Through the innovative program “Regenerating Lassithi Plateau and Its People – Towards a Sustainable Food Destination” Metaxa Hospitality Group actively connects organic regenerative food production with the hospitality sector, placing soil health at the center of its strategy.
Soil is a non-renewable natural resource whose health is continuously deteriorating worldwide, mainly due to intensive cultivation and the worsening climate crisis, putting global food security at risk unless immediate action is taken.
It is estimated that within the next 50 years there may be no cultivable soil left on the planet capable of producing food. This is particularly significant considering that 95% of our food originates from soil.
Organic regenerative agriculture is considered by experts to be one of the most reliable ways to restore soil health. Its core principles include minimizing soil disturbance, crop rotation for diversity, maintaining soil cover through natural vegetation for protection, preserving root systems year-round, and integrating livestock into cultivation wherever feasible. This approach contributes to carbon sequestration, increased crop yields, and improved health and well-being of rural communities.
As part of the Metaxa Hospitality Group program, implemented since 2023 in collaboration with the Lassithi Plateau Agricultural Cooperative and with the contribution of Local Food Experts, local producers are trained on-site at the Lassithi Plateau by specialized agronomists and apply organic regenerative farming principles in their fields. The resulting products, distinguished by exceptional taste and higher nutritional value, are used as ingredients by the Group’s hotel chefs and served to guests, who enjoy an upgraded gastronomic experience and connect authentically with the destination hosting them.
By linking organic regenerative food production with gastronomy, hotel guests gain awareness of how the food on their plates contributes to restoring soil health, water resources, and biodiversity. Through experiential and educational activities in the hotel gardens, they participate in planting, harvesting, and other farming tasks, and often cook alongside the chefs using ingredients produced through organic regenerative practices.
To date, more than 40 stremmas (approximately 4 hectares) of agricultural land on the Lassithi Plateau have been regenerated, while over the last three years the Group has absorbed approximately 90 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables cultivated according to organic regenerative agriculture principles.
Metaxa Hospitality Group, recognized as the first hospitality group in Greece with organic regenerative hotel lands certified under the O.R.A. (Organic-Regenerative Agriculture) Standard by DIO (the official National Organization for Inspection and Certification of Organic Products), has been implementing the principles of organic regenerative agriculture since 2011, contributing to healthy soil systems.
Within the framework of the “Sustainable Hotel Farming” program, 75 varieties of organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs have been cultivated for years in the Group’s hotel gardens in Crete and Santorini. At the same time, the Group applies regenerative landscape management practices certified under EU Regulation 2018/848 for Organic Agriculture across approximately 2,000 stremmas of land, one of the largest such areas in Europe.
