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. Indeed, Howard is grouped, along with Rudolf Steiner, Sir Robert McCarrison and Richard St. Barbe Baker, as one of the key progenitors of the organic agriculture movement. (However he says, in the Preface to 'An 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.')