Why is demeter so speical?

Demeter is the trademark for products from biodynamic farming. The oldest 'green' farming movement, and forerunner of organics, it was the first ecological label for organically produced food, setting standards for production since 1924. Only strictly controlled contract partners may use it. The Demeter guidelines go far beyond those of controlled biological and organic farming.

• Natural cycle management without exploitation of the soil – ‘give to the earth more than we take from it’
• Quality instead of quantity
• Animal welfare
• Avoiding animal hormones and growth regulators
• Natural manures and rejection of all chemical herbicides and pesticides
• Rejection of genetic engineering
• Especially gentle processing and no use of chemical additives

There is a significant difference between organic and biodynamic which is that the biodynamic method attempts to work with the dynamic energies in nature and not solely with its material needs. One aspect of this is the use of cosmic rhythms, for instance cultivation, sowing and harvesting are scheduled if possible on favourable days. This approach builds on that used by traditional farming which has long used lunar almanacs.

Read more about biodynamics here

Read more about demeter here