Follow with roots of grassesand legumes working with BD 500 to re-establish granular soil structure. 5. Incorporate cattle or some combina-tion of ruminant animals in the farm.

KNOW YOUR FARM’S SOILS I had to accept the fact that, due to theparent material left by glaciers as theymoved ice and soil across this area thou-sands of years ago, not all soils in Minne-

sota were created equal.Either I could move to anarea with much better soilor accept that I had whatSteiner refers to as “avery sick farm.” I choseto remain in an area thatreceives 25 inches of an-

nual precipitation, snow and rain. Our win-ters are long and very cold, with little or noweathering of minerals from the frozen gla-cial till and sandy outwash soils found onmy farm. During the short growing season

Rotational grazing of cattle in the background. Hay being rolled up in foreground.

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the temperature is warm, with periods al-ternating between moist and very dry. Therate of evaporation is about equal to the rateof precipitation in most years, so leachingof minerals and nutrients is not a majorproblem unless one uses irrigation. Theproblem lies in the ability of the soil anddead roots of plants to take advantage ofthe short periods of time when tempera-ture and soil moisture conditions supportoptimum biological activity for the decom-position of raw organic matter and the an-nual weathering and exchange of miner-als. The parent glacial till is non-calcarious,so very little calcium is available from an-nual weathering. Old soil tests show thesoils I work with had a low pH of 5.9 to6.1, low organic matter levels of 1.2 to 1. 5percent, and very low calcium, potash, andsulfur levels. During the early days of my farming ac-tivity, our county agent strongly recom-mended that I start using lime, spread atthe rate of 5 tons per acre every five years,to raise the soil pH. He also recommendedthat I sign up for a government cost-shar-ing program that would cover 75 percentof the total cost of liming. Over a three-year period of time, I had lime or marlspread on 40 acres of hay and pastureground that was planted with a mixture ofgrasses and legumes. Right after this ini-tial spreading of lime, I ran into a problem.I completely misunderstood the biodynam-ic information I had been reading: It basi-cally said that, after one starts using the bio-dynamic spray 500 along with composttreated with BD preparations, one did nothave to add lime. I was confronted with two extremes. Thecounty agent represented material scienceat its finest and his recommendation had tobe treated like the word of God if onewished to take advantage of cost-sharingprograms. The other extreme was a meth-od espousing the virtues of no lime, yet itdid not seem to take into account the com-position of and biological activity in indi-vidual soils, implying instead that the bio-dynamic sprays and preparations were acure-all. As I will explain later, the biody-namic preparations have the potential tocure the ills of soils found on a farm andtake the individual nature of the soil farbeyond what Nature can do on its own, evenover a period of many years. I was of the strong opinion that all fertil-izers, especially synthetic nitrogen com-pounds, were poison and unnatural, thuswere to be avoided and considered harm-

ful to soils, plants, animals and people, anopinion that was reinforced by the biody-namic literature I read and the few biody-namic conferences I was able to attend. YetI began to realize it was going to take metwo or more lifetimes to improve my soilif I continued as I had in the past, trying toconform to abstract ideas. I was still facedwith low yields that did not come close tocounty averages. The only exception wasthe number of acres I needed per cow forgrazing; I was above average there. My lowcrop yields meant that I was able to carryonly a small herd, which meant I could onlyproduce small amounts of compost fromwithin the farm organism. About this time, during the early 1980s,many more companies were starting to ad-vertise and market organic soil amendmentsand fertilizers, all of which I considereduseful products. But at that time all of themwere cost prohibitive, as I needed such largeamounts for my poor soils. I would end uppaying two times the amount per acre forthese fertilizers that I orig-inally paid per acre for myfarm — and I was still try-ing to pay off my originalmortgage. My main cropwas grade-B raw milk,which I sold to Land O’Lakes. The price I receiveddid not justify the addedexpense of using premium-priced fertiliz-ers, no matter what increase in hay andgrain yields I might get. For 10 years I hadbeen working to create a biodynamic farm

individuality that showed improvement, butoverall the situation looked pretty hopeless.

START WITH BALANCEDSOIL FERTILITY

What I began to realize, through years oftrial and error, was the following: The lawof the minimum always applies. The min-eral nutrient in lowest supply or availabili-ty will determine what the overall plantgrowth will be. This brings us to the sec-ond requirement in making the biodynam-ic farm conversion: balanced soil fertility.One needs to raise or unlock the soil’s fer-tility at the beginning of the conversionprocess — this is not something one hopesfor in the future. I do several things on any land on whichI intend to raise crops. First, I take a soilsample and have a complete audit done. Itcosts more, but I feel it is worth it. Withmy crop rotation, a field will be tested ev-ery five to six years. Second, I conduct acomplete weed inventory. I get very con-

cerned if I do not seeweeds growing — baresoil spots in one’s fieldswhere nothing grows aredead soil spots, so I amalways happy to see a fewweeds. Weeds growingout of control, however,indicate a major problem

generally caused by imbalanced soil fertil-ity and/or by compacted soil with no struc-ture, a result of previous tillage or cultiva-tion practices. Third, I take a spading fork

Dolomite lime being spread at 11/2 tons per acre on one of Morgan’s fields.

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and slender steel rod and physically checkfor hardpan, soil structure, and depth of top-soil. After I have completed this process, Ihave lime spread at the rate of 11/2 to 2 tonsper acre. The need for lime is based on theweed association, and the amount used isbased on Dr. William A. Albrecht’s work,which recommends that the soil colloidhave 65 percent calcium, 15 percent mag-nesium, and 3 percent potassium. This sat-uration level of base elements in relationto the soil’s Cation Exchange Capacity isvery important in creating the soil individ-uality that Steiner refers to. In fact, I highly recommend that the soilresearch work of Albrecht be incorporatedwith the spiritual-scientific research thatRudolf Steiner presents in the Agriculturelectures. Then include the 50+ years of re-search that James E. Weaver, professor ofPlant Ecology at the University of Nebras-ka, did investigating the tall grass prairieand Great Plains grasslands of the Midwest.The work of these three men gives one atotal picture, a blending of material andspiritual science. After much thought and debate, I decid-ed to experiment with chemical fertilizer. Iwanted to use small amounts as a medi-cine for my sick soil. I reasoned that lightapplications of fertilizer could be incorpo-rated into my soil’s earthy humus contentfor slow release. If I used large amounts offertilizer per acre, as is the custom around

here, I would overload the natural abilityof my soil to hold minerals and would endup feeding the plants through the soil’swater. I realized the first time I talked tothe local Cenex/Harvest States manager toorder fertilizer, he would never understandwhat I was trying to do, so I felt very con-tent to proceed on my own and started ex-perimentation with different rates of appli-cation of small amounts of fertilizer. I foundthat what worked best on my particular soilwas to mix 50 pounds of 18-48-0 with 100pounds of 0-0-60 and spread this amountper acre the first year on already establishedhay fields or spring planted oats. The oatswere underseeded with a mixture of alfal-fa and small amounts of red clover, plussmooth brome grass, orchard grass, andtimothy. The lime I mentioned earlier wasspread the previous fall where the oats un-derseeding were growing. I never used ni-trogen fertilizer other than this one-time ap-plication of 9 pounds of Nin the 50 pounds of 18-48-0. I was relying on legumesto supply all the nitrogenneeds of the soil. The sec-ond and third years, I ap-plied 100 pounds per acreof Sul-Po-Mag, whichworks out to 23 pounds sulfur, 23 poundspotash and 18 pounds magnesium. Afterthe third year, no other fertilizer was used.My cost was $14 per acre each year for

three years. It was top-dressed in early May,following a surface application of BD 500in April (once the soil temperature hadreached 40 to 42 F); BD 501, the silica fo-liar spray, was applied when the alfalfa wasin the prebud stage of growth and the seedstalks of the orchard grass were starting toemerge above the level of the leaves. Much to my amazement, after the thirdyear, when I stopped the fertilizer applica-tions of Sul-Po-Mag but continued spray-ing BD 500 and BD 501, I began to noticea new life and vitality taking over the fields.My neighbor’s hay fields were starting toshow a decline after three years, but on myfields after six years there was still no win-ter-kill or gradual thinning of alfalfa orgrass, nor was there any decline in yields.Soil tests taken after the sixth year wouldshow an increase in pH to 6.5 to 6.7. Thecalcium and magnesium levels would beclose to or exceed the saturation levels de-termined by the C.E.C. of the soil. What Ialso noticed was twice the level of traceelements compared to earlier soil tests. I take all my soil tests at the same timeeach year, at the end of August. They arequickly dried and sent to a lab for testing.In the past I have split the same soil sam-ple and sent them to different laboratoriesfor testing. When the results were mailedback to me, they would show the samehighs or lows of nutrients, but there weremajor differences between the tests as tothe actual pounds per acre of a mineral type,such as potash. As a result I question thematerialistic thinking of modern-day sci-ence coming from land grant universitiesover the past 25 years.

ESTABLISH A NITROGEN CYCLE Rudolf Steiner referred to nitrogen in acontext few people ever use, as in this quotefrom Lecture 3: “It is not a bad thing, you know, when afarmer can meditate and thus become even

more receptive to the rev-elations of nitrogen. Ouragricultural practicesgradually change oncewe become receptive towhat nitrogen can reveal.Suddenly we know allkinds of things; they aresimply there. Suddenly

we know all about the mysteries at workon the land and around the farm. . . . Take asimple farmer, someone an educated per-son would not consider educated. The ed-

Rotational grazing of steers on permanent warm-season tall-grass praire pasture. Fromthis pasture, steers were moved to graze a second-cutting hay field in preparation forchisel plowing for corn.

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grazing 29 years ago. Year 1: Oats underseeded with grass/le-gume mixture. Year 2: Hay. First cutting, hay; secondcutting, hay. Year 3: Hay. First cutting, hay; secondcutting, grazed. Year 4: Hay. First cutting, hay; secondcutting, hay or grazed. Year 5: Hay. First cutting, hay; secondcutting, hay or grazed. Year 6: Hay. First cutting, hay or grazed,then chisel plowed. Year 7: Corn or Oats.Please keep in mind that I chisel plow hayfields that are lush and well established,showing no signs of thinning, with no de-cline in yields. I till hay fields as part ofmy crop/cattle grazing rotation because Iwant to, not because I have to due to lowproductivity. The amount of manure mycattle produce from latefall through early spring isused to make compost,along with old hay andstraw. Each year in lateSeptember this compost isspread lightly on fieldswhere corn or potatoes willbe grown the following season. The amountof compost produced determines the num-ber of acres of corn or potatoes. I started to get serious about nitrogen’srole in my crop rotation early one spring

day 28 years ago. I went into Wilkins FeedStore in Park Rapids and asked to buy al-falfa, red clover, timothy and orchard grassseed. I was promptly told orchard grasswould not grow in this area because it win-terkills. I then asked the owner if he couldorder me a 50-pound bag anyway, whichhe said he would do. Later that same spring,the Hubbard County Soil and Water tech-nician told me that, on our local soils, al-falfa would not form nitrogen-fixing nod-ules on their roots, even if I used inoculatedseed. He suggested I start top-dressing 50to 60 pounds per acre of nitrogen fertilizeron my hay fields. That spring I planted the mixture of le-gumes and grasses on my fields, but omit-ted the nitrogen fertilizer. Sure enough, twoyears later everyone was proved right butme. It was very discouraging during thespring after green-up to see all the dead

crowns of orchard grassamong the timothy andthe few alfalfa plants,which did not have nitro-gen-fixing nodules ontheir roots. The first time I hadplowed the fields, I no-

ticed a complete absence of earthworms,which concerned me. My oldest daughter,Monica, was very young then and wasscared to walk around earthworms that

ucated person would say the farmer is stu-pid, but in fact that is not true, for the sim-ple reason that the farmer is actually a med-itator. He meditates on many, many thingsduring the winter months. And indeed hearrives at a way of acquiring spiritualknowledge; he is only not able to expressit. As he is walking through the fields, itsuddenly is there. He knows something,and afterward he tries it out.” Regardless of what one’s fanning meth-ods might be, all soils need nitrogen to growcrops. Often this is achieved on farms bytotal reliance on massive amounts of syn-thetic nitrogen compounds or heavy appli-cations of liquid or raw manure. Otherfarmers use legumes and compost in thecrop rotation. Reintroducing a natural ni-trogen cycle into the farm organism thatcan meet the individual needs of a specificsoil’s biological activity, enabling it to growcrops, is the third requirement for convert-ing a farm to biodynamics. A question I had to ask myself was, “Howand to what degree does nitrogen flowthrough the sustainable farm organism Iwas trying to create?” One of the tradition-al examples I see most often is monocul-ture of straight alfalfa or straight red clo-ver being grown for hay. Occasionally, afield of yellow or white blossom sweet clo-ver will be used as a green manure plow-down. This reliance on the growth of a sin-gle legume to supply soil nitrogen andrestore soil structure is very misguided. Na-ture, when left alone without human inter-ference, does not allow a single species todominate as soil cover. I am a grassland farmer — not so muchby choice as out of necessity, because I lis-tened to the needs of my soil and my farmlandscape. I was shown that the local natu-rally inherent physical and biological lim-itations of the soil and climate cannot main-tain soil structure, organic levels or fertilityif I till the same land every year to growannual crops. So, I try to insure that le-gumes and grasses are always growing onevery square foot of farmland with the ex-ception of woods, farm lanes and wherecorn or vegetables are grown as part of mycrop rotation. Recently I counted 15 dif-ferent wild and domestic legumes and 12different domestic and native warm seasonprairie grasses growing on my farm. I use the following as a basic crop rota-tion, with different hay fields used eachyear in conjunction with my warm-seasontall-grass prairie pastures as part of a rota-tional grazing system. I started rotational

A 120-gallon stirring machine with reversible motor, designed to mix BD 500, 501,prepared 500 and horn clay. All of these preparations are stirred for a period of onehour.

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came to the surface near our house after athunderstorm, so I made up a game to helpher overcome her fear: anytime we had aheavy rain, we would pick up earthwormsand place them in coffee cans. Then wewalked out into the hay fields and scatteredthem around the dead orchard-grasscrowns. Those earthworms loved the deadorchard grass so much, they began to mul-tiply on their own in the fields. Becausethe earthworms loved to eat the roots andcrowns of orchard grass, and the cows likedthe young, succulent, rapidly growing or-chard grass leaves, I have continued to plantorchard grass every spring for the past 28years. (Now, however, my soil’s conditionhas improved so much that I have a hardtime getting the large crowns of orchardgrass to die.) Earthworms thrive aroundtheir extensive mass of fibrous roots thatserve to hold the soil together. In addition,the alma I grow now has nitrogen-fixingnodules on its roots, even though I neverplant inoculated seed. There is a personalmoral associated in this story: The nitro-gen in effect said, “Don’t give up. Be per-severing.”

FRACTURE COMPACTED SOILS/REESTABLISH SOIL STRUCTURE

The fourth requirement for considerationwhen making the biodynamic transitionshould actually be one of one’s first con-cerns, since the soil’s full biological poten-tial will never be fully achieved when us-

ing the BD preparations until the hardpanand soil compaction is gently shattered. De-pending on the depth of the compacted lay-er, one uses either a subsoiler or deep chis-el plow without wide sweeps. None of uswould place a plastic trash bag over ourhead and shoulders and pull the string tightand expect to breathe very long, yet weexpect to raise crops year after year on soilthat cannot breathe because of compactionresulting from using wide sweeps or fromplowing and disking the soil when it is wet.Then we begin to wonder why we havefields full of severe weed infestations. Perhaps the following example will helpillustrate what I am trying to say about hard-pans that come from years of plowing. Myfirst tractor was an old WC Allis Chalmersthat I used to pull a two-bottom 14-inchplow. I was plowing one morning, slowlyturning the earth, thoroughly enjoying thesmell of freshly plowed soil, when I no-ticed a county employeegrading the gravel sectionroad next to the field whereI was working. The opera-tor of the road-grader andI waved to each other as Iapproached the headlandto turn. On the next roundI had a vision that the grad-er operator and I were doing the exact samething to the earth: He was packing the earththrough the smearing action of a big hori-zontal blade that left the road smooth and

level, while I was doing the same thing ona field with two small horizontal blades. In fact, I was doing a better job of pack-ing the field down, because I was drivingwith one wheel in a 5-inch-deep furrow thatI had used a horizontal blade to smear andsmooth on the previous round. This pres-sure on the soil was being replicated every14 inches across the entire field. Then Iimagined all the years during which mypredecessors, with their small tractors andplows, packed the same field I was work-ing. I finished that day knowing I wouldsomeday have to break this annual ritual ifI ever wanted to see an improvement in soilstructure and yields. Years later, when Icould afford to buy a tractor five times larg-er than my old WC, I sold my collection ofold moldboard plows, with their poor de-sign, to a scrap-metal dealer — so no onewould ever be tempted to use them againto plow the earth. It takes much longer for a naturally high-fertility soil or high-CEC soil to collapsewhen compared to the poor, fragile earth Istarted off with, but the symptoms of de-cline are the same. On low-CEC soils, themineral nutrients become exhausted; onhigh-CEC soils, the mineral nutrients be-come locked up in compacted clay parti-cles. This soil becomes as dead as a brick. I had the opportunity to observe this phe-nomenon several years ago, when I wasinvited to visit a farm located in the south-east corner of South Dakota. A friendshowed me around a very beautiful area thatwas rich in history from territorial days, ashe explained the many changes he had wit-nessed there over 80 years. Eventually I metthe farm operator, who began to explainhow he got started farming, the history ofhis crop rotation, and his fertilizer and till-age practices. He was faced with farming on very chal-lenging soils, which were either a heavygumbo on river-delta silt or clay loam onhigher ground. He began with a 4-bottom

moldboard plow andraised corn, beans, alfal-fa wheat, and oats under-seeded with sweet clover,which was used as agreen manure plowdownlate in the fall. Along withthis crop rotation, sever-

al hundred steers and hogs were fed outeach year, and a brood cowherd was kepton-farm year-round. Slowly, his fanning operation changed,as he stopped feeding out steers and hogs

Subsoiling a hay field after second cutting has been removed. This is loamy sand glacialoutwash soil with a very tight natural silt hardpan 16 inches below the soil surface.

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and made the transition to raising more cornand soybeans, which meant using moreherbicide and chemical fertilizer to com-pensate for the lack of animal manure. Hissoils became more compacted each year,and when he could not get a large mold-board plow to stay in the ground, heswitched to a chisel plow. He raised morecorn and soybeans because the fields couldno longer sustain their yields of oats, whichhad dropped from 110 to 120 bushels peracre to under 40 bushels per acre. Sincesweet clover was always underseeded in oats,this green manure crop was no longer partof the crop rotation. The soil became harderand harder to work each year, and it becameimpossible to get a chisel plow into theground. All of the farmers in the region sharehis problem: they are using big V-rippers astheir primary tillage implement, working thesoil to a depth of 16 to 18 inches. This decline in soil structure, lack of bi-ological activity, and locked-up fertility isnothing short of a tragic situation for a ru-ral community. This region used to be thealfalfa capital of the upper Midwest. Now,there are thousands upon thousands of acreswhere no one can raise alfalfa, as year af-ter year newly established stands die afterthe first cutting is removed. Herbicides hide the problem of rapidlydeclining soil structure, chemical fertiliz-ers give the illusion of soil fertility, andGMO plants both hide and give the illu-sion of a healthy soil and plant environ-

ment as one drives by the field — but wheredoes one go after the annual subsoiling,done as one’s primary method of tillage,doesn’t work anymore? I will give severalexamples of what is possible when biody-namic methods are used to unlock soil fer-tility in high-CEC soils, reestablishing bi-ological activity at even higher levels thanwould occur naturally. On low-CEC soils,one applies the needed nutrients and holdsthe restored fertility level until the biolog-ical cycle of weathering and exchange ofminerals is in balance with a reasonable,sustainable crop yield. My first example is a small permanentpasture that was seeded down in 1976 af-ter 3 tons of lime was applied. Before seed-ing this pasture down, I used a moldboardplow to work up an old alfalfa/grass fieldthat had been seeded down in 1968 — sothis field had been plowed twice in 32years, and had a grass/legume mix grow-ing on the soil for 30 years. This pasturehas good soil structure,with the topsoil being auniform depth of 8 inches,but it still has a hardpanfrom moldboard plowing,which I assumed the rootsof the pasture plants —working in conjunctionwith the biodynamic sprays and rotationalgrazing — would eventually break up. Isubsoiled the pasture late last summer be-cause root action alone is a very slow pro-

cess for eliminating hardpans. Annual me-chanical fracturing of the subsoil is not thesolution until a diverse growth of legumesand grasses, working in conjunction withBD 500, is allowed time to restructure theearth. Decaying roots of grass crops act as a ma-jor source of humus. Young roots decaymore rapidly than older ones and also havea higher nitrogen content. The nitrogen isreleased as ammonium, which is quicklychanged in the soil to nitrate. Largeamounts of plant food material are releasedafter a period of several years, as the deepunderground roots gradually decomposefollowing plowing. Of course, the useful-ness of grasses in preventing erosion is wellknown. In summary, the soil needs a gentle me-chanical fracturing of the compacted soilstructure, followed by a sowing of a mix-ture of legumes and grasses — legumeswith their deep tap roots to keep the newlyfractured subsoil open, to bring mineralsto the surface soil, and to supply nitrogento the grasses, and grasses with their fibrousroots structuring the soil through the growthand decay of fine root hairs. Immediatelybefore or after sowing the grass/legumemix, BD 500 is sprayed on the bare, moistsoil. This spray promotes root development,humus formation, and the activity of mi-croorganisms, plus other influences. There is one major exception to this ap-proach: There will be times, because of croprotation and wet weather conditions, whenone has to reverse the order I just gave.Keeping in mind that dry soils shatter, whilewet soils smear and compact, the sequencewould then be: spray 500, seed down grass-es and legumes, subsoil when dry, thenspray 500 again when soil becomes slight-ly wet. This period of resting the soil for restruc-turing is greatly needed and is absent onalmost all farms in the upper Midwest.Resting land that has been used continu-

ously, year after year, toraise annual cash crops isnot the same as leavingthe land idle. “Resting” inthis sense means not dis-turbing the soil by tilling— it does not mean thatforage cannot be mowed

for hay or grazed. I highly recommend al-ternating both activities. The amount of time to allow for rest var-ies by soil type, fertility levels and climateconditions. Allow a minimum of two years

As the earth inhales at sunset, BD 500 is sprayed on the hay field.

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for the expansion and contraction of grassroots to restore the granular soil structure.A portion of the total cropland must be rest-ed each year, as I have factored into myfarm’s program of total crop rotation. When I discuss biodynamic agriculture,I try to be careful to speak only from mypersonal experiences. I do not want to mis-lead a listener or represent biodynamic ag-riculture as being some abstract spiritualphilosophy. As I said earlier, I am a grass-land farmer because I listened to the land-scape of my farm, which is located on someof the poorest soil in Minnesota. If I lived60 miles west — for example, on the richsilt loam soils around Lake Park, Minne-sota — the results would be much moredramatic than the following examples oftwo separate fields I rent from neighbors. These fields have the same soil type andare located one mile apart as the crow flies.Field #1 has a long history of being organ-ic. From 1963 to 1976, all the winter-col-lected manure from a small dairy herd wasspread annually on this field. In 1977 it waslimed at the rate of 5 tons per acre and seed-ed down to alfalfa and smooth brome grass.The dairy farmer who owned the field thenbought a much larger farm several milesaway. He moved his family and cows, butretained ownership of this small field. Eachyear from 1978 until 1982, he would putup the hay on this field, and then he soldthe property in 1983. The present owner is not a farmer, andhe let the land sit idle, with no forage be-ing removed other than what was eaten bywild deer. The first thing I did after rentingit was to put up a fence — one strand ofbarbed wire and one strand of high-tensile

electric wire. When I began using the fieldas pasture in 2000, I found that it had amuch lower carrying capacity for grazingcattle than I had become accustomed to.Using a spading fork, I found that topsoildepth varied between 8 and 8.5 inches. (SeeField #1 photo, with small stone markingthe transition between topsoil and subsoil.)For many, this may not seem like muchtopsoil, but in the woods next to this field,where a succession of trees has grown forthousands of years, the topsoil is only 3.5inches deep. In this area, where farmlandwas cleared years ago and there is no soilerosion, the topsoil depth in fields variesbetween 6 to 7.5 inches. So, this soil left idle for 17 years — afterannually receiving tons of manure per acrefor many years — was able to increase itstopsoil depth by little more than 1 inchabove the average for this region. This fieldstill had a hardpan from moldboard plow-ing in the early 1970s. I started renting Field #2 in 1993 frommy neighbor to the south. It is located on a5 percent slope and had sat idle for severalyears when the rest of the cropland was en-rolled in the ConservationReserve Program. The top-soil depth varied from 6 to7 inches. It was early June whenwe reached an agreementto rent. Since it was so late,I decided to spend the sum-mer getting the land readyfor use the following year. I deep-chisel-plowed under the light growth of grass,weeds and volunteer red clover, and let thisslowly break down.

Then, in early July, I planted millet. It wasdry that summer, but in late August Imowed the millet, let it wilt, and chisel-plowed it under. In September, 2 tons peracre of lime was spread and worked deep-ly into the soil. The following spring, Isprayed BD 500, planted oats with the un-derseeding I have mentioned, and spreadthe fertilizer mix of 50 pounds of 18-48-0and 100 pounds of 0-0-60. Later, BD 501was sprayed on the oats, which I harvestedfor hay. I spread 100 pounds per acre ofSul-Po-Mag for two years and used the BDsprays on this field every year. Each sum-mer I have taken one cutting of hay off thisfield, which averaged 2.5 tons per acre, andleft the second cutting because I could notgraze the field. After taking off the first cutting of hay in2000, and before chisel plowing, I checkedthe topsoil depth of this field. I found it tobe between 12 and 14 inches. (See Field#2 photo on page 17, with shovel pointmarking the transition between topsoil andsubsoil.) Soil tests taken in late August 2000showed no need to have lime or fertilizerspread for oats or for establishing the un-

derseeding of grasses andlegumes this spring. What I consider inter-esting is that the amountof cash rent I pay eachyear is slightly less thatwhat the landowner re-ceives per acre from theU.S. government for land

enrolled in CRP. I am harvesting enoughhay each year to cover my expenses andmake a small profit at no government ex-pense, although there are restrictions on the

Field #1: Land left idle in grass cover for 17 years. The stonemarks the transition line from topsoil to subsoil. Topsoil depth is8 inches.

Field #2: Land farmed biodynamically for seven years. Theshovel tip marks the transition line from topsoil to subsoil.Notice the roots of orchard grass and smooth brome grass.

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rest of the farm because of CRP.I really wonder why the farm bill was called“Freedom to Farm.” I feel it should becalled “Restrictions to Farming.” What isn’tan illusion in the meaning of words is thatI am helping the environment by using thesoil as a carbon sink, cleaning the air ofcarbon dioxide at a much greater rate thanwould land left in grass cover, as indicatedin the two photos showing topsoil depth.The difference in the increase in humus inthe topsoil depth between Field #1 andField #2 is very dramatic, considering thesoil type and climate where the fields arelocated. So what is the explanation for thisdifference? Once the four conditions I have discussedhave been met and adjusted to the individ-ual nature of the soil, and one starts usingbiodynamic sprays 500 and 501 and pre-pared 500 consistently on the land eachyear in conjunction with good organic fer-tilizers, including rock dust, something newhappens in the soil. The “farm individuali-ty” that Steiner refers to is born in the soiland begins to grow to maturity as the top-soil depth increases far beyond what na-ture can do if left alone — just as each ofus, as soul and spirit, is born with an indi-vidual ego and grows to maturity. In his Agriculture lectures, Steiner wastrying to get us to recognize the possibilityof this new phenomenon in nature. This in-fusion of our farm’s soils with a kind ofego consciousness is the new impulse forthe 21st Century — Steiner predicted thatthis goal was possible if each of us doesour part. Nature cannot do it without ourhelp. The act of creating a living physical/spiritual entity that gives the soil an indi-vidualized ego specific to the individualfarm is a new impulse that one has to expe-rience for oneself — not as an abstract con-cept or intellectual theory, but through areal, inner, personal experience with the soilof the earth. Much has been written in various books,biodynamic literature, etc., giving direc-tions as to how the BD preparations aremade. My advice is to learn to use the bio-dynamic preparations first, before attempt-ing to make them. Use them consistentlyon the same land every year, even if it isonly a small portion of your total acreage.Then, slowly expand the acreage each year,always using the BD sprays on previouslysprayed land. Get physical, visible resultsthat leave no doubt as to the inner experi-ence you have with your soil. Your person-al inner strength will evolve, and in time

you will have the will to spray all your acre-age and see results, which will show up insoil, crops and animal health. I use the com-post preparations 502 through 508, BD 500,BD 501, prepared 500, and horn clay eachyear on my farm.

INCORPORATERUMINANTS

One of my greatest pleasures in life is totravel alone on backroads through someregion of what was once the original tall-or mid-grass prairie region of the UpperMidwest. Although the ancient prairie-grass sod was broken long ago, I seethought pictures in my mind of the land-scape slowly evolving after glaciers re-shaped the countryside. I see once-lushgrass land being grazed by vast herds ofbison on distant rolling hills. Then I real-ize I could ride a horse from the U.S.-Ca-nadian border to the Gulf of Mexico ontilled soil, with very few fences to obstructmy travel. This brings me to the fifth con-sideration in making the transition to bio-dynamic agriculture: cattle. Cattle, bison,or some combination of ruminant animalsare needed on a farm in order to make asuccessful conversion to biodynamics. Cattle can have an extremely beneficialor very destructive influence on the land.It all depends on how we choose to use theirinfluence, or if we think cattle have a roleto play on a sustainable farm at all. When Ipurchased my first 160 acres in 1972, 1 didnot realize how abused and rundown theproperty was. I was determined not to con-tinue the trend for the next generation — Iwanted to leave the land in better shape thanwhen I got it. For example, to use the woodlots in northcentral Minnesota as pasture gives one nei-ther a productive pasture nor healthywoods. When I started farming, I was ad-vised by neighbors to buy some milk cowsand to continue using the woods as pas-ture. The reason they gave was that cowswere meant to utilize thenon-productive waste areasthat could not be plowed.This reasoning is true tosome degree on the short-,mid- and tall-grass prairiegrassland regions, provid-ing one does not practicecontinuous over-grazing year after year.But the woods on upper Midwest farmsshould never be continuously grazed fromearly spring to late fall by large herds ofcattle or other ruminant animals.

I decided to buy a few milk cows and ig-nore the advice about grazing the woods.In fact, I broke an area tradition by puttingup fences to keep my cows out of thewoods. I did this for several reasons. First,the cows of previous owners were slowlykilling the forest by their continuous eat-ing, rubbing and stomping of young treeseedlings. The cows were also compactingthe shallow 3-inch-deep topsoil. This frag-ile topsoil found in the woods did not havethe benefit of thick, deep-penetrating grassroots to keep the soil open to receive airand water. I also felt, by over-grazing thewoods, a half-year’s worth of valuable cowmanure was being wasted on low-carrying-capacity woodland pastures. This manurebelongs on cropland to grow future cropsin a hay, crop, pasture rotation. Next, I put up permanent electric wirearound the perimeter of the farm’s fields.This was done so that fields could be grazedafter the first cutting of hay was removed.I subdivided these fields with temporaryelectric wire and started rotational grazingthe second cutting. I also established per-manent warm-season prairie-grass pasturesthat I use in conjunction with the hay fieldsas part of a total rotational grazing system. Five livestock watering ponds are locat-ed around the farm, so the cows have easyaccess to water no matter where they mightbe grazing in the rotation. The biodynamicsprays are most effective in promoting thegranular soil structure and healthy nutri-tious plants where rotational grazing ispracticed, and least effective on continu-ously overgrazed land, which will havegrasses with much shallower roots. I nolonger milk cows, but I have a beef brood-cow herd, which I still allow to graze as Idid the dairy cows. If one already has cattle or other rumi-nant animals integrated into one’s farm op-eration, a major hurdle has been crossed.If not, creative ways need to be explored toslowly reintroduce ruminant animals back

onto the farms of the up-per Midwest and northernGreat Plains. I am notsuggesting that someonewithout cattle go out andbuy a herd of brood cowsor feeders. What I wouldadvise is putting up a

double strand of high-tensile electric wirearound the outer boundaries of one’s fields,so that smaller portions of land seeded tograsses and legumes can be incorporatedinto the total crop rotation. This smaller

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portion of seeded-down land can be grazedor used for hay until the soil’s granularstructure and fertility is restored with theaid of the BD sprays 500 and 501 and pre-pared 500. When the soil structure is restored andfertility levels unlocked because of dramat-ic increases in biological activity in the soil,the land can again be tilled to raise cashcrops. Once the soil structure is lost andthe soils start to become compacted, thisprocess of rest/grass/grazing is repeatedand becomes part of the total crop rotation.One suggestion: If one does not have ex-perience working with cattle, then consid-er renting the land to someone with cattle.We are all a pretty self-reliant, independentgroup of people, or we wouldn’t be farm-ing — but I strongly believe that we mustdevelop new levels of cooperation and trustbetween farmers and work together in newpartnerships, where everyone, including theland, benefits from the good deeds of oth-ers. The system of conversion I have de-scribed will work on any farm in the Up-per Midwest or Great Plains. The key tosuccess lies in making this conversion field-by-field as part of a systematic rotation,until the entire farm has achieved a revital-ized state of dynamic activity. The first yearone sets up the fields, rotation, and fenc-ing. The second year one starts spraying.The third year one starts seeing results.Carrying capacity and yields increase as the

soils take on a new life. The land is able towithstand and recover from the extremesof weather. The biodynamic farmer canorchestrate a slow, dramatic, successfulchange in the soil and the farm, and per-manently sustain these new levels of fertil-ity. Please note, however, that I would notrecommend making the conversion to bio-dynamic agriculture on your own, as I did.An initial farm survey needs to be done byan experienced biodynamic farmer who cansee and understand the individual natureof the farm and can meet the individualneeds of the farmer and his crop rotationusing available resources.

Dewane Morgan can be contacted at11059 County Road 14, Park Rapids, Min-nesota 56470. He especially encouragesthose who live in the upper Midwest ornorthern Great Plains and sincerely wishto start the transition to biodynamics tocontact him — please explain why you wantto make the conversion, include your phonenumber, crop rotation, latest soil test, andaerial photograph of your farm.