Entrepreneurs who pursue exemplary and sustainable paths with their business ideas were honoured by "Business Art" magazine with the "Sustainable Shapers" award. The Mostviertel distillery Destillerie Farthofer is one of the outstanding recipients – alongside Barbara van Melle (Kruste&Krume), Bettina Leidl (Kunst Haus Wien), Ulli Retter (Hotel Retter), Josef Weghaupt (Joseph Brot) and many more.
Josef Farthofer has succeeded in refining his raw produce – such as grain and fruit, which fetch modest prices on the open market – into exceptional distillates that are in demand around the world today. We produce fruit brandies from our own fruit as well as whisky and vodka from our own grain. At the same time, from the very beginning we have run the business according to organic principles and a resource-conscious circular economy:
On our fields we cultivate rare varieties in order to produce extraordinary distillates. Elephant grass grows on our fields to fire the still, the distillery spent mash is spread back onto the fields as fertiliser, and the surplus heat is fed into the local community grid. To ensure that the malt for our whiskies is 100% Bio and to allow us to create entirely individual whiskies, we have even invested in our own Malzwelt. And the crystal-clear water needed to bring the distillates to drinking strength comes from our family's own spring.
Not romantic – but rational
"Sustainability means not only working organically, but also acting with social responsibility and, above all, economic viability." Josef Farthofer takes a thoroughly unsentimental view: "Working ecologically is not a religion – it's a logical necessity if we want to continue using our soils for generations to come. Giving our team a genuine sense of joy in their work matters deeply to me, because I want them to stay with us for the long term. And economic success is vital if we are to hand on a healthy business to the next generation. So we don't work sustainably because it's fashionable – we do it because it's the only way to survive in farming."
The "Sustainable Shaper" trophy is awarded by the magazineBusinessArt for 10 years now. "Back then, businesses that wanted to work sustainably were seen as cranks," she smiles, Editor-in-Chief Roswitha Reisinger. Today they are established pioneers, showing their fellow professionals how it's done.
We are one of 26 entrepreneurs honoured this year – on the tenth anniversary of the award.
