Autonomy in agriculture

Autonomy in agriculture – Media roundtable with Vandana Shiva and other guests

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On 1 February at 14.00 hrs, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum invited to an media roundtable about agriculture as a cultural impulse, with Tom Saat, Nadia El Hage, Vandana Shiva and Nathaniel Williams, chaired by Jean-Michel Florin, co-leader of the Section.

Through the food it produces, agriculture provides human beings with a basis for existence. At the same time, the ownership of agricultural resources determines the distribution of power. In earlier times this revolved around serfdom and free farmers; nowadays with licensed seed we are dealing with the definition of ownership and the dependence on suppliers. At the 2023 annual conference, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum will consider agriculture as a cultural impulse, which ideally should lead to emancipation of the human being.

The media roundtable deals with the question of autonomy in agriculture and the approaches that promote this. This includes, for example, the initiatives to protect seed diversity (Vandana Shiva, Alternative Nobel Prize laureate, India) and the small farmers' initiative of Thomas Saat. Jean-Michel Florin (France) speaks about the impulse of biodynamics, which is based on the principle of autonomy, both of the farm organism and the human being. Nadia El Hage (former head of the FAO organic programme, Italy) talks about political work in this area. Nathaniel Williams (USA), head of the Youth Section at the Goetheanum, is committed to the expectations of young people for a sustainable and climate-friendly agriculture. After short contributions on the theme, the speakers will answer questions on specialist topics posed by members of the press.