The second day of the controversial conference on agroecology, organized by the Association for biodynamic agriculture, opened without the rector of the Politecnico di Milano, Ferruccio Resta, and with a simple video greeting from the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala. The two institutional representatives thus preferred to slip away afterwards the controversies of the last few days that have affected the demonstration with the accusations, for Polimi, of openly supporting a practice, biodynamic agriculture, considered by scientist and life senator Elena Cattaneo "one of the most anti-scientific that exists, which borders on esotericism and witchcraft". Attacks have also come from the Accademia dei Lincei against the FAI, which has chosen together with the Milanese university to support an event that has also received patronage from the Municipality of Milan, the Lombardy Region, the Milan Triennale and funding from realities such as Pirelli and Esselunga .
Despite the absence of the Rector, the Polytechnic has in any case confirmed its commitment, as evidenced not only by the fact that the conference, which closes on Saturday and which sees the participation of dozens of representatives of the agricultural and even academic world, is held 'Aula Magna of the headquarters in via Ampere, but also from the inaugural speech by Ilaria Valente, principal of the school of Urban Planning Architecture and Construction Engineering, which announced this year a new degree course linked to biodynamics: "It's called 'Landscape Architecture - Land Landscape Heritage' and concerns landscape architecture and landscape heritage, which we wanted to consider from a system perspective from a multidisciplinary perspective".
Even the Municipality of Milan wanted to testify its presence, although the mayor Giuseppe Sala however preferred to limit himself to a very short greeting video: “The theme of the conference inspires me two considerations. The first is that the Association for biodynamic agriculture was born in Milan and here it developed, the second being that the theme is very important for our city, a city that connects metropolitan life with the surrounding agricultural reality. And then there is the environmental question, which is also very important”, said Sala, who according to the program released on the eve of the meeting should have opened the works together with Resta.
But what is biodynamic agriculture? The Milanese conference tries to tell a practice born in the 20s of the last century and rooted in Italy since the 30s with the establishment of the non-profit association in Milan, which lives on membership fees and contributions. To inspire this discipline, which defines itself as "healthy, ecological and social", it was in the early 900s Rudolf Steiner. According to Steiner's teachings, the farm should be conceived as "a closed-loop individuality whose organs, the soil with water, plants, animals and the farmer himself, operate harmoniously and manage to achieve the following objectives: increase soil fertility, product quality, cost reduction, improvement of phytosanitary problems (related to the health of plantations), disappearance of soil erosion phenomena and protection of the health of the producer, the consumer and the environment".
Noble intentions, which according to what is called the biodynamic method then make healthy and pesticide-free products available to consumers: "Only 10 additives of natural origin are allowed in processed biodynamic products, unlike the more than 300 admitted in those from conventional agriculture“, reads a brochure distributed to the participants of the conference. All this is certified by the international brand demeter (from the name of the Greek goddess of fertility), which since 1927 has marked the compliance of farms all over the world that want to be considered biodynamic with the established standards. A double check, because the products are also subjected to the better known Bio certification.
So why does the scientific world speak of witchcraft? The same material released by the Association explains it: "The method is defined as biodynamic because, in addition to making use of modern knowledge in the various scientific sectors, cosmic rhythms and supersensible forces are taken into account together with a careful study of natural elements and biological processes”. Yet part of the agricultural world, through a statement from the #CambiamoAgricoltura movement, also signed, among others, by FAI, Legambiente, Lipu and WWF, considers attacks on organic and biodynamic agriculture "instrumental". This is yet another attempt to defend agricultural practices far from true environmental, economic and social sustainability, based on GMOs, synthetic chemistry and heavy mechanization. Consumers with an increase in their purchases of organic products of 20% in the last year and the 59.959 operators in the organic supply chain, with 14,5% of the agricultural area used certified Bio (Source CREA 2017), scare supporters of GMOs and pesticides".
Scientific references are also cited, such as The Lancet magazine which observed that "children with a lifestyle that contemplates biodynamic agriculture have shown a considerable decrease in the risk of allergies". Or Science, who wrote that "the biodynamic method is sustainable, restores fertility to the earth and preserves biodiversity". But the truth is that the scientific world is now uniting behind the words of Senator for life Cattaneo, who had urged the Polytechnic to distance itself: “The technical-scientific institutions are the “white blood cells” of the country. In an immunosuppressed system, where those who have the duty to supervise fail in their function, charlatans and narratives that condition free choices and distance citizens and politicians from reality find easy space ”.
