Introduction to the Book

This book examines the principles and practices of farming and food systems from the perspective that half of life is not visible to us. Everything that we know (and do not know) about the physical world has an invisible, subtle counterpart that has been scarcely considered in the farming practices or research of modernist cultures. Subtle Agroecologies is not a farming system in itself, but super-imposes a non-material dimension upon existing, materially based agroecological farming systems. The book’s content is organised into four clusters or sections. The first section is dedicated to providing a range of philosophical and theoretical perspectives as a ‘way in’ to this subject. The second section demonstrates existing, pioneering, commercial, largely wave-based applications in agriculture. The third explores innovative and appropriate methodologies for researching and working with the hidden half of nature, whilst the fourth and final section is dedicated to the non-academic voices of practitioners who are working directly in agriculture and associated fields.This collection of works provides some intense coverage of a relatively small number of thematic areas, whereas the scope of the hidden half of nature is, to all intents, limitless. Nevertheless, five salient subject areas are highlighted here, that arose as patterns through the chapters and that require more attention than was possible in this book. These subject areas are as follows:•a more in-depth understanding of the identified subtle agroecological practices, including their impacts,•perspectives and writings on subtle practices from indigenous authors,•the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings and mechanics of Subtle Agroecologies,•an exploration of Rudolf Steiner’s cosmological framework in relation to both indigenous epistemologies and quantum science, and finally,•the potential impact of practicing Subtle Agroecologies on the human practitioner.