By Craig Camp, Alliance Board Member
As we approach harvest on Troon Vineyard & Farm here in Oregon Applegate Valley, once again, I am humbled by the cycle of nature that envelopes us every year. Nature has defined how our farm works each season, and our mission is to follow those natural systems. By cooperating with, rather than trying to control, these cycles, our farm’s bounty reaches its full potential to nourish.
The same is true for human endeavors, as, beginning with the National Biodynamic Conference in Colorado this past November, we began a new growing season for the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance. During this year, the Alliance Board of Directors has been striving to align our organization with our farming philosophy. I am happy to report that much good work has been done in this season of growing for the Alliance. As we look forward to 2025, the next growing season for our farms and organization, I am optimistic for a successful harvest on all fronts. Our goals always have to be to grow the biodynamic community, and the strategies we have been developing will come to fruition in 2025. It is an exciting time for biodynamics.
There is nothing more important than spreading the word about the work of biodynamic farmers. At the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance, we now have our Marketplace Committee in place, in which we have assembled some of the most sophisticated marketing professionals in the biodynamic community to build a strategy to share with consumers of the myriad benefits of including Biodynamic® produce and products in their lifestyle. There is so much to share, and we look forward to telling your story.
By Steffen Schneider, Alliance Board Treasurer
A significant and beautiful mark of an organization which is working in the field of agriculture is its distinctly seasonal character.
That certainly holds true for the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance and the Board of Directors, which is comprised of individuals who are passionate about and practice biodynamics. The midsummer season has many of us deeply engaged in our operations and fully extended in the cosmic outbreath. And each year the hope and wish are to manage the work and also bring inspiration back with the inbreath. This is especially true this year, as we’re celebrating the 100th birthday of biodynamics. We as a Board, as an organization, are asking ourselves: How can we best honor this important and essential impulse to increase its visibility and service to the Earth? How can the Alliance best serve its members and supporters, and also how can it best serve the spiritual being of agriculture, which is longing to “incarnate” more fully? We believe one important step to facilitate this is to re-establish what we all remember as the “Biodynamic Association” with more of an identity and presence within the Alliance.
One possible “inspiration” that could inform our work into autumn and winter: Can the Alliance expand its current work and, even more, serve as a collaborative “platform” to facilitate, integrate, and coordinate the work of biodynamic organizations and initiatives in the US, anchored by the Biodynamic Association and Demeter USA? The beauty and strength of a biodynamic farm or garden lies in the whole that emerges out of the composition of the diverse parts. Can we imagine the future of the Alliance in a similar way?
By Jessica Roberts, Alliance Board Secretary
In July, The Biodynamic Demeter Alliance Board of Directors initiated a comprehensive self-assessment process to ensure the continuous improvement of our work. Drawing inspiration from the principles of biodynamic agriculture, just as a farmer attentively observes and nurtures the health of the soil to yield a more abundant harvest and many other benefits, we too are reflecting on our practices and governance to better serve our community. Over my past two years of service, I have noted so much growth, and in this present moment I see a real hunger to continue to sense how the work of the Alliance emerges. Through the effort of self-assessment, we commit to enhancing our support for the community and advancing the practice of biodynamic agriculture.
By Beth Hoinacki, Board Member
The Biodynamic Demeter Alliance Board of Directors continues to meet regularly to hear reports on programs, review financials, and support operations. We also engage in lively discussion of what the Alliance is; how it serves our community; and where do we go from here?
I can’t help but consider the organization as organism — how do these parts work together, interrelated, as a whole? And more specifically, how do these distinct parts express their individuality in an authentic fashion, and with authority, to make up that functional whole? Activities and efforts the Board is engaged in to address these questions include a review of the bylaws and governance documents of the Alliance by the legal/governance committee, and the convening of a marketplace working group later this month. Alliance Board members also continue to meet with our colleagues within a re-convened Council of Biodynamic Organizations to help inform our path forward. As a participant in these three groups, I am gratified to be in community with thoughtful, intentional folks operating from the biodynamic impulse. It is my hope that the outward expression of a process engaged in creative tension and rooted in love, gratitude, and respect, can work to bring that same quality to the chaos in our world.
By Marjory House, Board Chair
As part of the Alliance efforts to create transparency with the greater biodynamic community, we, the Board of Directors, will be taking turns giving monthly board updates. We have continued to make progress to clarify what the Alliance is and who it serves. Our bi-monthly meetings have been very productive, with robust discussions about the foundation of the organization and how each sphere is identified by the community it serves. As a part of this, we have voted to resurrect the Biodynamic Association branding in order to clarify the work of the education and research sphere of the Alliance.
We have bolstered the governance and legal committees to work on how the Alliance Board is represented by the biodynamic community at large, and to make board seats eventually part of a democratic process with its members. These policies will be identified and then set into the bylaws. Since this organization is fairly young, these are important details that will affect the future stability of the Alliance.
A working group is beginning to emerge that will form the marketplace and economic trade sphere of the Alliance. This was started last year but did not develop the details of its own foundation. More information will come about this next month!
It is an absolute pleasure to work with a Board that is accountable towards our mission and vision. The inclusion of staff at board meetings helps to improve communication of all of our intentions and allows the spheres to inform each other about their individual work. Each meeting feels like we have made progress! I am personally honored to take part in this work!
Dear Biodynamic Community,
As we look forward to continuing to nurture and grow the vision and work of the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance in the coming year, we want to stay in conversation with all of you who are doing so much important work on the ground. We are writing to share more about our progress, and will share transparently and regularly as we move forward. Most importantly, we invite you to reach out to us any time with questions or ideas.
The past year saw the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance move forward from its initial creation in January 2022 toward a deeper understanding of its role—not just as an umbrella organization developing collaborative relationships between the Demeter USA and the former Biodynamic Association, and focusing on new areas of biodynamic education, research, and community building; certification; and economic marketplace development, but also as a member of and participant within the larger biodynamic and regenerative agriculture communities. This has not been a linear path; many questions have arisen as the Board and staff dug more deeply into how best to foster the foundational intentions of the Alliance.
Over the last two years the Board and staff of the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance have been working diligently to understand the role we can play in supporting and growing the biodynamic community in the United States. As we evolve and grow as an organization, we will continue to ask: How do we best support farmers, consumers, businesses, regional groups, partner organizations, or even those with whom we are not yet connected? What is calling to us? Where are we needed? How do we show up to meet these needs? How can we, as a national organization, best support local and regional work? We are committed to further developing the Alliance so that it can be as effective and representative as possible for the multifaceted needs of the biodynamic community.
As we contemplated these questions, different views about exactly how the Alliance should pursue its big-picture vision became more apparent. This culminated in the resignation of our first Executive Director, a staff member, three board members, and two advisory members. We remain grateful for their contributions to the Alliance in its initial phases.
The current Board and staff are strongly committed to the original visions and goals of the Alliance. (See posts tagged as “BDA Updates” on our blog for more on the history of the Alliance formation.) We are digesting and learning from our experiences these past two years as we consider how best to work collaboratively, while also better incorporating the voice of the community, with the goal of reflecting the essential nature of biodynamics through our structure and relationships. As of January 2024, the Board of Directors consists of eight members, including a new at-large member, Craig Camp of Troon Vineyards, and two new representatives from the Cultural Sphere, Delmar McComb of Blossom’s Farm and the North American Agriculture Section of the School for Spiritual Science, and Tenasi Rama of Phytonyx LLC and Mindful Earth Alliance, who recently joined the Cultural Advisory Board, supporting this sphere to strengthen its vision. Board and staff members are creating a plan to further develop membership on the Alliance Board and sphere advisory boards.
On the staff side, Anthony Mecca and Zachary Krebs have stepped up their roles, collectively holding the community-building, educational, and operational work of the Alliance, renewing the work of the Biodynamic Association with consulting help from former staff member Rebecca Briggs. Demeter USA staff continues to uphold strong Biodynamic® certification processes and standards. Staff and Board from all spheres are working together collaboratively in regular governance, fundraising, communications, legal, and operations committee meetings, with additional project-specific committees as needed.
We remain firmly committed to developing the Economic Sphere. Still in its infancy, this sphere will increase the awareness of and appreciation for Biodynamic products in the marketplace by fostering associative, caring relationships between growers, producers, consumers, distributors, retailers, and other participants in the value chain. As examples are developed throughout different communities, regions, and nationwide, more Biodynamic products will reach consumers, and more growers and producers will be encouraged to consider biodynamic practices and Demeter certification. We will continue to work toward strengthening this sphere’s work and impact as part of our evolving understanding of the overall organizational framework and how the cultural, economic, and certification spheres relate to and work with each other.
Throughout all this change and evolution, we hold our mission statement as our guiding light:
“We believe that biodynamic agriculture can heal people and the planet. We advance the adoption of biodynamic practices among growers and bring together producers, distributors, advocates, consumers, and policymakers to create a thriving, equitable agricultural system that nurtures and supports the well-being of communities economically, environmentally, and spiritually.”
With gratitude and in service to our community,
The Board of Directors of the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance