The Demeter Association is the oldest and largest organic farming association in the world. It has now existed for 90 years and goes back to Rudolf Steiner. "Demeter" is the trademark for products from biodynamic farming.

Stimulated by Rudolf Steiner's "Humanistic Principles for the Prosperity of Agriculture" and following on from Goethe's method of understanding nature, Demeter farmers see their farm as a living, unique organization. They not only focus on the concrete material substances, the physical forces of nature, but also on the formative forces of the cosmos. 

Sensitive observations of nature train and influence daily work. In an effort to achieve a holistic approach and a spiritual understanding, the Demeter farmers also develop their own strategies for dealing with resources. That's why there are so many pioneers here when it comes to alternative energies and renewable raw materials.

Responsibility for the health of people and the earth requires more than omitting chemicals, more than composting and green manure - it needs active support and shaping of life processes. In 1924 Steiner held a number of lectures. The "experimental ring of anthroposophic farmers" immediately tested Steiner's information in agricultural practice.

The "Recycling Cooperative for Products of the Biological-Dynamic Economic Method" is founded three years later. In 1928 the Demeter trademark was introduced. In 1950 the first "Living earth", the journal of the research ring, was published. The "Institute for Biodynamic Research" is founded in Darmstadt, from which the Demeter Association was constituted in 1954. Demeter International e.V. was founded in 1997 as a merger of all 19 Demeter organizations, which means that Demeter is represented on every continent.


In 1999 Demeter (the association was named after the Greek goddess of fertility) adapts to globalized trade and the processing guidelines apply worldwide, the appearance and the trademark are revised. More than 3500 Demeter products are now in the range, 1350 member companies are active in Germany, cultivating a total of 50,000 hectares of cultivation area.

Further information on Demeter agriculture is available directly from the Demeter Association at www.demeter.de