Conventional organic quality is a thing of the past – today it's hyper-local organic-plus quality.
With urbanhive's smart indoor gardens, you achieve a new level of organic quality. Conventional organic quality with a plus in nutrients, flavor, sustainability and transparency.
On this page you'll find out why we offer a plus in organic quality – and yet cannot be certified as organic.
1. Healthier
Growing right at home eliminates transport, which makes our plants fresher, more nutrient-rich and healthier. You harvest and eat at the same time. This preserves vitamins and antioxidants, maximizing freshness and nutrient content. Thanks to the optimal, protected growing conditions in the hydroponic system in your home, you always get healthy plants that grow without any soil.
For comparison: the average transport distance from farm to supermarket for lettuce and the like is between 200 and 450 km (source: ifeu (2013)). In addition, supermarket produce quickly develops dangerous bacteria (sources: Verbraucherzentrale NRW (2020); Nagel (2020)).
2. More flavourful
When hand-selecting our seeds, we focus on organic seed stock that delivers a full-bodied flavor and is very easy to digest. We rely on top seed quality and regional sourcing.
For comparison: when fresh plant products are stored, anaerobic metabolic processes increasingly occur, which promote the development of off-flavors (source: Gruber (2014)).
3. More sustainable
Lower water consumption and shorter transport routes reduce the CO₂ footprint and make a significant contribution to protecting the environment – an advantage that traditional organic produce cannot offer. Our smart indoor gardens rely on resource-saving growing methods: the hydroponic process uses between 90 and 95% less water.
For perspective: conventional agriculture uses 237 l of water per kg of lettuce (sources: Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011); Statistisches Bundesamt (2020)).
4. More transparent
You know exactly how and where your food grows. Without middlemen or the uncertainties that can arise in traditional organic supply chains, you have complete control and confidence in the quality.
Why no organic certification?
Although we actually offer more benefits than classic organic quality, we cannot be officially certified as organic, because we grow hydroponically and growing in soil is a criterion for organic certification. Our urbanhive experience and our smart indoor gardens set new standards and go beyond the well-known "organic quality", as they are healthier, more sustainable and more flavorful. On top of that, you enjoy full transparency.
More than organic
We stand for organic-plus quality.
Michael, Jonas and Sven
(founders of urbanhive)