A Future Policy on Foot and Mouth Disease
'Health, healing, to be made whole' is surely one of the greatest boons not only for humanity but also for all the kingdoms of nature. The late Dr. Aubrey Westlake, author of 'Pattern of Health', devoted his life to studying health. He found he could study disease but health as a dynamic positive force was not to be found so easily.
Living beings are 'designed' to be healthy. If illnesses arise then it indicates all is not as it should be. All life is interconnected - a living jigsaw puzzle, each piece having a certain relationship to its neighbour and the capacity to adapt, given time. Illness indicates a mismatch. In the wild, genetic variation allows adjustments to be made.
Agriculture of necessity requires the farmer to take on the responsibility of matching his part into the wider picture. However unless this picture is consciously grasped, held in mind and given proper weight in any 'balanced judgement' the result is likely to be illness.
Biodynamic Agriculture seeks to work with a very wide picture of evolution and man's relationship to nature. It aims to help take further the organic philosophy of wholeness. The analytical thinking, which we had of necessity to develop to come to terms with natural laws, needs to be complemented by 'picture', - imaginative-, thinking- viewing things as a whole. The 'world environment' concept is already a tremendous step forward.
Viewed in this light 'cheap food' can only be attained, if at all, by considering the wider picture so that expensive illnesses do not arise. When the 'Agricultural Course', on which Biodynamic Agriculture is founded, was given in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner, he was convinced that from the point of view of the 'national economy' it would be the cheapest way to farm. If one considers all the various costs involved with modern intensive agriculture this could well be the case today.
Further to this he was also convinced that breakdown in health and vitality would follow if such an approach to agriculture was not taken up. In his 'Bee Lectures' (5/12/23) mention was made to the weakening effects produced in calves born to dams whose milk yields had been too forced. More and more evidence is pointing to these in the form of lowered fertility and less resistance to disease.
Speaking about 'Foot and Mouth' disease in his 'Agriculture Course', (12/6/24) mention was made of the force relationship between the periphery (Horns and Hoofs) and the digestive tract. In this connection dehorning cows (not a Biodynamic practice) is also a possible weakening factor.
Only when a form of agriculture which works, ever more consciously, with the forces of life becomes general will we have really healthy food, crops and livestock. Experiences have shown that with properly grown food, less is needed. We eat food primarily for the forces connected with it. Livestock fed on such foods become a 'Picture of Health' and fertility and production are enhanced including resistance to disease.
Sir Albert Howard, on whose work the Soil Association is largely founded, in his work in India at Pusa on 'Foot and Mouth' disease, proved that cattle fed on such foods could rub noses with infected cattle with no ill effects. This seems to support the view that under organic/biodynamic management cattle should be allowed to develop their own resistance, through antibodies, in one way or another. Homoeopathy has proved very effective in India.
Perhaps we are now at a crossroads!
Alan Brockman