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Open Field Notes

Reports straight from the field: everyday stories, harvest successes – and setbacks – as well as farmers’ own words.

Latest in Field Notes

3 min

The ‘Mad German’ 40 Years On

If you take a stroll with Friedrich across his farm near Gibraleón today, the first thing you’ll notice is the noise: a literal wall of birdsong. But behind this idyllic scene lies a radical choice made years ago—one that flew right in the face of convention. Today, having held Demeter certification since 1994, he’s living proof that his “madness” was the only logical response to the crisis facing our soil.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: A friend gave him a book on permaculture by Bill Mollison, which sparked an idea. While visiting a farm in Italy, he found himself desperately digging for earthworms. When the farmer told him there weren’t any “because you don’t need them,” Friedrich began to question everything. A Holistic Vision: Everything is ConnectedFor Friedrich, farming isn’t an isolated job; it’s part of a much bigger picture. He holds a deeply philosophical, holistic view of the world where everything—from soil microbes to the end consumer—is linked. He doesn’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’s enough for everyone—we just can’t afford to destroy the foundations.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 “empty.” 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.One of the first things Friedrich did was build a large pond—not 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.

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Open Society

Where farming meets society: EU policy, supermarket dynamics, prices, and food culture explained.

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7 min

Tap water, or a glass of glyphosate?

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Open Regenerative farming

What regenerative farming means in practice: beyond the buzzwords, articles with evidence on soil health, water cycles, biodiversity, and farmers' livelihoods.

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16 min

Grass-fed meat is turning our relationship with the organic label on its head

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This category gathers articles related to CrowdFarming: our model, our data, and our impact.

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5 min

One Design, One Season

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This section gathers our in-house research papers and studies that put data behind the promises of regenerative agriculture.

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3 min

The profitability of soil regeneration

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Open Recipes

Seasonal and sustainable recipes from growers, eaters, and our team. Waste less, taste more.

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45 min

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

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Society

min

Published March 2026

The infinite range of apple varieties

With an estimated 30,000 different varieties worldwide, the sheer diversity of apples is overwhelming. But why is there such a great number of varieties among apples, of all things? The answer is relatively obvious: the wild apple comes from the Caucasus and parts of Asia and was domesticated there thousands of years ago. The journey to Europe was also relatively short, and so the Romans were already cultivating different apple varieties in the 6th century BC. Until today, the apple has lost none of its popularity and has therefore had a lot of time to be selected into the most versatile varieties. 

Even though the selection of apples in many supermarkets still seems huge today, of the thousands of different varieties, only about 25 are cultivated in commercial orchards and even fewer are regularly offered for sale. In the 1970s, there was a standardisation in fruit growing towards high-yielding and easy-to-care-for apple trees that produce apples that are as uniform and tasty as possible. The new varieties are usually sweeter than the old ones. Many old varieties thus fell into oblivion. For some years now, however, the old tart to slightly tart apple varieties have been found again in isolated cases at farmers’ markets and in organic food shops.

Old apple varieties

Among the old apple varieties are all those that originated before the middle of the 20th century. There was no deliberate cross-breeding in fruit growing at that time, and the different apple varieties emerged from cross-breeding that occurred by chance. The old varieties are gaining popularity again today due to their diverse flavours and usage characteristics. Old varieties are also interesting for apple allergy sufferers because they are usually better tolerated.

One of these old and now hardly known varieties is Kronprinz Rudolf. Discovered in Styria in 1860, it was one of the most important varieties in Austria for decades. Due to its pressure-sensitive skin, however, it is not suitable for mechanical harvesting and sorting and is therefore very rarely grown today. The medium-sized, flat-round apples have a shiny, light yellow skin that is bright red on the sunny side. The tender white pulp is juicy and tart. 

However, there are also some old apple varieties that are still widely grown and popular. These include the Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Gala varieties. 

  • Golden Delicious, as the name suggests, is yellow and very tasty. Probably discovered in the USA around 1890, it quickly spread around the world and is now one of the most important green-yellow varieties. Because of its firm texture and sweetness, it is suitable for almost all types of recipes.

  • The Granny Smith is known for its crisp and bright green skin and its tart, juicy flavour. It was discovered by Maria Ann Smith (Granny Smith) in Australia in 1868. The Beatles made this apple a star when they chose it as the symbol of their “Apple Records” label. 

  • The well-known Gala variety was also discovered in the Southern Hemisphere. It was accidentally bred in New Zealand in the 1930s from a cross between Kidds Orange and Golden Delicious. In the supermarkets, however, one more often finds the more strongly coloured related variety Gala Royal.

Most popular apple varieties

Besides Golden Delicious, the most popular and most commonly grown varieties include the somewhat younger varieties Elstar, Jonagold, Braeburn, Idared, Pinova, Topaz and Fuji.



The two red-yellow varieties Elstar and Braeburn date back to the 1950s and are popular for their juicy and slightly sour taste. Both varieties are suitable for eating fresh as well as for baking or making juice and apple sauce. While the crisp Elstar was bred in the Netherlands and is now the most commonly grown variety in Germany, Braeburn was discovered by chance in New Zealand and is now one of the most important varieties of apple growing there. 

The red Fuji is a popular dessert apple for its sweetness and crunchiness and is the most widely grown variety in the world, especially in China. It was bred in Japan in the late 1930s.

Especially in the northern growing regions, the red-yellow to bright-red Jonagold variety is often found. It has a yellowish and juicy pulp and is particularly suitable as a dessert apple due to its balanced sweet-fruity to slightly sour taste. It was bred in the 1940s in the USA, where the Idared variety was also developed at almost the same time. This variety, which is also yellow-red, has a rather mild flavour and is characterised by a good storage life. 

The German variety Pinova and the Czech variety Topaz are particularly crunchy and aromatic-fruity varieties and are not only suitable for direct consumption, but also for baking and cooking. Both have a red-yellow skin with pretty stripes. The modern variety Red Prince, also called Red Jonagold, is also becoming increasingly popular. It is bright dark red and impressively sweet and crunchy.

New apple varieties 

In the meantime, apple varieties are no longer bred only for their taste, but primarily for certain characteristics, such as resistance to diseases. Through targeted breeding, natural resistance to pests and diseases can be strengthened. These resistances are particularly important in growing organic crops, as no synthetic pesticides can be used. Adaptability to changing climatic conditions is also becoming increasingly important when breeding new varieties.

These resistant varieties, which are particularly suitable for organic farming, include Natyra and Choupette. The red-yellow Natyra is specially bred for organic farming and is somewhat sweet and tart at the same time. The French variety Choupette Bio is a popular organic variety in France due to its resistance to diseases and fungi. Like many modern varieties, it is also very sweet and has a pleasant tartness.

However, modern varieties are not only bred for health, other aspects are also important in our time. The Santana, for example, is particularly allergy-friendly. A special protein in the apple triggers the allergy. Varieties like Santana, as well as most old apple varieties, do not produce this protein. This means that they can also be eaten by people who are actually allergic to apples. The disadvantage of the old apple varieties for many people, however, is that they are usually more tart than the modern varieties. The Santana variety combines the hardiness needed for organic cultivation with good tolerance for allergy sufferers. However, the yellow-green to red apple is somewhat more acidic than the Elise variety.

Which variety to use for apple pie?

If you want to bake with apples, certain characteristics are required. The fruits must not lose their aroma and juiciness during baking. Some apple varieties even develop their full potential only during baking. Firm pulp and a sweet and tart taste are required. Some of the most popular varieties for baking that have these characteristics are:

  • Braeburn
  • Elstar
  • Granny Smith
  • Jonagold
  • Red Prince
  • Fuji
  • Gala

Written by Linda Horbach

Linda Horbach

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Humans have an unusual relationship with food. We spray crops with chemical pesticides to make sure no other species eats them, and then we eat those pesticides intended to kill other living beings. It is a curious arrangement, and one that extends well beyond the farm, considering a good portion of those chemicals does not stay where they are sprayed. Pesticides, the heavy artillery of industrial

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