BIO Web of Conferences 3, 03005 (2014) DOI: 10.1051/bioconf/20140303005 c  Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2014 Identification of organic and biodynamic grape and wine producers in southern Brazil Narjara Medeiros 1, a , Lays Machado 2 , and Rodrigo da Silva Lisboa 1 1 UNIPAMPA, Bacharelado em Enologia, Rua 21 de abril, 80, CEP 96450-000, Dom Pedrito, Brasil 2 IFF Rio Grande do Sul, Tecnologia em Viticultura e Enologia, Avenida Osvaldo Aranha, 540, CEP: 95700-000, Bento Gonc ¸alves, Brasil Abstract. The concern about health and environmental aspects are increasingly present in our society. In 1976 Jos´ e Lutzemberger publishes the first Brazilian ecological manifesto. In 2003 the Law 10.831 is approved, which conceptualizes and defines organic agriculture. In 1982, the first Biodynamic Agriculture meeting in Brazil happens, where the construction of the basis for the implementation of biodynamic in Brazilian agriculture started. In 1995 the Brazilian Association of Biodynamic Agriculture is created. The search for organic products – that doesn’t use artificial mineral and chemical fertilizers and exploits fertility as a way of fighting diseases and pests – and biodynamic products in the agricultural production unit is understood as a kind of organism also take place in the wine industry. But knowing which producers are involved in this type of activity is still a difficult task for the community, especially due to the informality of some agents. Thus, this paper proposes to identify organic and biodynamic wine producers in southern Brazil; as well as the tools and policies which have encouraged farmers to adopt these practices. Finally, understanding the main obstacles producers find dealing with certifications mechanisms. This region was chosen for being the largest grape and wine producing in the country. 1. Introduction Nowadays we se a notorious growth in social-environmental matters reflecting on the consuming market. The rising use of organic and biodynamic products are a straight symptom of that demand being attended by the industries. The organic agriculture starts its developing and dissemination with Alberth Howard [1], British botanical sent to India on the beginning of the 20th Century as an Agricultural Counselor for the Empire. His studies amongst Indian farmers resulted in the book called “Um testamento Agricola”, released in 1943, where is found the firsts descriptions of the Indore Process, composting, and many other forms of sustainable managements. The whole conduct for the crop and animal production is programmed so it potencializes the soil structure, specially the progression of humus. But Howards’ contributions trespass composting techniques. As a precursor for agro ecology, he found echoes on Trofobiose’s theory, proposed by Francis Chaboussou, revolutionizing the way agriculture has been thought. Germany, home of the agricultural chemistry, was also home for the most ancestral reaction, crystalized in 1924, known as biodynamic. This movement has on its center, the philosopher Rudolf Steiner, which ideas gave base to many generations of investigations by agronomists and farmers. The immediate motivation for those who invested a Corresponding author: narjaramedeiros@gmail.com on that new management was the fast decrease of the crops and the creations submitted to technologies, until now only focused on manure. In this new method, the systemic approach is the priority, understanding the rural properties as organisms [2]. The biodynamic agriculture has as its main goal, to transform the property into an agricultural organism, a place where each component has its activities potencialized (crop, cattle, forests, water sources, living fences, wildlife corridors, windbreaks, and many others). It also works hardly on biological processes by commom practices with the organical agriculture, like green fertilization, composting, crop rotation, agroforestry, ground cover and others. And as a diferential, uses biodynamical preparations, developed with medicinal plants, manure and silica, which are used in a homeopatical way, acting as an stimulation for the activities of the soils organisms on composting and crop quality [3]. All of Steiner’s reasoning for his biodynamic postulates, are based on the emancipation concept. Steiner believes that the man, and, to a lesser degree, the animals, could emancipate from the cosmos, the outside world. That doesn’t mean the cycle and vibrations of this outside worlds doesn’t affect them, in fact it says that those cycles on the human and animal life doesn’t have “the same order that those outside circles, although they follow the same periodicity, rhythm but not the coincidence in time” [4]. As a reminder we have one of the most important phenomenon, female periods, on their course are exact This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Article available at http://www.bio-conferences.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20140303005