 In 1939 he travelled to Switzerland to visit the leading exponent of biodynamic agriculture, Dr Ehrenfried Pfeiffer.The outcome of that visit was that he hosted, at his farm in Kent, the Betteshanger Summer School and Conference, the first biodynamic farming conference to be held in Britain.James subsequently coined the term "organic farming" from the concept of "the farm as organism" and has the best claim to being the "father" of organic agriculture.