My orchards are situated in the different villages around the municipality of Naturno. I have grown organic Gala, Pinova, Fuji, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples for three years. Organic production required complete rethinking. I now have to deal with fungus diseases such as apple scab or mildew in a completely different way. The working hours have doubled, which is also true for the joy I get from agriculture. If you like your work, tiredness comes much later.

My father had already prepared me to the additional work that organic production requires. If you want to earn something and to harvest the fruits of your work, you have to work hard all the time – physically and mentally. The few substances allowed in organic production have to be used deliberately. Today, the South Tyrolean Advisory Service puts precious instruments such as an app at our disposal. The first organic producers, however, didn’t have any technological support and thus deserve the greatest respect from organic newcomers like me.

Organic production remains a great challenge despite today’s assistance from different institutions. Especially because nature does not always do what the producers would like it to do. My son and my daughter, who both help at the farm, experience it again and again. But the pleasure of sustainable production compensates for every effort and the soil under my trees smells like when I was child: healthy and lively. The result can only be good apples.