The "Patscherhof" in Colsano already belonged to my great-grandfather. After the end of the First World War, he came back from Russia and had to build up a farm from scratch, which was completely in ruins at the time. His younger brother, who was not obliged to do military service because of his age, had acquired the farm for him in the meantime. Grandparents and parents lived from dairy farming until the 1960s, when the family switched to fruit farming.

The driving impulse to switch to organic farming came from me, a decision that my father fortunately open-heartedly supports. He trusts my fresh knowledge from the agricultural high school in Ora, likes to be taught, but also questions everything very critically. I often seek his advice. Above all, he can tell me how he got certain pests under control and which measures did not work at all. This saves me valuable time.

Our apple trees of the varieties Royal Gala, Pinova and Golden Delicious stand on ideal soils for fruit growing. Especially the Golden Delicious is very demanding and does not want to stand in a puddle for a long time. The fertile, not too loamy soils in Colsano work wonders here. Underneath a layer of humus about 50 cm high, there is gravel and crushed stone, a feature that allows the water to seep away easily and only store as much as the plant really needs. No more and no less.

Despite the best soil and climate conditions here in the alpine Val Venosta, organic farming requires a lot of perseverance. Especially in spring, it can happen that you have to be there "on the minute" during the day to protect the plants, even though you have already had ten hours of frost irrigation. This is just as exhausting as the frequent changes of plan due to the weather. But if the spring goes reasonably well, the summer is a little quieter. For the so-called "pruning" in early summer and the "picking" in autumn, it is very important to have good and concentrated helpers. For many years I have employed the same team here at the "Patscherhof".

In general, it certainly doesn't hurt with organic farming if you don't set your expectations too high for the year and come to terms with the fact that things will go wrong. If the worst-case scenario doesn't turn out to be true, it's all the better.
Since man has become sedentary, agriculture has constantly developed, and I personally see organic farming as a possible way to remain fit for the future. In the Apple Paradise Val Venosta, we like to look back, but we prefer to look forward.