"Together we are strong"

"Tagwerk und Barnhouse motivated me and supported my work so that my comments still bear fruit," says Barthl Gammel, farmer who married his wife Annemarie Ritzer in 1991 and took over the Ritzerhof together with her. The two now run the 20-hectare farm as a family business.

"Through the use of manure spreading across farms, I got to know many farms, including organic farms, which somehow fascinated me. These convinced me that it is possible without artificial fertilizers and glyphosate, which is why we switched to organic in 2006 according to the Naturland and Tagwerk guidelines and Simmental cattle were replaced by Pinzgauer because they are something special for us." Barthl explains his path to organic farming.

Farming as a vocation

“After a while I realized that what I had learned as a 'state-certified economist for agriculture and forestry' was not sufficient for practical farming. My vocation is agriculture, nature, very importantly the soil, humus formation and of course our Pinzgau suckler cow herd, i.e. a closed cycle.”

Animal welfare is particularly important to the family. Their animals lie on soft straw and have a relaxed and stress-free life throughout.

But Barthl is also passionate about farming and learns something new every year. The plow was sold by Barthl in 2011. Only now and then did he have to plow because of ryegrass growth, but over time he learned to deal with that too.

“On Sundays, I like to go out into the field with a spade and a probe, to look at the health of the soil and plants and to draw conclusions for the next work step. My grandchildren are very keen on finding and counting earthworms, so I work 'suitable for grandchildren'. We also have an EM shop that is always open on Saturday mornings.”