Thomas Gerbracht, 51, was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Although he was a successful businessman in the food and entertainment industry, he sold up and moved to Sri Lanka with his young family 14 years ago to chase his dream of becoming an organic farmer. Today his company, Target Agriculture, is a $10m-a-year concern that markets organic fruits in Europe and the US and, increasingly, in Asia.
I live on a hillside estate of 100 hectares in the southern part of Sri Lanka, 5km from the ocean. From my veranda all you can see is a brilliant green stretching out as far as the eye can see. It’s a beautiful and unspoilt place. There is no pollution, the air is fresh and the water is clear and pure.
I grew up in a vastly different place. Ludwigshafen is a small industrial town of 200,000 people. When I visit Germany for business, usually once or twice a year, I make sure that I stop by my hometown.
As a young adult I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My father was a senior policeman but I studied economics. As a way of earning money as a student I bought a share in an English pub [in Germany], which was always packed with people and I did very well out of it. Over time I invested in bistros, a French dining restaurant and a few discotheques. Sure, I had a lot of fun in this business. But over time I grew weary of the long hours and knew I had to get out eventually. Who wants to be 65 and still be standing in a noisy and busy pub until 3am?
In 1993 I wanted to be some place where I could feel free and less stressed. My wife, Heike, and I decided to sell the businesses and buy an estate in Sri Lanka and cultivate fruits, mainly pineapple, papaya, passionfruit and coconut, without the use of agrochemicals. Organic farming is the most sustainable way to feed people and the only way forward for the sake of our children and the planet. The fact that my business in organics is good vindicates my decision to invest my money and energy into it. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to convince people of its potential at first.
Why Sri Lanka? Let me put it this way: you get two types of people who come here – those who visit for two weeks and never come again and those who, like me, fall immediately in love with the place. When we came here in 1986 on holiday I was very much impressed by the people, who are always so happy, so friendly. I also loved the fact that the land is lush and remarkably fertile. You can put a stick in the soil here and it will grow. Mind you, there were practical considerations, too. Unlike many other places, we were able to get 100 per cent ownership of our land without having to have a local partner.
At first everybody in Germany thought I was crazy and that I’d be lucky to last six months in Sri Lanka. I did have some hard times in the beginning. I had many crop failures and, as a German who was used to rules and order, I had a lot of trouble understanding how things worked. Often people here might say: “Yes, sure, no problem” and then you find out at the last minute that in fact things aren’t as OK as you thought. Often I’d want to send a container overseas only to have the factory manager ring the day before shipment to say there was a problem with the supply.
The other thing that is hard for someone who grew up in a place like Germany is that people are often late. They say they’ll meet you at a certain time but might not turn up until the following day. These traits are neither bad nor good. It’s just a different way of living that you need to learn to accept and know how to manage. Now I add two weeks into my calculations when I’m exporting my products.
And there were things I missed about Germany, such as good coffee, good sausages and bread, which you couldn’t get here then. But it’s getting better. When we first arrived, our local supermarket in Colombo had only one variety of cheese. Now we can buy nearly everything – from salami and coffee to 30 varieties of cheese.
But despite these hardships I didn’t want to go back and prove people right. Besides, I’m the type of person who doesn’t give up. The harder something is, the harder I try.
I got my main break when I decided that instead of selling what I grew locally - given there was so much fruit that people were throwing it away - I’d export dried fruits and juice to my hometown. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, even from way back. My grandfather, who was a farmer, gave me a small plot of land when I was six and I grew flowers and strawberries so I could sell them.
There’s a huge demand for our products, so I have to be constantly on the lookout for new sources to satisfy customer demand. I buy certified organic produce from 15,000 smallholders around Sri Lanka as well as from larger farms in Malaysia and Thailand. I export to Europe, the US and now Asia and the Middle East. But my business isn’t just about buying and selling. I also promote and provide education and support to my farmers about organic cultivation.
In the beginning the local people saw me and my family as tourists and after some months [they] wondered when we’d be going back to our homeland. Our son, Sascha, 21, who was six when we moved from Germany, had to be home-schooled at first because the local school wouldn’t accept him. But by the time we had our daughter, Natasha, 12, she went to school with no problems. I suppose when people realised we were doing things that were good for the people and the country, they accepted us.
The 2004 tsunami brought us especially close to our local community. We helped with the relief effort. We got 170 tons of food and medicine from friends in Germany and several firefighters from my town to come and help us. We also had our estate staff serve curry and rice to 2,000 people every day and [we] helped raise funds to build an eco-village for the survivors. These days they grow organic nuts and fruits on their plots, which my company buys.
Am I lonely here? Not really. There’re some Europeans in the garment factories and the tourism industry. We have good connections with them and we enjoy dinner parties and that sort of thing. We also get a lot of visitors from Europe – mainly customers who come regularly to visit the plantations. And I travel quite a bit because of my business.
Anyway, moving here was not about more of the same but about adventure. Of course I knew about the civil war in Sri Lanka but I can’t say that, despite having a young family at the time, it ever put me off. I figured you could get attacked in Germany if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the most part, Sri Lanka was and is peaceful and safe. You can leave your car with an open window and everything will still be there when you return. How many other places let you do that?