I will soon take over my father’s farm. We have a reliable business manager who cares about the operative activities in our orchards such as pruning, mowing and plant protection. My father is over 80 years old and still very active. When it comes to picking and harvesting apples, he is glad to help me.

My father cared for the apple orchards of Spauregg Castle in Parcines for more than 20 years and so I inherited his love for agriculture. Since our conversion to organic, I have been interested in every aspect of this production method with increasing intensity.

I work as a life and family consultant and I’m active in youth work as well. My permaculture training, however, is more and more gaining in importance and goes perfectly well with my ecological philosophy of life. Observing and imitating natural cycles of nature… that’s precisely what I like. I would like to shape my future according to these sustainable principles and gradually work more in the orchards. Not only apples, but also different vegetable varieties leave ample room for stable ecosystems that only require minimal human intervention. I would absolutely like to avoid monoculture because you have to take into account that the yield might not be as expected in organic production. If that happens, varietal diversity allows you to be on the safe side.

For me, organic is a long-term and not a short-term project. This is why I wish more organic and more regional self-perpetuating cycles for the future, which I can influence with many little decisions in everyday life. And even more so as an organic producer.