Brennende Felder

In his novels Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker tells the stories of farming living environments in the age of rapid technological, social and cultural change. His most recent novel Burning Fields is about city and country, about family secrets and the burdens of the past. The protagonist experiences how abysses lurk behind the rural idyll. Can the shadows and burdens of the past be cast off? Is it possible to find oneself again in every new phase of life?

Kaiser-Mühlecker runs a family farm himself. He commented on the future of farming in an interview in the newspaper Der Standard in 2022: “If we carry on like we’re doing now, soil researchers estimate that we will have available between 60 and 100 years of fertile arable land. That means 60 harvests and it’s finished; then nothing will grow anymore. Until then, the soil will degrade around the world due to wind or water erosion, mismanagement of the land, loss of soil due to urban development and deforestation.”

What does he think about alternatives to industrial agriculture? About smart region, smart farming, the use of AI in farming as well as living together in the rural village?

Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker
b. 1982, is an Austrian author. After spending time in Argentina, Bolivia, Germany and Sweden, today he runs a family farm in Austria. His books have received many awards including the Bavarian Book Prize. Recently published: Burning Fields, 2024

A book of soft power, a farming and “Heimat” novel, which could not be more modern, impressive and with no illusions.
Andreas Wirthensohn, Wiener Zeitung