Albert Howard | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1873-12-08)8 December 1873 |
| Died | 20 October 1947(1947-10-20) (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) | Gabrielle Matthaei Louise Matthaei |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
Sir Albert HowardCIE (8 December 1873 – 20 October 1947) was anEnglishbotanist. His academic background might have been botany. While working in India he was generally considered a pathologist; this more than likely being the reason for his consistent observations of the value of compost applications being an increase in health (of the whole system). Howard was the first Westerner to document and publish the Indian techniques ofsustainable agriculture. After spending considerable time learning from Indian peasants and the pests present in their soil, he called these two his professors. He was a principal figure in the earlyorganic movement. He is considered by many in the English-speaking world to have been, along withEve Balfour, one of the key advocates of ancient Indian techniques of organic agriculture.[1]
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Albert Howard was born atBishop's Castle,Shropshire. He was the son of Richard Howard, a farmer, and Ann Howard, née Kilvert. He was educated atWellington College, Telford, and theRoyal College of Science,South Kensington, where he took theassociateship in chemistry. He matriculated in 1896 atSt. John's College, Cambridge, becoming a scholar in 1897. In 1899, he graduated B.A. with afirst class in biological subjects, in theNatural Sciences Tripos; and graduated M.A. in 1902 or 1903.[2][3][4] In parallel, he also obtained the Cambridge and national agricultural diplomas in 1897/8.[3]
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.[5]
From 1903 to 1905, he was Botanist at theSouth Eastern Agricultural College and from 1905 to 1924, Imperial Economic Botanist to the Government of India.
In 1914, he was created aCompanion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), and received a Silver Medal of theRoyal Society of Arts in 1920. From 1924 to 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.[6][7]
Howard worked inIndia as agricultural adviser[8] and was in charge of a government research farm atIndore.[9] He worked together withGabrielle Matthaei (1876–1930), and her sisterLouise (1880–1969). He married Gabrielle in 1905. After her death, he married Louise in 1931.[6][10] Gabrielle was herself a professionally trained and competent botanist,[6] and indeed the contribution of both women to organic farming is said to be underestimated.[10]
Howard observed and came to support traditional Indian farming practices over conventionalagricultural 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 UKSoil 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 theIndian Science Congress in 1926.
Howard built on the traditional Indian composting system into what is now known as theIndore method. He went on to further document Indian organic farming techniques, and spread its knowledge through theUK-basedSoil Association, and theRodale Institute in theUS. His 1940book,An Agricultural Testament, is a classic organic farming text. He emphasizes the importance of maintaininghumus, keeping water in the soil, and the role ofmycorrhiza. It was his first book aimed at the general public, and is his best popularly known work. However his 1931 bookThe 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.[1] His 1945 bookFarming and Gardening for Health or Disease was also intended for a general audience, and was republished in 1947 asThe Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture.[1] Howard's documentation of Indian farming practices influenced and inspired many farmers and agricultural scientists who furthered the organic movement, includingLady Eve Balfour (theHaughley Experiment,The Living Soil) andJ. 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.[11][12] Indeed, Howard is grouped, along withRudolf Steiner,[13]Sir Robert McCarrison andRichard St. Barbe Baker, as one of the key progenitors of the Westernorganic agriculture movement.[13][14][15] (However he says, in the Preface toAn 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."[16])
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 toNature in 1936, and his correspondence to theBritish 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.
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 booksAn Agricultural Testament (first published 1940), andSoil 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.[17]
