Our "Egghof" is located in sunny Marein, a district of Kastelbell in the Val Venosta Valley, south of the Adige River. Agriculture has been practiced here for four generations. The apples of the varieties Golden Delicious, Ambrosia™, Royal Gala, Stark Delicious, Braeburn, and Cosmic Crisp® thrive on the fertile morainic cones.

When I took over the farm from my father, I immediately switched to organic farming. My father had always given me a lot of freedom in farm matters, even when I didn’t have to make the key decisions myself. Now that I am a father of three children, I can fully understand how my father must have felt when he delegated more and more responsibility to his children. My children are still very young, but one day they will have to make important decisions, perhaps even those that will surpass the significance of farming according to organic principles. For now, organic farming is the forward-looking direction I’ve chosen, and it should positively influence their growth as well. They will have to measure themselves in the art of observation, just as I need to get to know each tree carefully so it produces beautiful, healthy fruit. There are always interesting happenings in the apple orchard, and the children never get bored. What they enjoy about ladybugs when they hunt aphids or about parasitic wasps and earwigs looking for scale insects is just as exciting to me as it is for them. The children also quickly understand that the wool of the scale insect leaves ugly spots on the fruits, and when it sucks on shoots, buds, and fruit, it’s not in our best interest. Intuitively, they develop a sense of what should be encouraged in the orchard and what should be prevented.

Every day, I go into the orchard with a sense of contentment. I often have to accept that not everything can and must be perfect. The trunks and leaves could sometimes look better, but the human drive for perfect order needs to be excluded in organic farming. Perfection is shown in organic farming through biodiversity, the harmonious competition between pests and beneficial insects, and the measures we farmers take to support all of this. I do this in my apple orchards, my father does it in his "hobby vineyard" with Lagrein and Vernatsch, and I hope that my children will do the same once they are big enough to consciously perceive this feeling of inner contentment.