Sepp Holzer

Sepp Holzer ( born July 24, 1942 in Ramingstein, Principality Salzburg, Austria ) is a farmer, author and an international consultant for natural agriculture.

Life

Childhood

Holzer came to Hans and Martin as the youngest of three sons on the Krameterhof his parents Martin and Mary Holzer to the world, the family also belonged to his younger foster sister Gloria. The farm is located in the Lungau region, at about 1300 m above sea level. A. in an isolated position on a steep, south-east facing hillside 300 meters above the village Ramingstein in the Mur Valley at that time was only accessible via an unpaved cart path. The farm belonged to some 24 hectares of land, which were managed in a conventional manner. Parents Sepp Holzer's held about ten cattle, 20 sheep, a horse, some pigs and chickens as well as several geese. The operation was handled entirely by hand, there was neither electricity nor telephone and no motor vehicles or motor-driven machines, so working in the yard next to the peasant people and a maid and a servant and, if required more casual and temporary workers, and also the children had from an early age, depending on the assets, do odd jobs. The parents were conservative and attacked innovations very hesitant, so that the Court was not until 1955 connected to the public electricity grid. The children were raised Catholic, every Sunday the family made ​​the long walk together into the valley to attend the service, table prayers before and after each meal were, of course, were added hour-long rosary prayers on Saturdays and after deaths in the neighborhood. Physician visits were avoided due to the associated high costs and long distances whenever possible, minor injuries and illnesses were treated with home remedies. Even as a child showed Holzer an extraordinary interest in all sorts of biological processes and led by seed and planting experiments, first in the plant troughs of his mother, and later in " Beißwurmboanling ", an extremely steep and therefore uncultivated strip of land of his parents' farm. These experiments, coupled with its accurate observation, already gave him an early age valuable insights into ecological relationships.

School time

From 1950 Holzer received education in a multi-level class with 38 students in Ramingstein. The brisk march in just about two hours to school, he had covered on foot. After elementary school, he received a standard one for a young farmer Education: He was educated in addition to the School of Agriculture for fruit tree guards and made an additional explosive training and fisheries education at Mondsee.

Take over the farm

In 1962, Holzer parents' farm. As he wrote in 2002, the application of his school knowledge led to serious setbacks in the management of the property. Consequently, he started from his much more successful childhood experiences to develop an easy-care and near-natural cultivation method. By closely watching the proceedings in nature and imitated in his farming, he achieved considerable success and created 1100-1500 meters above sea level, a " natural paradise " to thrive in even the kiwis and chestnuts. When he became aware of it ( done) that his methods in some aspects similar to the Permaculture concept he called his method Holzer's Permaculture.

With many innovative ideas, but also the old methods, such as terracing, hills and raised beds, keeping rare breeds and the protection of endangered alpine and crops, he has continued to develop the Holzer's Permaculture for alpine area and, in many areas results can be astounding.

A formative experience was the years of confrontation with the authorities, which actively hindered this form of economic activity. His ideas were in stark contrast to official recommendations and requirements. He got involved in many long-time processes to the highest courts.

Moving to Burgenland Since February 2013, Sepp Holzer lives with his wife untergebaggert large area humus due to its arrangements and landslides were triggered on the new " Holzerhof " in Southern Burgenland, at Jenner village, in the 2002 and 2003, these renatured, where she leads workshops. The " Holzerhof " is the extended former " Jena yard" Gertrud Barradas, Sepp Holzer has taken over from the bankrupt Gertrud Barradas after their joint project " Nature Experience State Children's farmland Holzer, Barrada " had failed. Gertrud Barrada led against Sepp Holzer an action for damages in the District Court of Salzburg, which has not finished negotiated because the creditors' committee has agreed out of court with Sepp Holzer. Gertrud Barradas report on the joint project can be found on their website Jena Hof.at and in her 2006 book " Bitter Harvest". Holzer has partnered with the Association PermaVitae in Austria and Holzer Agro Ecology seminars and courses.

Criticism

The Krameterhof project is viewed critically: there could only impetus for a different approach to alpine landscape in terms of sustainability, but would offer little practical guidance for a productive alternative agriculture, which it enables the farmer, its operation also in financial terms to successfully lead. It can not be expanded any farm for adventure farm in anticipation of sufficient numbers of visitors. The typical Holzer's Permaculture alpine is transferable to other geographic and climatic conditions not readily available.

Since about 1995 the bulk of the revenue of the Holzer family is primarily due to the book publications, guided tours on the farm and in consulting activities, but not to the origin of agriculture purpose. The agriculture alone would yield not enough profit loud criticism. Keep in mind, however, that a variety of projects on the Krameterhof were commercially successful and the Hofkonzept today not aimed as a teaching project due to the wide range of activities elsewhere Holzer at the sole agriculture. For a two -to three- hour guided tour in groups of up to 40 people on a part of the site for a fee of 30 euros per person to be collected, deviations from the specified paths will not be tolerated. While on the one hand, a large number of visitors were and are who see the visit of Krameterhofs as enriching on display for in amazement experience, which is witnessed by a multitude of thanks and congratulations to Holzer, there are also persons who on a visit to Hof experienced as disillusionment or disappointment and specify critical questions about productivity would not be approved, and individual questioners were still referenced during the guided tours of the farm.

Holzer has since 2000 initiated and supported several projects under different climatic conditions. So also in Colombia, Thailand, Scotland, Russia, and Austria. Both the Krameterhof as well as several of these projects were allegedly scientifically and examines several dissertations were written on the development of Holzer Permakulturprojekte under various conditions. However, due to the relatively young age of these projects still exist no long-term analyzes of the sustained effectiveness of the projects only the beginning of the same are shown in most cases, long-term monitoring and documentation takes place.

Critics accuse Holzer, he repeatedly deviated from the design principles of classic permaculture. We will chalk to him that in the years 1990 to 1994 on his property a Klärschlammvererdungsprojekt was carried out under the supervision of the Authority and the state government. The project was supported by Dipl. -Ing. Windisch accompanied by the soil biological investigation authority in Salzburg, monitored and evaluated. The final compost is suitable, in the opinion of the expert for organic agriculture. Holzer, however, did not pursue the project, because the fertilizing effect of this compost was consumed within two to three years.

Another point of criticism concerns the allegedly overly massive machines used by Holzer.

In his latest book Where there's a will there's a way Holzer replies that he developed his farming methods as a practitioner always by exact observation of nature in a " trial and error " method and not on the basis of theories. On the relationship of his approaches to many ideas of permaculture would have made him only in retrospect third parties, which, had asked him to do, but to use this term for its operation. He talks therefore always aware of Holzer's Permaculture, because he wanted to be collect by no theoretical school, and was also with this designation not completely satisfied, which is why he is still in search of a better name for the characterization of his views and methods. David Holmgren referred Holzer as " an excellent permaculture designers and practitioners, which is completely outside the official permaculture training line and collapsed in with almost any within the European Permaculture scene. " Joe Polaischer had a good, albeit at times contradictory collaboration with his Landmann Sepp Holzer.

In addition to some more or less successful projects Holzer are advised several projects he failed dramatically and ended for the affected owners in an economic disaster. In several cases, Holzer has been judicially condemned to pay damages. The project also advised by Holzer Jena farm in Jenner im Burgenland ended in a sustained destruction of the ground with massive landslides, which over the question of guilt, a legal expert and it is pending. While the landowner points out, was the site because of wrong eingeschätzter geographical and geological location and improperly carried out construction work under the guidance of Holzer's devastated (according to various expert reports massive landslides due to incorrect estimation of the ground, dying of overpriced paid plantings because of destruction of the humus layer in the reconstruction and shoddy installation and overstocking of the pig enclosure ) and may not Usable as is for many years, Holzer alleged in this case, massive violations of the owner against the principles of his what he called " Holzer Permaculture " ( application of herbicides, improper housing conditions of the animals, and others) and used his contacts with the press, possible to get the owner as untrustworthy. A in this case strained against Holzer action for damages in the amount of 550,000 euros could not be ausjudiziert (as of 2011 ), as the owner of the farm went bankrupt and the creditors' committee agreed with Holzer in a comparison of the acquisition of what he now " Holzerhof " called " Jena -Hof " included by Holzer. Holzer now lives with his wife Veronika itself on the former Jena- yard and removed the presentation of the Jena- court and all references to the former joint project " Nature Experience State Children's farmland Holzer, Barrada " from his website. Gertrud Barradas report on the joint project can be found on their website Jena Hof.at and in her 2006 book " Bitter Harvest".

The Austrian television brought in November 2005 paper in the context of help tv, in which a rehearsed film about the alleged Holzer imputable to damage on the Jena- farm and similar cases reported. Sepp Holzer accepted an invitation to this show at first and had to move the broadcast date to find new date time for it but did not appear in the studio with the subsequently filed grounds that the allegations were the subject of an ongoing legal dispute. The misreading of Holzer's written opinion on the allegations leaned against it from the ORF.

Publisher relations

The first two books of Sepp Holzer appeared in Leopold Stocker Verlag, agricultural and hunting books, cooking and needlework books, Regionalia, hiking, non-fiction books with a scientific as well as right-wing literature with intersections moved to the far right. Holzer's texts themselves do not include right-wing content. The third book The visionaries in which Holzer, among other renowned figures of contemporary history Karl -Ludwig Schweisfurth is how to word, appeared in Concord Publishing, the latest book Where there's a will there's a way appeared in March 2006 in the Kneipp Verlag.