Sepp Holzer

Josef "Sepp" Holzer (born July 24, 1942, in Ramingstein, State of Salzburg, Austria) is a farmer, an author, and an international consultant for natural agriculture. After an upbringing in a traditional Catholic rural family, he took over his parents' mountain farm business in 1962 and became well known for his use of ecological farming, or permaculture, techniques at high altitudes (1,100 to 1,500 meters (3,600 to 4,900 ft) after being unsuccessful with regular farming methods. Holzer was called the "agricultural rebel" by the Austrian biologist Bernd Lötsch because he persisted, despite being fined and even threatened with prison for practices such as not pruning his fruit trees.