Sustainable Hotel Farming at Metaxa Hospitality Group

Nature in Balance

At Metaxa Hospitality Group, we document the creation of a sustainable ecosystem within our hotels by:

  • Producing our own food based on sustainable terms
  • Investing in our place’s wisdom. We learn and utilize local farming and horticultural practices drawing on knowledge from the Minoan Bronze Age to the present day
  • Applying cultivation and horticultural practices that eliminate our environmental footprint and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • Developing a self-controlled ecosystem in our hotels through the sustainable man-made landscape management with biodiversity zones.

Food Production System

We follow the principles of the European Green Agreement, and we aim, through the EU “From farm to fork” strategy, to contribute in a positive way to the actions for the climate change and environmental degradation, as well as to a sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly food system.

Our sustainable choices include the optimal management of natural resources — water, energy, food raw materials —, the promotion of soil health as well as the management of organic waste through four different application fields: vegetable gardens, herbs, edible nuts and grasses.

We seek to connect sustainable food production with gastronomy, offering healthy food options to our guests.

Sustainable Hotel Farming

At Metaxa Hospitality Group, we have implemented a 360º approach incorporating 4 pillars:

  1. Issues Related to Energy
  2. Own Food Production
  3. Sustainable Landscape Management
  4. Training & Communication

Graphic

 

1. Issues Related to Energy

Data

  • Fertilizer production, distribution & application: 1.61 kg Co2eq1 / kg / per average fertilizer preparation
  • High energy consumption for the production, distribution & application of pesticides: 5,500 kg Co2eq / ha / per year
  • Food travel: food travels an average of 2800 km to reach our plate
  • Key components affecting GHG: Food & Beverage, Landscape, Housekeeping, Maintenance, Building & Reconstruction, and Transportation.

Our Action

  • We work toward reducing carbon greenhouse gas emissions
  • We use EU-approved formulations, thus achieving GHG savings
  • We trust the earth to act as a binder. We avoid using fertilizers and pesticides, thus allowing the soil organic matter to function and bind carbon
    1 Equivalent Commitment CO2
  • We have been applying these procedures since 2012. Today, we are in the 3rd year of recording comparative models.

Result
We reduce our energy footprint by implementing a coherent policy of sustainable practices for horticulture, cultivation, and food supply chain in our hotels.

2. Our Own Food Production

Edible Landscape
In the gardens of our hotels, we cultivate using certified sustainable practices:

  • organic herbs
  • organic fruits & nuts
  • organic vegetable gardens

Self-production of fresh vegetables
Metaxa Hospitality Group's policy is to apply certified, innovative and sustainable methods of food production and cultivation, utilizing local practices and knowledge that have their roots thousands of years ago.

  • Lazy Beds: A form of cultivation used by the Minoans (and the Incas — although they had not culturally "met"). This form increases productivity in units of time and land, ultimately leading to an increase in food production and a subsequent increase in population and culture.
  • Open Air Seasonal Production:
    • We choose indigenous plant varieties, thus reducing the need for continuous care and energy consumption as the endemic species adapt to the local climate and geology.
    • We cultivate based on seasonality. This way, we do not have to "push" or "reinforce" nature to produce something other than the natural
    • We apply combined cropping in varieties among which we have identified auspicious coexistence, thus saving space, water, nutrients, and fertilizer.

We offer what we produce to our guests
Metaxa Hospitality Group hotels have their own organic gardens. We directly connect the cultivation of our gardens to our hotels' restaurants and bars. In combination with the "Sustainable Supplies" initiative, we associate the production of raw materials with quality and responsible consumption and gastronomy.

Τhe annual crops that are decided, arise after consultation of the chefs' team, the greenkeeping team and the Local Food Experts agronomists team.

3. Sustainable Landscape Management

Sustainable management of man-made landscape, a term used to denote the intervention of man to plant something where it did not exist, is based on our following actions:

  • We take care of soil health.
    • We use nutritional preparations, soil conditioners and protection products, fertilizers with organic matter, and earthworm compost.
    • We utilize composting. The first step to achieving significant results concerning climate change is to stop the production of methane coming from landfills. We achieve it by simply preserving biodegradable organic materials outside of landfills. Thus, we prevent high methane emissions and build healthier soils. Also, in this way, we replenish carbon reserves by allowing natural soil functions and we support sustainable agriculture resulting in healthier food production.
  • We reduce water use.
  • We do not use synthetic pesticides or herbicides.
  • We apply non-human intervention zones allowing nature to act. Thus, we encourage the development of biodiversity zones that contribute to creating a self-controlled ecosystem.
  • An organic cultivation and horticultural process takes place in all our hotels, while we have been in a process of accession the European regulation EU 2018/848 for our organic agriculture.
  • Creta Maris organic garden has been certified for its organic cultivation by EU 2018/848. Moreover, it has received Organic agriculture certification and label from the European Union.

4. Training & Communication

Mindset transformation comes through small actions. At Metaxa Hospitality Group, we contribute to developing a new concept of hotel agriculture and its connection to the production and supply of food. It is our moral duty to inform and educate the stakeholders with whom we interact, namely:

  • The Executives and employees of our Group
  • Our existing and future guests
  • Our partners and suppliers
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