• The Koberwitzers: Those Who Attended Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course at Koberwitz in 1924, World's Foundational Organic Agriculture Course

    Author(s):
    John Paull (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Subject(s):
    Agriculture--Sociological aspects, Sustainability, Sustainable development, Food, Food--Study and teaching, Anthroposophy
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Rudolf Steiner, Biodynamics, Organic farming, history of agriculture, Sociology of agriculture, Food studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/f7a4-sa46
    Abstract:
    Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course at Koberwitz (now Kobierzyce), in the summer of 1924, was the gateway event that led to the development of biodynamic agriculture and, subsequently, organic agriculture. The present paper identifies for the first time the 111 attendees of that course. The list reveals that ‘Koberwitzers’, as they called themselves, were a well credentialed and capable group of individuals, some of whom went on to champion and develop Rudolf Steiner’s ideas about agriculture and other fields. The present paper revises a prior analysis of the Koberwitzers. For each Koberwitzer, the list reveals, the name, hometown, occupation, and accommodation during the course. Thirty one percent of Koberwitzers were women. Thirty eight percent were associated directly with agriculture (including farmer, estate manager, and estate owner), 6% of attendees were creatives (including writer, author, artist and editor), and a further 6% were priests. These three occupational categories, viz. Agriculture, Creative and Priest, together account for 50% of Koberwitzer occupations (and 72% of the known occupations). There remains for further scholarship to populate gaps in the listing: the gender of one Koberwitzer remains unidentified; one hometown (and country) remains unidentified; 33 occupations remain unidentified; and 51 accommodations remain unidentified. At the time of the Koberwitz course, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was mortally ill. The course was never repeated,. It was up to the Koberwitzers to progress Rudolf Steiner’s call for the development of a differentiated natural agriculture without synthetic chemicals. The Koberwitzers met the call. There are now 251,842 certified biodynamic hectares in 55 countries, included in the 71,514,583 certified organic hectares in 186 countries.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    AIS
    Pub. Date:
    29 June 2020
    Journal:
    International Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
    Volume:
    6
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    47 - 54
    ISSN:
    2381-7240
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    Attribution

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