The Holzerhof in Ismaning has been around for 99 years. There are more than 5,000 fruit trees on the fields of the family business, the yields of which are now being harvested. Adolf Sieber grows apples, pears, damsons, plums, apricots, cherries and table grapes in Ismaning, and the 64-year-old is expecting a lavish yield: “The temperatures of the past few weeks have been good for the fruit. The fruit loves the hot weather.” Pears in particular like it hot, says Sieber, and he’s going to get all of them from the field this week. On the other hand, the work was much more difficult for him and his four-strong team of helpers at almost 4o degrees. That was Sicilian conditions, says the farmer.
The “climate catastrophe”, as he calls it, is making itself felt on his farm to the fullest. Adolf Sieber harvests two months earlier than his father did. Some fruit get brown spots at high temperatures and some Christmas trees on Sieber’s fields would literally burn. Due to the weather changes, the farmer and his family business have relied on a wide variety of varieties and since 2017 also on viticulture, which works particularly well at high temperatures and many hours of sunshine. “You have to make the best of the situation,” says Sieber. He is now one of the first winegrowers to grow wine in Upper Bavaria, where it is typically too cold for the vines. His wife Anita Sieber sells the three available types of wine to customers in her farm shop on Münchner Straße.
“Any fruit that the customer doesn’t buy is processed into schnapps, jam or juice.”
Sustainability is a matter close to Sieber’s heart: “Every fruit that the customer doesn’t buy is processed into schnapps, jam or juice,” he says. If you like something extra special, you can try the Krautgeist, made from white cabbage that you have grown yourself. But Sieber himself likes his cherries best. Of course, your own wine should not be missing at dinner with the family. His family is important to him and it was always clear to him, who was born in Ismaningen, that he would take over the farm from his father, just as his children plan to continue the business. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Luckily, Sieber has a loyal clientele and due to its location right on the main thoroughfare to Munich, many people stop by for spontaneous shopping. However, the company is feeling the effects of inflation because some customers are turning to cheaper, non-regional products because of the higher prices. But the farmer out of conviction remains confident that this will not endanger the farm: “The farm is our life.”