Ecological Rosehip plantation near the sunny hills of Leányvár, Hungary
The story of the first dedicated rosehip plantation in Hungary started in 2016, when 150 acres of Rosa Canina was established. The area for growing this ancient plant was chosen carefuly: beautiful hillside north of Budapest, pleasantly far away from busy civilization, and above a water resevoir.
Why rosehip?
People often ask us why we chose rosehip? We wanted to develop a farming system that is profitable and economically sustainable without a subsidy system, creating sustainable farming where we don't exploit or destroy the soil, rather try to improve the overall cultural condition of our soils. Our aim was to create an ecological community - as far as the limits of agricultural production allow -, and to develop a sustainable farming system that is an organic and natural part of its surroundings.
In these very hilly areas, this - on the one hand - means the plantation of permanent crop, making sure that neither wind nor water can significantly erode the soil, furthermore, the planted crop can initiate humus formation that lead to a sustainable farming in the long term.
On the other hand, we chose rosehip because it is one of the most widely used herbs: there are uses for this plant on the pharmaceutical, on the tea and on the canning industry, so we believe there is market potential for it.