Alliances for the Next Generation: Reflections from the 2013 International Biodynamic Conference, Part Two

By Thea Maria Carlson, Laura Klemme, and Clemens Gabriel

This is the second of two reflections from Thea on the 2013 International Biodynamic Agriculture Conference. Read the first post here.

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Participants in the BING Global Meeting

On the last day of the 2013 International Biodynamic Agriculture Conference in Dornach, the newly formed BING global invited participants to a “meeting of the young biodynamic movement.”

The Biodynamic Initiative for the Next Generation (BING) concept was first developed by the North American Biodynamic Association and was launched at the Youth Gathering at the 2010 Biodynamic Conference. BING’s goal is to create opportunities for the next generation of farmers, apprentices, educators, activists, and others inspired by biodynamics to connect, share, and learn from one another. Inspired by this initiative, four young women started the  Biodynamic Initiative for the New Generation Nordic (bingn) in February of 2012.

In June, bingn organizer Laura Klemme began conversations with Thea Maria Carlson, coordinator of BING in North America, and Clemens Gabriel, a member of the German group “young and biodynamic,” about collaborating to create a global initiative, which we have called BING global. (See Thea’s blog post from December 2012 for more on these conversations.) The vision of BING global is to build a network of people engaging in biodynamic agriculture all over the world. We want to create spaces for encounter, exchange, and inspiration, to explore the big questions facing the new generation of the biodynamic movement: What is the future asking of us? How can we prepare biodynamic agriculture for the future? The meeting at the 2013 conference was the first event organized by BING global.

Large circle

Forty-five participants from all over the world followed the invitation and met on Saturday afternoon at the Goetheaum’s Schreinerei. We began with one-on-one conversations, sharing our burning issues and needs with regard to the biodynamic impulse. Then each person wrote down one burning issue and one need and posted them on the wall, clustering similar needs and issues together.

Posting issues and needs

Burning issues

Needs

An emerging thread seemed to appear in three parts:

1. A movement from the outer into biodynamics: Is biodynamics “my” thing at all? What do I want? What is my “mission”?
2. A struggle inside biodynamics: What kind of thinking lives in biodynamic agriculture that brings us closer to it? How to adapt biodynamics and take it to everyone?
3. And the step from the inside of biodynamics out in the world again: How can biodynamic farms be in community/society? How to bring producer/farmer and consumer together? How to raise awareness of biodynamic agriculture?

The wish to work on individual development as well as working/sharing with people outside the farm was also strongly present in the participants.

From the nearly 100 ideas gathered on the wall, we identified several themes for conversation: training/networking/organization, economy and society, South and Central America, farm and society, and individual development. Working in open space groups, participants were asked to clarify a need and then identify a first step toward a solution.

Open space groups

Farm and society group

Latin America group

Before closing the meeting, each group shared from their conversation, summarized here:

OPEN SPACE GROUPS

Theme	Needs	Solutions/First steps
Training, networking, organizations	Communication Opening the biodynamic movement Share practical experience What content to share?	Network, public relationships to share with outside Criticism to the inside Go deeper within movement Responsibility for deepening the spiritual work
Economy and society	Economic and social forms based on the farm to support society	Need more time, but working toward cooperative economy based on the farm
South and Central America	Professional training in Latin America	Create structure
Farm and Society (Group I)	People need to care about what they put in their body – interest in where food comes from Farmers need to go out into society Non-farmers meeting farmers	Farmers cultivate interest in the “urban” issues Consumers and children come to the farm Farmers as teachers Build relationships between farms and schools Non judgment
Farm and Society (Group II)	Find our identity Discover who we are as a farmer and farm individuality	Go outside and show it
Individual	Enthusiasm fades Insecurity about organizing live	Still looking for solutions

However, with only 75 minutes for the entire meeting (and about 15 for these conversations), the most important need of the participants in the closing plenary was “More time!!”

So: Where will the next generation of biodynamic farmers and enthusiasts meet and get the chance to raise and work on these existential questions? BING global will try to find solutions and work on this task: to create spaces where inspired individuals can meet and work together to encounter the future of biodynamics.

Want to get involved with BING global? Please get in touch with Thea, Laura or Clemens!

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Thea Maria Carlson is the Education Program Coordinator for the Biodynamic Association. She is a farmer, organizer, educator, and artist with roots in California and the Midwest, where she currently lives.