Tom Troonbeeckx

Tom grew up in several small towns around Leuven with his mother and brother. He was always interested in plants and gardening, and it was his role in the family to take care of the plants and vegetables. Tom didn't however imagine farming as a successful profession, as a farmer's incomes is not only determined by the weather but also by wholesalers and food chains. Despite having enjoyed working as a social worker for a while, his heart kept bringing him back to the fields.
As Tom doesn't fly, and being an adventurous traveler and cyclist, he at one point biked to Istanbul.  On his journey he discovered the ways of the Eastern European farmers and Community Supported Agriculture. This trip changed his life and when he got back to Leuven he started building his dream.

"I wanted to do it the human way, on human scale, with my feet on the ground."

The great thing about Tom is that he is not only a young ambitious entrepreneur working in a very sustainable way on his land, he lives ecologically in every part of his life. He finds ecological low-tech solutions to most things, his home for instance. Tom is renovating the house using no concrete or dangerous chemicals. Tom has tried not having a phone, but quickly realised his friends won't accept it, they always give him their old ones. So, at least for now, he accepts that the mobile phone is a part of his everyday life. Find out more in the sections on the right