Albert Howard

Albert Howard
Born	(1873-12-08)8 December 1873 Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, England
Died	Blackheath, London
Residence	United Kingdom, British India
Nationality	British
Fields	Botany
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Spouse	Gabrielle Matthaei Louise Matthaei

Sir Albert Howard (8 December 1873 – 20 October 1947) was an English botanist, an organic farming pioneer, and a principal figure in the early organic movement. He is considered by many in the English-speaking world to have been, along with Rudolf Steiner and Eve Balfour, one of the key founders of modern organic agriculture.

Life

Albert Howard was born at Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. He was the son of Richard Howard, a farmer, and Ann Howard, née Kilvert. He was educated at Wrekin College, Royal College of Science, South Kensington, and as Foundation Scholar, at St. John's College, Cambridge. In 1896, he graduated in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where he also obtained a Diploma of Agriculture in 1897. In 1899, he lectured in Agricultural Science at Harrison College, Barbados, and in 1899 and 1902, was a Mycologist and Agricultural Lecturer at the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies. From 1903-1905, he was Botanist to the South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye; and from 1905–1924, he was Imperial Economic Botanist to the Government of India. In 1914, he was created a Companion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), and received a Silver Medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1920. From 1924-1931, Howard was Director of the Institute of Plant Industry, Indore, and Agricultural Adviser to States in Central India and Rajputana. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1928, and in 1930 received the Barclay Memorial Medal of that society. He was knighted in 1934, and made an Honourable Fellow of the Imperial College of Science in 1935.

Howard worked in India as agricultural adviser and was in charge of a government research farm at Indore. He worked together with Gabrielle Matthaei (1876–1930), and her sister Louise (1880–1969). He married Gabrielle in 1905. After her death, he married Louise in 1931. Gabrielle was herself a professionally trained and competent botanist, and indeed the contribution of both women to organic farming is said to be underestimated.

Howard observed and came to support traditional Indian farming practices over conventional agricultural science. Though he journeyed to India to teach Western agricultural techniques he found that the Indians could in fact teach him more. One important aspect he took notice of was the connection between healthy soil and the villages' healthy populations, livestock and crop. Patrick Holden, Director of the UK Soil Association quoted Howard as saying "the health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible." He was president of the 13th session of the Indian Science Congress in 1926.

Howard has been called the father of modern composting, for his refinement of a traditional Indian composting system into what is now known as the Indore method. He went on to document and develop organic farming techniques, and spread his knowledge through the UK-based Soil Association, and the Rodale Institute in the US. His 1940 book, An Agricultural Testament, is a classic organic farming text. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining humus, keeping water in the soil, and the role of mycorrhiza. It was his first book aimed at the general public, and is his best popularly known work. However his 1931 book The Waste Products of Agriculture, based on 26 years of studying improved crop production in Indian smallholdings, is considered by some as his most important scientific publication. His 1945 book Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease was also intended for a general audience, and was republished in 1947 as The Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture. Howard's work influenced and inspired many farmers and agricultural scientists who furthered the organic movement, including Lady Eve Balfour (the Haughley Experiment, The Living Soil) and J.I. Rodale (Rodale Institute).

Howard advocated studying the forest in order to farm like the forest. He devoted the last half of his career to understanding that end, presaging those contemporary ecologists who advocate the understanding of the interface between ecology and agriculture. Indeed, Howard is grouped, along with Rudolf Steiner, Sir Robert McCarrison and Richard St. Barbe Baker, as one of the key progenitors of the organic agriculture movement. (However he says, in the Preface to 'An Agricultural Testament', 'Some attention has also been paid to the Bio-Dynamic methods of agriculture in Holland and in Great Britain, but I remain unconvinced that the disciples of Rudolf Steiner can offer any real explanation of natural laws or have yet provided any practical examples which demonstrate the value of their theories.')

Publications

The following is a selection of publications by Albert Howard, including his better known works, and some lesser known publications. His knighthood was conferred in 1934, so in publications prior to that, he is not referred to as "Sir". Even subsequent to that, he did not always refer to himself as "Sir", as per his contribution to Nature in 1936, and his correspondence to the British Medical Journal in 1939. In the listings below, as far as known, in those from 1945 onwards, he is cited as "Sir Albert Howard", hence his authorship is not duplicated thereafter. See also External links section, where further publications by him may be read online.

• (Published for the Imperial Department of Agriculture in India; Calcutta). Listing at Open Library
• (Registration to view BMJ articles is free).
• pdf per Special Rodale Press Edition, 1976.
• (Howard's introduction to the 1945 publication of Charles Darwin's book, first published in 1881).
• (Originally published by Faber & Faber in 1945 as Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease)

Bibliography

• (The subject of two letters by Sir Albert Howard to the British Medical Journal - see 'Publications' section).
• ebook ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3
• pdf version
• (Contains tributes to Sir Albert Howard).

Notes

a. ^{^} The online reproduction of Howard's 1931 work refers to him as "Sir Albert Howard". However, this is an error. He was not knighted until 1934, and would not have been referred to as Sir. The error is an artifact of the manner in which Howard's name has passed into contemporary public knowledge, via his two most famous books An Agricultural Testament (first published 1940), and Soil and Health (first published 1945 under a different title, but known mostly by this 1947 title), by which time he was referred to as "Sir". Indeed, prior to the advent of the internet and the related information explosion, these were the only two works popularly known by all but the most dedicated researchers, with even less known about his life history, beyond brief synopses associated with the books, and replicated in various book descriptions.

See also

• Organic farming
• Biodynamic agriculture
• Compost
• List of sustainable agriculture topics

External links

• The Works of Sir Albert Howard. With introduction by Keith Addison at Journey to Forever website.
• Small Farms Library at Journey to Forever website (Contains publications by and about Sir Albert Howard).
• Agriculture Library Index at Soil and Health Library of soilandhealth.org (Contains publications by and about Sir Albert Howard).
• Crop Production in India (1924)