Many centuries ago, Val Venosta’s farmers built water channels with a slight gradient to take the glacier water to the valley for irrigating their fields. My family’s „Bühelhof“ farm is also surrounded by some of these channels called „Waale“ in German. Today, beautiful hiking paths run along some of these irrigation channel paths and are very popular with both locals and tourists for easy hikes.

The „Bühelhof“ farm is situated right next to the church of “Our Dear Lady on the Bichl” meaning church on the hill. Val Venosta is one of the driest Alpine valleys. This is why the apple producers still need water in the right dosage here.

I’m chair of a working committee responsible for irrigating a large area on the Tarres’ alluvial fan. If required, we can use water from the water reservoir situated at Monte Tramontana between Laces and Tarres and filled with fresh spring water that comes from the Malga di Laces mountain hut at the heart of the Stelvio National Park. Thanks to an app on my mobile phone I can at any time open or close the main pipes, read different values such as the flow rate and intervene in good time. We decide together, rely on the weather forecast and experiences and are always on the alert, especially when there’s late frost in spring during the apple blossom.

I run my „Bühelhof“ farm according to the principles of organic production. An organic orchard needs the same amount of water as one of integrated production, but apart from that requires much more from the producer. At first my wife was a little bit skeptical but today we are both firmly convinced that we’ve taken the right decision. Our conviction is as firm as the Laces menhir from the Copper Age that was discovered in the „Bichlkirche“ church as an altar stone. Our organic farm is thus based on a “solid credo”.