Hausnatura

This interview details Hausnatura, an indoor farming company based in Slovakia. The interview is with Filip Toska, Co-Founder and CEO of Hausnatura.

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What is the origin story of Hausnatura?

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Hausnatura started as an idea in 2011, which was a hydroponic farm in the basement of my flat building. We started with lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I then transferred the set up to a school I worked at and some students helped me to improve the operation. Which allowed me the opportunity to meet some investors who were interested in helping us expand into a warehouse building which now houses the vertical hydroponic farm. 

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We use vertical racks that are 1.5 meters wide and 3 meters long to grow our herbs, lettuce, and spices. We have also seen success growing medicinal plants with hopes to expand further when regulations change. 

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Hausnatura in the future?

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Starting out the biggest challenge was the self education process, it took me time to invest in the knowledge to help set up everything myself. Designing, equipment, and HVAC services, andI had to learn how to transfer from an non-hydroponic farm to a working hydroponic operation. My persistence in educating myself led to me getting the results I needed to gather the data to grow nutrient rich produce. 

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Going forward, war in Ukraine has affected the electricity cost which has increased nearly 200%. Our competitors are also expanding into our space and I’m seeing many of the larger companies starting to slow down on production. 

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What is unique about Hausnatura compared to competitors? How do you measure the impact of your company so far? (Revenue, Employees, Customer Quantity, Production Volume) etc?

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What sets us apart is our thorough understanding of the grow process. We believe we have a management system that allows us to make adjustments that provide us with optimal growing conditions with micro nutrients. Our data analysis has proven to give us great results. 

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The quality of the product is our biggest measurement, we have a consistent customer base that enjoys a full year of quality produce. Now that we grow medicinal plants we have been able to help people who need those types of herbs. We operate with 3 daily employees and a management team.

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What have you learned that you wish you knew when you joined or started the company?

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I went into this doing aquaponics first and I wish I knew what that entailed before I invested so much time. There is a lack of predictability in aquaponics which is something I’ve been able to eliminate with our vertical hydroponic farm. This allows us to manage how much and what nutrients are needed which makes a more precise ingredient for successful growing. 

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I believe there is a huge potential in Europe for growing medicinal plants but none grow hydroponically but we are interested in building a partnership to grow in our location. 

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Hausnatura? 

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Hausnatura on Linkedin

Hausnatura.com

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