Richard Thornton Smith

Dr. Richard Thornton Smith is a former a geography professor at the University of Leeds, specializing in soil science, environment, and conservation. Widely traveled, he has a long-standing interest in indigenous and sustainable farming. He was introduced to the work of Rudolf Steiner at an early age, and became fully involved with biodynamics in 1990, when he began to participate in training programs and workshops at Emerson College, UK. In 1996, he began a biodynamic extension program in Sri Lanka, for which he published a book, updated in 2007. Since 2001, he has been an inspector for the Biodynamic Association’s Demeter and Organic certification program in the UK. In 2003, he produced an edited selection of Steiner’s work relating to agriculture. He is currently a council member of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association and lives in Ross-on-Wye, UK.