In this week’s garden tip, we’ll be diving into the world or organic, biodynamic and permaculture and explaining the basic tenets of each of these practices along with some of the similarities and differences between these growing methods.

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that is about growing a healthy and productive ecosystem. While many people focus on what is not allowed (such as GMOs and synthetic herbicides), it is also about good farming techniques like crop rotation, green manure, and natural pest control. Depending on your definition or where you live, different rules and regulations will apply in terms of what is allowed.

Organic farming and its proponents aren’t new. As synthetic fertilizers, cheap pesticides, increased mechanization, monoculture crops, and increased use of hybrid or GMO increased, the term organic farming started to be used starting in the 1960’s to describe these and codify organic practices.

Biodynamic is a method of organic farming developed by Rudolf Steiner that practitioners describe as a spiritual-ethical-ecological practice incorporating a holistic understanding of agricultural principles. Some people think of it as a step beyond organic. With biodynamic farming, animals, crops, and soil are treated as a single system and the timing of many events are determined by the phases of the moon and the planets. Biodynamic practices also include the burying dead animal parts and crystals in the field at specific times of the year.

Permaculture is a philosophy or working with nature that can be thought of as portmanteau of the words “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture”. First coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, there are 3 main tenets of permaculture that were first developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The first is care for the earth and all its life systems. The second is care for the people. The final tenet is return of surplus or reinvesting surplus back into the system. Practically, permaculture breaks down into twelve design principles that come together in incorporating layers of plants into guilds and zones.

All three methods are ways of developing sustainable patterns of raising food and living. We like to think of organic farming as the foundation upon which permaculture and biodynamic principles are developed from, upon which additional layers are added when it comes to philosophy, astrology, community, and farming practices. All practice growing clean food from healthy soil and the natural environment. While we can’t go into all the details of each practice (you could spend days learning about principles of each practice), we hope this introduction can help you understand the differences in these agricultural practice.

Cover Image by Ryan, used under its Creative Commons license.

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