From Howard to Rodale: the Organics movement

The Poor Prole’s Almanac

If you’ve been following our series on permanent agriculture, we’ve gone in extensive depth on the evolution of soil science to permanent agriculture to the Odum brothers’ vision for agroecology. While their work stemmed from the science-led movement of permanent agriculture as the permanent agriculture movement crashed under the pressures of World War 2, multipl concurrent movements followed. The first we covered was the Odum Brothers and their vision of agriculture driven by ecological limitations. An openly, self-proclaimed less scientific vision came under the organic movement, as well as the biodynamic movement, and the Back to the Land movement, and many of these advocates go on to coalesce under the permaculture movement. But before we can understand how those created the newer movement of homesteading and permaculture of today, we need to understand how and why the organic movement thrived in the early days after World War 2.

One particular advocate for this change was a British botanist, Sir Albert Howard. In 1903, he went to India as a professor to teach how to grow food in India. However, during his time there, he realized they had better techniques, specifically around composting, and he began to write about their techniques for a global audience. He was also one of the primary advocates for the study of ecology and the need to incorporate ecology into food systems. He was an ardent supporter of the permanent agriculture movement spreading across the United States.

To read about organics further, check out the following substack for sources and further details:

https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/the-birth-of-the-organics-movement

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