A national environmental conference organized by the Association for Biodynamic Agriculture in collaboration with Bocconi University will be held in Milan on February 19 and 20, 2016.
Under the patronage of the Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies, Lombardy Region, City of Milan, Italian Environmental Fund, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, and Franco Parenti Theater.
The conference locations will be in two different locations:
February 19, 2016 – Bocconi University, Aula Magna Gobbi, Via Gobbi 5, Milan
February 20, 2016 – Franco Parenti Theater, Via Pierlombardo 14, Milan
On February 18, 2016 for all members and friends there will be a Pre-Congress Round Table on “HORTICULTURE AND FERTILITY ” at the Rudolf Steinerdi Milano School – Via Clericetti 45. A dinner buffet will be offered at the end.
Participation in the conference is free of charge. Dinner on the 19th costs 20 euros for members and 40 for non-members.
See here all the practical information for attending.
Speakers will include:
Enrico Amico, president of Gruppo Amico Bio, “La Colombaia” farm,Capua (Ce)
René Becker, farmer, founding member and president Association Terre de Liens, France
Lucietta Betti, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna
Stefano Bocchi, professor DiSAA – Department of Agricultural Sciences and Environmental. Production, Territory, Agroenergy, Milan, Italy
Laura Borghi, physician, president SIMA
Fabio Brescacin, president EcorNaturaSì, Conegliano (Tv)
Michele Candotti, chief, office of the Executive Director UNEP, Nairobi (Kenya)
Paolo Carnemolla, president Federbio, Bologna (Italy)
Karl-Martin Dietz, philosopher, economist and founder Friedrich Institute von Hardenberg fur Kulturwissenschaften – Germany
Giulia Maria Crespi, honorary president FAI-Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Milan
Ueli Hurter, biodynamic farm Ferme de l’Aubier, direction Goetheanum agriculture section, Dornach (Switzerland)
Antonio, Bandino e Gianni Lo Franco, La Vialla farm, Castiglion Fibocchi (Ar)
Cassiano Luminati, president, Valposchiavo Region (Switzerland)
Martin von Mackensen, head of model farm Dottenfelderhof, Frankfurt (Germany)
Marco Magnifico, executive vice president Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Milan
Raffaella Mellano, Società Agricola Mellano, treasurer Ass. Agricoltura Biodynamics, Milan
Sabrina Menestrina, veterinarian, secretary general Ass. Agricoltura Biodynamics, S.I.M.A. adviser, Milan
Roberto Orlandini, director Dynamo Camp, Limestre (Pt)
Franco Pedrini, farmer and councilor Ass. Agricoltura Biodinamica, Milan
Stefano Riva, managing director Weleda Italia, Milan, Italy and co-founder FECF
Andrea Segré, president Edmund Mach Foundation, San Michele all’Adige and president Centro Agro Alimentare di Bologna
Nadia El-Hage Scialabba, senior natural resources officer, Climate and Environment Division, FAO, Rome
Claudia Sorlini, chair, Expo 2015 Scientific Committee, Milan, Italy
Marcelo Sàncez Sorondo, titular archbishop bishop of Vescovio, (Ri) Carlo Triarico, president Ass. Biodynamic Agriculture, Milan
Salvatore Veca, honorary president Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Milan
Veronica Vecchi, Impact Investing Lab SDA Bocconi, Milan
Bruno Zanardi, associate professor of Theory and Technique of Restoration, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo,” Urbino (Pu)
Parallel session coordinators
Michele Baio, advisor Ass. Biodynamic Agriculture, Milan, Italy and Lombardy section manager
Maria Grazia De Simone, farmer and councilor Ass. Agricoltura Biodynamics, Milan
Marco Serventi, advisor Demeter Association Italy, Ass. Biodynamic Agriculture, Milan
From the president on this conference.
This is a major event for all those who follow biodynamics and anthroposophy, all of whom are invited to attend this event. Increasingly, Italian society is recognizing that biodynamic agriculture is providing health for people and the environment today and that Rudolf Steiner’s social teaching is a highly valuable innovation. That is why it is necessary to bear witness to this change everywhere, to make people feel the social impact that biodynamic agriculture can create. Faced with the destruction of the Planet, the despair of millions of human beings, the Association for Biodynamic Agriculture, in collaboration with Bocconi University, the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation and FAI Fondo Ambiente Italiano, brings together exemplary witnesses from different backgrounds and cultures, presenting their stories and confronting their proposals for solutions. On Feb. 19, the event will begin in the morning at 9:30 a.m. in the Aula Magna Gobbi of Bocconi University on the topic of biodiversity.Speakers, along with the biodynamicists, will be representatives of the University; there will be a message from the European Commissioner of Health; Salvatore Veca, Honorary President of the Feltrinelli Foundation, will introduce; then Ueli Hurter, Head of the Agriculture Section of the Free University of Spiritual Science, Goetheanum, Dornach; Archbishop Marcelo Sáncez Sorondo, editor of the Encyclical Laudato si; Michele Candotti of the UN Environment Program; Salvatore Settis, Rector Emeritus Normale di Pisa, Academician of the Lincei; Lucietta Betti, University of Bologna; Nadia Scialabba Senior Officer, FAO A biodynamic lunch will be provided and in the afternoon, case studies from biodynamics and anthroposophy will be presented by Carlo Triarico with Veronica Vecchi, Department of Impact investing Bocconi; Karl Martin Dietz, anthroposopher, founder Friedrich von Hardenberg Institute für Kulturwissenschaften; Sjoerd Wartena, anthroposopher of Terre de Liens; Martin von Mackensen, director Dottenfelderhof biodynamic farm in Frankfurt; Fabio Brescacin and Aldo Paravicini biodynamic entrepreneurs; Bandino Lo Franco, biodynamic farm La Vialla (AR). Vincenzo Manes president Dynamo and of the biodynamic conversion farm Dynamo has been invited for the closing remarks. This will be followed by working tables to share and generate best practices. On February 20, the conference will move to the “Franco Parenti” Theater. In the morning Marco Magnifico, Executive Vice President FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano, will open the proceedings; Claudia Sorlini, University of Milan, chair of the Scientific Committee of Expo 2015, will follow; the Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina has been invited, to dialogue with Raffaella Mellano, Agricola biodynamica Mellano (TO); Enrico Amico, Agricola biodynamica La Colombaia (CE); Giulia Maria Crespi for the Biodynamic Association. Carlo Petrini, president of Slow Food, has been invited to speak. Carlo Triarico will close the proceedings. A theatrical performance on the future of the environment, by Andrea Perdicca, will follow. The afternoon will feature panel discussions and displays of biodynamic products. The conference calls on entrepreneurs to set goals of social impact, farmers to take the lead in innovation, scientists to broaden the horizon to new fields of research, and men of culture to make their voices firmly heard. It is precisely in the rural environment that a new sense of community is developing. This leads to revolutionary techniques in agriculture, but also to unprecedented solutions for the economy, law, and culture. Along with the latest in biodynamic agriculture, it will show how a new ecological and spiritual vision can regulate change, with social art, to bring about the salvation of the Common Home. Those who work the land with good practices know that agriculture well stimulated by wise policy means healthy and territorially qualified food, energy conservation, climate salvation, fertile land and hydrogeological prevention. As well as it means employment, beauty, tourism and protection of our landscape. Concrete examples of Italian and foreign farms of excellence will be brought to the conference, as well as innovative community projects that will stimulate young people, universities and training centers to promote development models for a new inclusive and sustainable economy. The conference aims to bring together prominent personalities, policy makers, organizations committed to the land, citizens and virtuous farmers to establish an alliance that will influence the choices of the coming years and give a future to the new generations. The Earth needs concrete examples and we need to share them, take inspiration, take action.
Carlo Triarico
VIDEO