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Eggs from hens’ paradise find a packaging match made in heaven

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A sustainable farm business from field to egg

hufe8 is a family-owned farm from Germany, dedicated to sustainable farming and producing organic eggs, meat & vegetables. A “hufe“ is a piece of agricultural land sufficient to sustain a family. The suffix “8” relates to the fact that the family’s hufe was the eighth in their street.

The “Demeter farm” hufe8 is firmly rooted in the principles of organic farming and species-appropriate animal husbandry. A Demeter farm is one whose products carry the “Demeter” seal for certified products that have been grown biodynamically – i.e. using only organic fertilizers.

All the nutrients the soil needs are provided by the animals of the farm, and the high-quality organic feed the animals need is produced on the farm, too – in their own mobile grinding unit.

Happy hens and healthy crops

Their mobile henhouses, moving with the crop rotation of the fields, create a symbiosis of agriculture and animal husbandry: once a field is harvested, the chicken coops are wheeled in.

hufe8’s laying hens can potter in and out of their mobile coop, all year round, to graze and scratch at will while fertilizing the soil and the plants as they, nourish themselves.

If the weather turns bad, the coops even have winter gardens so the hens can still take dust baths and do the outdoor things chickens love to do.

Rooster boosters

What’s more, the farm has taken a stand against the killing of male day-old chicks: for each laying hen, they fatten one of her brother roosters. Owner Lukas Propp says, "This is important for us, because without chicken and rooster, there would simply be no eggs."

The organic eggs are sold in various organic food stores across the northeast of Germany.

hufe8’s sustainable ethics go right through to the packaging

hufe8 don’t see the point in raising sustainable eggs if the principle doesn’t also apply to their packaging. This is why the family farm opted for Hartmann’s 2x6 imagic.

Like all Hartmann products, this premium moulded fibre egg packaging can be recycled and reused. But that said, it doesn’t compromise on marketing either - its large front area affords the biggest advertising space a brand could wish for.

Transparency in communication

hufe8 sets high standards with its husbandry methods and feed cropping, so of course it wants to talk about them openly and honestly. Insights into everyday life on the farm are freely shared through their social media channels, and they also organise an annual open day and will arrange to accommodate anyone who’s interested in a personal visit.

“We’ve enjoyed a good and trusting partnership with Hartmann for years. We’ve always felt it crucial to have a supplier who “gets” the concept of hufe8 and supplies products that fit our vision. Hartmann do all this and more, and we’ve always known we can depend on their unfailing support and fast response times.”

Anna & Lukas Propp, Owners, hufe8

 

About hufe8
hufe8 from North Germany (formerly known as Hufe VIII) is a family-owned farm with a 200-year history. In 2013, the husband-and-wife team Anna and Lukas Propp took over the farm to realise their passion for sustainable farming, focusing on species-appropriate animal husbandry. The farm has six mobile henhouses, each with more than 1.500 hens.

 

29 November 2021
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