Australia's original Demeter Farm (1934-1954)

Summary

Two members of Rudolf Steiner’s Experimental Circle were the first to establish a Demeter Farm in Australia. In 1934 Ileen Macpherson (1898-1984) and Ernesto Genoni (1885-1964) founded their ‘Demeter Biological Farm’ on the Princes Highway in Dandenong, Victoria. They were guided by Steiner’s book of his Agriculture Course (1924). They managed their 40 acre farm using biodynamic (BD) practices for the next two decades. Ileen and Ernesto pioneered biodynamic and thereby organic farming in Australia. They were the first to adopt the name ‘Demeter’ for an Australian BD enterprise. This was before the terms ‘biodynamic farming’ and ‘organic farming’ had any currency (which date from 1938 and 1940 respectively). They worked their BD farm for two decades until the farm was sold in 1954.