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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Alan Chadwick book from Logosophia: Performance In the Garden

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  • From: Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Alan Chadwick book from Logosophia: Performance In the Garden
  • Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:39:52 -0500

On 2/15/2013 at 3:10:25 PM, Allan Balliett wrote:

> Nobody, my self included, should be
> rude to strangers, let along those who appear to want to learn, but the need
> to apply the scientific method to a horticulture system that was designed to
> remediate problems that Science has brought into the land and food can make
> someone who actually practices biodynamics quite angry.

The scientific method has a pretty good track record of taking specialized
knowledge out of the hands of a priesthood and putting it into the hands of
anyone who wants to use its methods. It is also the only system of obtaining
knowledge that includes an instructional manual for systematically uncovering
and correcting error in its results, even (especially) error by those with
most status. To say that science has brought problems into the land and food
confuses science with greed and ignorance. Scientists are not immune from the
latter two, but neither are the two restricted to scientists, and knowing
quite a few of them as I do, as a group they tend to be generally less greedy
and ignorant than many other groups.

> Let "proof"
> go and just DO IT!

Interactions between plants and microbes in the soil (and out of it) are so
complex that it is tempting to abandon attempts to understand them in any
scientific way--that is, to understand them in a way that depends on
observation, hypothesis, and experiment, with constant refinement of one's
model. But the alternative is to never add to the pool of knowledge in a way
that reliably advances agriculture. To place biodynamics outside the realm of
science is to do it, and farmers, no favors.

Richard Robinson
www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
Hopestill Farm
www.hopestill.com




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