Uncovering a New Narrative for Agriculture: Wendell Berry and Rudolf Steiner

The basis of this article is a workshop that the authors offered at the 2014 National Biodynamic Conference, which took place in Louisville, Kentucky. The workshop was titled “The Resettling of America”. It seemed appropriate to focus on the work of Wendell Berry, whose farm is located less than 50 miles from Louisville, and whose seminal work carried the prophetic title “The Unsettling of America”.... read more

Growing the Next Generation of Farmers in the Hudson Valley

How do we attract the next generation of young people into farming? At the Institute for Mindful Agriculture, we have been observing what we are calling the "real food economy" as it has been emerging for the past 20 years. It continues to grow and thrive in the Hudson Valley and yet, at the same time, the small farmers producing this food struggle to survive financially....  read more

Agriculture 3.0

Our planet is in dire straits, facing multiple crises (climate, water, ecosystem diversity, pollution). Agriculture across the globe is facing huge challenges, needing to feed an ever growing population. On the other hand, more awareness around agriculture and food has arisen in our part of the world in the last five to seven years and resulted in a very dynamic and burgeoning local agriculture and food movement.... read more

Impressions and Reflections From an Amazing Trip to New Zealand

Much gratitude and many thanks for the warm welcome and the amazing and generous hospitality we experienced everywhere Rachel and I went. A resounding thanks to all of you that made this trip possible! So many memories and reflections still reverberate, it will take some time to fully “digest” and internalize them. But let me offer a few thoughts that keep coming up now that we have returned to.... read more

Mindful Agriculture

Why “Mindful Agriculture”? Do we really need another designation for agriculture, you might ask yourself? That is a fair question to arise after encountering the website of this new initiative.... read more

The Haber-Bosch Process

Michael Pollan in his seminal book on the current food and agriculture system in the United States, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, paraphrases Vaclav Smil in describing the roles of nitrogen and carbon in the natural world. He states, “nitrogen is supplying life’s quality, while carbon provides the quantity” (Pollan, 2006).... read more