‘It started with the Agriculture Course of 1924.’
How questions became a long-term trial
Text: Dr Paul Mäder (FiBL), Dipl Ing Agr Otto Schmid (FiBL) and Susanna Küffer Heer
The DOK trial dates back to the early 1970s. The use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture increased, and the agricultural policy of the time was geared towards maximising yields and profits along industrial lines. But even then, far-sighted people were pointing out the risks of an industrially oriented
agriculture.
Growing interest thanks to the environmental movement
n 1962, Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring, which is still widely quoted today. In it, she pointed out the dramatic decline in biodiversity caused by pesticides, in particular the decline in bird song in spring. In 1972, concerned scientists who had joined together in the Club of Rome expressed their grave concerns about the consumption of resources on the basis of model calculations. They predicted that the burning of coal and oil would drastically increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, with unforeseeable consequences for the climate.
The industrialisation of agriculture, with the increased use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, has led to an increasing dependence of farmers on these inputs. More and more consumers were worried about their health. In the wake of the growing environmental movement of the 1970s, interest in organic farming increased, even though there were only a few hundred organic farms in Switzerland at the time – today there are almost 8,000.
The basic principles for biodynamic farmers – who were already organised under the Demeter label at the time – are set out in Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course from 1924. He emphasised that the earth is a living organism and that life forces play an important role in the interaction between soil, plants and animals.
In the 1940s, the founders of the bioorganic approach to production, Hans Müller and Hans-Peter Rusch, placed the cycle of living substances and the promotion of soil life at the centre of their work. Many of the basic ideas of the pioneers have contributed to our current understanding of organic farming.
How was the ball for the DOK comparison trial set rolling?
If it had not been for three different groups of prominent figures interested in agriculture, who met by happy coincidence at the beginning of the 1970s, there would probably be no DOK trial.
The professor1
In the early 1970s, the young scientist Philipe Matile, a professor of general botany at ETH Zurich, lived on the Breitlen farm in Hombrechtikon in the canton of Zurich, where Emil Meier had been running a biodynamic farm for years. He was very impressed by this farm. Contrary to conventional theory, high-yielding crops grew on this farm even without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and the dairy farming on the farm was flourishing. Inspired by his observations, Matile wrote a critical article on conventional agriculture and in 1969 drafted a concept for an organic research centre.
In 1970, Professor Matile, together with colleagues with practical experience of farming, set the ball rolling with a motion in the Swiss parliament tabled by national councillor Heinrich Schalcher. Even though the initiators were not initially successful with their demand for a research institute for organic farming, the initiative did lead to an intensification of comparative research into organic farming and the establishment of a private foundation to promote it.
The researcher2
The idea of starting a comparison between biodynamic, bioorganic and conventional agriculture also arose from discussions between the first FiBL director, Hardy Vogtmann, and Jean-Marc Besson, who, like Vogtmann, was writing his doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich and then went on to work in agricultural research at the Swiss Federal Research Station Liebefeld (now Agroscope). Vogtmann describes the collaboration in an interview about the history of the DOK trial: ‘Besson was concerned with the fact that the scientific knowledge at the time and the reality of organic farms did not match: "I now have the analyses of the organic farms again. So they don't fertilise with phosphorus, have incredibly little phosphorus in the soil, and should actually have problems with their animals. But the cows are still giving milk. That can't be right. How do they do it? According to the textbooks, the chemical values are wrong, so there must be something else behind it."’
Vogtmann continues: ‘He visited many organic farms, and always wondered what was going on in the soil, whether phosphorus was actually being made available, and if so, how. And then he suggested that we look into it together. In conversation with Professor Matile, the idea then arose to get to the bottom of the matter and to research what is actually happening in the soil. And then Professor Vittorio Delucchi from ETH Zurich joined as well. He was very taken with the idea and said: "If we're going to do it, then of course we have to see how it works with organic plant protection. Is chemical plant protection still needed at all then?"’
The farmer3
In the early 1950s, a group of agronomists and farmers were made aware of the difficult situation in agriculture by Prof Friedrich Eymann, founder of the ‘Freie pädagogische Vereinigung des Kantons Bern’ (Free Educational Association of the Canton of Bern). He said to them: ‘You have to do something for agriculture! Otherwise it won't turn out well.’ The group met regularly and continued to work quietly on this issue. The farmer Fritz Baumgartner, one of the pioneers of the biodynamic movement in Switzerland, was a member of this group; he was concerned about the future of agriculture throughout his life. Due to special circumstances, it so happened that the office of the first director of FiBL, Hardy Vogtmann, was located at the Bruderholzhof farm in Oberwil (Basel-Landschaft), which was run by Fritz Baumgartner.
The birth of organic research
Because there was no research facility for organic farming, farmers as well as representatives from research, business and administration founded the private Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). A foundation took over the sponsorship in 1973. In Hardy Vogtmann, the institute found a committed director who gathered the knowledge of organic farmers, formed a staff team and built up a large network of supporters. The first organic adviser, Otto Schmid, was employed as early as 1977.
For the detailed planning of the DOK trial, Vogtmann worked closely with practising farmers: Fritz Baumgartner from the biodynamic approach and Werner Scheidegger from the bioorganic approach. Josef Lehmann from the Agricultural Chemistry Experimental Station in Liebefeld (now Agroscope) represented the conventional farming system. From the outset, the DOK team received support in the areas of crop production and statistics from specialist colleagues at ETH Zurich and the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim.
The 46th year of trials is underway
The DOK trial started out at the Bruderholzhof farm in Oberwil (Basel-Landschaft). However, because the terrain and soil were not sufficiently uniform, this field trial was terminated after a few years. In 1978, Hardy Vogtmann and Jean-Marc Besson established the DOK trial in Therwil (Basel-Landschaft), where it is now in its 46th year. To this day, an advisory group of farmers is active and supports the DOK research team from Agroscope and FiBL in the management and dissemination of the research findings. This ensures that the trial plots are managed in a way that is close to real-life conditions, so that existing arable farming systems are modelled in the field trial.
The trial has shown that organic farming, with 50 percent less fertiliser and energy and without synthetic pesticides, can deliver good yields over decades, promote soil fertility, protect the climate and increase biodiversity. The DOK trial has been made possible by the strong commitment of the FiBL and Agroscope staff, as well as the long-term financial support of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, dozens of special projects of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the EU, and various foundations.
The importance of the DOK trial
The results are not only relevant from a scientific point of view, but also for education at all levels. They provide important foundations for agricultural and environmental policy. The DOK trial plays an important role in raising public awareness regarding agricultural and nutritional issues. It has contributed greatly to the fact that bioorganic (Bio Suisse) and biodynamic (Demeter) agriculture are taken seriously in research and practice. Organic farming is more relevant than ever: it combines the principles of regenerative agriculture and agroecology into a holistic system.
