Alfred Grand is an organic arable farmer near Tulln, Austria. Minimising tillage and using a rotational cropping system on his 90 ha farm is what he swears by to increase organic matter in his soil. He is part of the Austrian Operational Group BIOBO.

Since 1998 Alfred has reduced tillage and when he converted to organic farming in 2006, he stopped using fertilisers completely. His approach since then has to been to look after his soil as a priority, in order to ensure healthy and productive crops, whilst storing carbon in the soil. Alfred: “If I want the soil to work for me, I have to provide the environment and the tools so that my soil can fulfil all its functions. This means I have to reduce tillage, seed cover crops as early as possible and implement a good crop rotation”.