[8][9] The certification verifies the fulfillment of the standards on behalf of the farmers, which in turn guarantees high quality food products to the consumers.

[10] In 1924, Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner delivered a series of agricultural lectures, laying the groundwork for biodynamics, a farming method intertwined with his anthroposophist movement.

With the assistance of the SS, the Nazis established biodynamic agricultural plantations at concentration camps like Dachau and Ravensbrück, exploiting prisoners for labor.

The ban on Demeter was precipitated by deputy führer Rudolf Hess's fall from favor and subsequent arrest for his support of biodynamics.

Leveraging the arrest, Hendrich's ban removed the previous political protection Demeter and other similar bodies had received, and resulted in biodynamics being officially opposed by the regime.

Demeter is well established in the origin country, were Rudolf Steiner spread his esoteric ideas about agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century.

The event is considered the world's leading trade fair for organic food, and provides the location at which the Biofach Congress also meet together.