RUSCH-MÜLLER, system of organic farming developed in Switzerland (see organics in Switzerland).

In the 1940s the biologist Dr. Hans Müller (1891-1988) and his wife Maria (1894-1969) developed organic farming, taught the importance of a fertile soil to the farmers and established the idea of a sustainable, closed (self-sufficient) farming systems.

In 1948 the German physician and micro biologist Professor Hans Peter Rusch (1906-1977) and Dr Hans Müller begin to collaborate, and by 1951 coined the term “organisch-biologischer landbau” or “Organic-Bilogical Farming” (or the Rusch-Muller system of organic farming). Müller was also responsible for setting up the first commercial organic co-operative, AVG Galmiz (now known as AVG Biogemüse), still the leading organic food company. It was a pioneer of the box scheme of delivering fresh produce to Swiss homes in the 1950s and 1960s. The ideas concerning soil microbiology and its crucial role in soil fertility of the Rusch-Muller are encapsulated in a book called “Soil Fertility” published in 1968.