{"id":57642,"date":"2026-03-24T14:01:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crowdfarming.com\/what-the-field\/sin-categoria\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:10:10","slug":"the-mad-german-40-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laruchequiditoui.fr\/what-the-field\/field-notes\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Mad German\u2019 40 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">If you take a stroll with Friedrich across his farm near Gibrale\u00f3n today, the first thing you\u2019ll notice is the noise: a literal wall of birdsong. But behind this idyllic scene lies a radical choice made years ago\u2014one that flew right in the face of convention. Today, having held Demeter certification since 1994, he\u2019s living proof that his &#8220;madness&#8221; was the only logical response to the crisis facing our soil.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">Forty years ago, Friedrich fell in love with Finca Jelanisol-Montebello during a trip to Spain. At the time, he was working as a middleman for conventional fruit and veg. Two things happened back then that made him stop and think:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"3\">A friend gave him a book on permaculture by Bill Mollison, which sparked an idea.<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"3\">While visiting a farm in Italy, he found himself desperately digging for earthworms. When the farmer told him there weren\u2019t any &#8220;because you don\u2019t need them,&#8221; Friedrich began to question everything.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4 data-path-to-node=\"4\">A Holistic Vision: Everything is Connected<\/h4>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">For Friedrich, farming isn\u2019t an isolated job; it\u2019s part of a much bigger picture. He holds a deeply philosophical, holistic view of the world where everything\u2014from soil microbes to the end consumer\u2014is linked. He doesn&#8217;t see his farm as just a production site, but as a living organism where people and nature live in harmony. In his eyes, a peaceful society can only exist if we produce in tune with nature. If we get it right, there\u2019s enough for everyone\u2014we just can&#8217;t afford to destroy the foundations.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">One of the biggest things driving Friedrich is a deep-seated worry about the state of the modern diet. He explains that much of the food we eat today is &#8220;empty.&#8221; By this, he means conventional produce that, thanks to pesticides and long storage times, has lost any real nutritional value. He lives by the rule: Healthy Soil = Healthy People. Only living, regenerated soil can produce fruit that actually nourishes the body.<\/p>\n<p id=\"p-rc_f32d3f7ba47d6bae-282\" data-path-to-node=\"13\">One of the first things Friedrich did was build a large pond\u2014not for irrigation, but purely for the birds, frogs, ducks, and fish. It also acts as drainage during heavy rain. They produce their own organic fertiliser using microorganisms, supplying the trees with a steady stream of minerals through a drip irrigation system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you take a stroll with Friedrich across his farm near Gibrale\u00f3n today, the first thing you\u2019ll notice is the noise: a literal wall of birdsong. But behind this idyllic scene lies a radical choice made years ago\u2014one that flew right in the face of convention. Today, having held Demeter certification since 1994, he\u2019s living [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":57640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-field-notes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The \u2018Mad German\u2019 40 Years On - WTF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover Finca Jelanisol-Montebelo: learn how Friedrich has been combating \u2018empty\u2019 food and healing the soil since 1994 through Demeter farming and a holistic vision.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crowdfarming.com\/en\/what-the-field\/field-notes\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u2018Mad German\u2019 40 Years On - WTF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover Finca Jelanisol-Montebelo: learn how Friedrich has been combating \u2018empty\u2019 food and healing the soil since 1994 through Demeter farming and a holistic vision.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crowdfarming.com\/en\/what-the-field\/field-notes\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WTF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-24T13:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T08:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crowdfarming.com\/what-the-field\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_6421-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Magdalena Werner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Magdalena Werner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Magdalena Werner\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/what-the-field\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0c9fec9d9b80554c44118cd7f2c9d46b\"},\"headline\":\"The \u2018Mad German\u2019 40 Years On\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-24T13:01:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-31T08:10:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":392,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/laruchequiditoui.fr\\\/what-the-field\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/IMG_6421-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Field Notes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdfarming.com\\\/en\\\/what-the-field\\\/field-notes\\\/the-mad-german-40-years-on\\\/\",\"name\":\"The \u2018Mad German\u2019 40 Years On - 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