Welcome to Demeter®
Demeter® USA is the only certification agent for Biodynamic® farms, processors and products in the United States. As a non-profit organization, Demeter’s mission is to improve the health of the planet and its people by providing certification of products whose ingredients are grown and processed according to the highest agricultural and environmental standards. From farm to market, only those companies that consistently meet these standards are permitted to display the Demeter certification mark.
The history of the Biodynamic movement began in 1924, when a group of European farmers approached Dr. Rudolf Steiner (noted scientist, philosopher, and founder of the Waldorf School) after noticing a rapid decline in seed fertility, crop and animal health. Steiner held a series of lectures that presented the farm as a living organism: self-contained and self-sustaining, entirely responsible for creating and maintaining its individual health and vitality, free of any external and unnatural additions. This was in sharp contrast to the concurrent “Green Revolution” which advocated the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Following Steiner’s lectures, Demeter was founded in Europe in 1928 to support and promote Steiner’s agricultural methods, called “Biodynamic”.
Over the years, Demeter certified Biodynamic® farming has maintained its expansive view of the farm as a living organism. In addition to the requirements of organic certification, Biodynamic standards include a biodiversity set aside of 10% of total land, rigorous processing standards that emphasize minimal product manipulation, and perhaps most importantly whole farm certification (versus a particular crop or area). It is the highest paradigm of sustainable farming, offering one of the smallest carbon footprints of any agricultural method.
Today, Demeter is the only ecological association consisting of a network of individual certification organizations in 45 countries around the world. Demeter asks consumers to join their effort to heal the planet by choosing Demeter certified Biodynamic® products.
