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He lived in South Carolina for 6 years, where he went to High School. He then returned to Düsseldorf. It was clear to Marc that he wanted to study Horticulture & Business Management at HAS: “Not too far from Düsseldorf; high standard; lots of interesting people. And, above all, the lectures are in English.” He praises HAS for it’s great atmosphere, practical approach and its efforts to share knowledge and ideas.

His passion is permaculture, whereby you design ecosystems and use the natural environment as efficiently as possible. The basis is caring for our planet and the people who live on it, and sharing its wealth. “It’s not the growing population that’s the problem, but the badly functioning distribution of food. I want to help people learn how they can grow their own food.”

“Luckily, organic farming systems are on the rise,” says Marc. “Conventional agriculture isn’t sustainable enough. Above all, people feel estranged from the food chain. Ask 10 consumers what a bean plant looks like. They don’t know.”

His work experience placement is at Floris Natuurlijke Bomen in Den Dungen, an organic company that grows apple, pear, cherry and plum trees. The company works mainly with older species and species with a high resistance to disease. “I like their approach: don’t fight nature, but work with it. The trees also don’t need to be all the same shape and size.”

An ambitious project currently taking place is planting a food forest near Empel. Marc wants to collaborate with 7 like-minded individuals to develop an ecological system close to this small village on the Maas, where vegetables and fruit are grown according to the principles of permaculture.

So what will be the fruits of his 4 years’ labour at HAS? “The knowledge that I want to continue to share. I hope to become a consultant on permaculture. Anywhere in the world.”