"Nature conservation is very important to me!"

The Mooswinkelhof in Halsbach has been owned by the Hochreiter family for several centuries. The farm was converted to organic as early as 1982, at that time still by the parents of Herbert Hochreiter, who today runs the farm as a sideline. He is an engineer full-time and works as a software and system tester.

On the 23 hectares of fields, meadows and forest, many other things are grown besides our barnhouse oats and spelt. Camelina, rye, barley, field beans, peas, etc. Since 2019, several alpacas have also populated the farm.

Herbert Hochreiter is a member of the Biokreis cultivation association and explains to us why he likes being an organic farmer:

“Like my parents, I want to run my farm in a natural and sustainable way. I want to produce natural food in a way that also preserves as many habitats for our biodiversity as possible.

In order to protect soil life, I would like to achieve the highest possible degree of coverage, especially over the winter. I do this with a variety of cover crop mixtures, which are matched to the following crop.”

Above all, Herbert does a lot to protect biodiversity

"The flowering areas should help to ensure that wild bees, for example, have a habitat even after the harvest. On the one hand, the hedges are intended to represent a biotope and, on the other hand, to protect against erosion,” explains Herbert.

The farmer is very committed to organic farming and even has 2 hectares of meadows in the nature conservation program.

Collaboration with Barnhouse

“I am delighted and grateful to have been part of the Barnhouse delivery community for the past 3 years. The short distances and the possibility of being able to deliver to the community warehouse right from the harvest help me a lot. The appreciative and fair partnership between Barnhouse and its partner farmers also gives me a good feeling. And last but not least, with the Crunchy Krunchy breakfast, you can be your own customer in a way.”