Bernd Schönthaler lives with his family in the village of Oris, at the foot of Val Venosta's Monte Sole Mountain. The Lasa marble quarry is close by; this is the source of world-famous, pure, white stone. The protected habitat of the Oris forest fen is also close to the family business. Bernd graduated from the South Tyrol technical college for fruit production, viticulture and horticulture in Laimburg. For him, being a farmer provides lots of satisfaction and pleasure. He treasures working in the Val Venosta mountain air. Bernd especially loves the "life" in his orchards: apple trees, grass, herbs, bushes and beneficial organisms which have colonised everywhere and help him in his work. His plots are ideally located for organic farming. Many are surrounded by natural forest, and even the neighbouring meadows are organically farmed. For Bernd, converting to organics in 1997 represented a way of handling his land in a more gentle way, and in turn this is better for the whole environment. Organics, he says, are for the humans  and for the environment.