For the first time since the Biocyclic Vegan Standard was included in the IFOAM Family of Standards in 2017, biocyclic vegan agriculture will be presented at its own international joint stand at BIOFACH in Nuremberg (14-17 February 2023, stand 8-413).
The stand, organised by BNS Biocyclic Network Services and the German association Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e. V., responsible for the German-speaking countries, will give visitors the opportunity to find out more about the current international dissemination and potential of this new cultivation standard.
Globally applicable cultivation principles
In biocyclic vegan agriculture, new paths are being taken that help to solve the significant challenges facing agriculture worldwide in a sustainable and, at the same time, amazingly efficient way. Here, it is not a matter of new cultivation methods but instead of globally applicable cultivation principles that enable agriculture to make an active contribution to climate and environmental protection, to the regeneration of soils and the increase of biodiversity, while at the same time improving yields.
By renouncing livestock farming for slaughter and prohibiting the associated, highly problematic use of animal waste products in agriculture (groundwater contamination, antibiotic residues, multi-resistant germs), material cycles in biocyclic vegan agriculture become purely plant-based with the help of green manure measures, mulching, mixed and permaculture as well as through the use of compost, refined phytoponic substrate and Biocyclic Humus Soil, which leads to the development of long-term soil fertility and remarkably improved plant health.
A total of already approximately 60 farms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (apples, other fruits, vegetables, cereals), Hungary and Romania (oilseeds, soybeans, pulses, spelt, cereals), but also in Greece and Cyprus (citrus fruits, pomegranates, bananas, avocado, vegetables, olive oil, wine), Italy (olive oil), France (wine), the Netherlands (vegetables, ginger), Canada (wine), England (cereals, legumes) and Sweden (vegetables, herbs) provide daily proof of the wide range but also the already existing quantitative capacity of biocyclic vegan agriculture.
The mandatory labelling with the biocyclic vegan quality seal prescribed by the label issuer should now also increasingly allow biocyclic vegan certified products to appear in commerce as “vegan from the field”.
Climate-neutral farming
It is noteworthy that under the conditions of biocyclic vegan agriculture, it is possible not only to farm in a climate-neutral way but also in a sustainable climate-positive way. The decisive factor here is transforming plant-based quality compost into carbon-stabilised Biocyclic Humus Soil, which was developed in the Biocyclic Park in Kalamata/Greece by the working group led by Dr Johannes Eisenbach. With the help of this process, enormous amounts of carbon can be permanently bound in the soil without the multiple nutrients contained therein being at risk of leaching.
Recent ground-breaking findings in microbiology and soil ecology explain the sometimes-astonishing growth results of crops growing on Biocyclic Humus Soil and led to the founding of the International Biocyclic Humus Soil Initiative, which among other things, also gave rise to the terra plena fund. Its mission is to channel capital into rebuilding the natural fertility of agricultural soils by using Biocyclic Humus Soil to return to the soil the carbon that has been lost over the centuries, thereby closing material cycles, and initiating new local economic circuits. The International Biocyclic Humus Soil Initiative includes not only non-profit organisations but also university research institutions in various countries.
Within the framework of the International Biocyclic Vegan Network, BNS is responsible for the implementation of the Biocyclic Vegan Standard in control, advisory and cultivation practice. At the same time, BNS represents biocyclic vegan certified producers and processors outside the German-speaking region, such as the Panhellenic Biocyclic Vegan Network in Greece and Cyprus or the currently emerging biocyclic vegan cultivation projects in Latin America (fine vegetables, sugar cane, cashews).
