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An Aargau farm works with homeopathic remedies. The farmer understands skeptics, but points to his success.
It’s cauliflower and broccoli’s turn: organic farmer Alois Kohler prepares everything on his farm between the Aargau villages of Künten and Sulz for a homeopathic treatment of the vegetables. He empties 20 beads from a glass bottle into a large PET bottle filled with water.
Legend:
Farmer Alois Kohler mixes the 20 globules with water in a bottle. After that, the mixture is shaken.
SRF
After a few minutes, the globules with the primary substance sulfur (sulphur) have dissolved. Now Kohler shakes the water bottle vigorously 20 times. He tells it to exponentiate. You could describe this step as esoteric, the 71-year-old smiles: “It’s my own creation. I feel like it’s more intense that way.”
Rarely used in crop production
Homeopathy has established itself in human medicine. It has been reimbursed by health insurance companies as an alternative treatment method for over ten years. It has been used on animals in agriculture for some time, but homeopathy is not widespread in plant cultivation. However, farmer Alois Kohler in the Aargau Reusstal has been using this method for a long time.
Legend:
The sulfur water is emptied into the 800 liter tank of the tractor sprayer and diluted there again.
SRF
Kohler’s youngest son, who has taken over the organic farm, has also stayed with homeopathy for animals and plants. In addition to milk, meat and eggs, the Aargau family business also produces vegetables, mainly for wholesalers. Several thousand laying hens and a few dozen suckler cows and calves live on the farm. Since the use of the globules, the animals have hardly needed any antibiotics, says Alois Kohler.
“Theoretically you can drink this water”
According to the principle of homeopathy, strongly diluted natural substances stimulate an effect in an organism. Living beings and plants heal themselves after this stimulation. In the case of Bauer Kohler, the sulfur mixture is filled into an 800-litre tank on the tractor’s sprayer and diluted again. The water – with the scarcely or no longer measurable traces of the globules – is then sprayed over the vegetables in the field.
Legend:
The Kohler family has been using homeopathy for their animals for a long time. Antibiotics have hardly been needed since then.
SRF
Alois Kohler understands the skepticism of many people. “In theory, you can drink this water. The chemical-synthetic remedies are different, and that’s why it’s hard to believe that homeopathy has any effect.” He understands all skeptics, says the farmer, but points to the benefits.
A question of your own conviction
The effect of homeopathy cannot be scientifically proven – neither in humans nor in plants. That is why the method is also viewed critically at the Research Institute for Organic Farming (FiBL). They are open to new approaches, but there is currently too little reliable evidence of the benefits of homeopathy in plant cultivation, according to FiBL in Frick when asked by SRF News.
Legend:
The vegetables on the farm in Künten-Sulz are almost exclusively treated with homeopathic methods. Other biological sprays should be avoided in the long term.
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It’s a matter of personal conviction, says organic farmer Kohler from Künten. And he speaks from experience: “Currently, the whitefly on cauliflower and broccoli is a big issue. Sulfur is a scent that these flies avoid. We sprayed last week. In the afternoon I was in the field: the white fly came – but it didn’t settle on the vegetables.»
Of course, the farm must generate income, says organic farmer Kohler. This is why other biological sprays are currently used on the family farm. In the long term, however, only homeopathy should be used. One wants to go one step further than “just” organic production, says Alois Kohler. The additional work for this is accepted.