Meet the Urban Plant Growers

Welcome all Urban Plant Growers, to a place for everything green and growing!

We are Dilhan and Peter, the founders of Urban Plant Growers. There is a tonne of quality content coming through to help you grow better, think greener, and live a more sustainable lifestyle, but for the moment we think its time to give you a short introduction on who we are and why we're doing this.

Peter and I met in our final year of university while on a trip up the NSW coast with the camping club affectionately called "UTS Intents". We spoke about Tesla, water security, and how I looked like a "body builder who let himself go", but never really touched on hydroponics. A few months later I spoke to a mutual friend about my plant babies - a bunch of different herbs and leafy greens that I had been growing hydroponically in my house. He told me that Peter had been working on something too. I texted Peter that night and the next day we had our first business meeting.

Ten months later and Urban Plant Growers has grown beyond our belief. We've gone from a single smart garden that allows you to grow simple plants, to a range of unique products that we think will massively improve your ability to grow your own fresh food. 

While we have come a long way, there is plenty of progress to make. Our dreams of a more sustainable planet are as clear as ever, and we've outlined a series of innovations and pathways that we aim to follow to achieve this. From a technical point of view we are aiming to increase our range, and open up our own hydroponic farms in areas that are the least self-sustainable in terms of food. This will provide food to people in a hyper-local arrangement, resulting in fresher food with a smaller environmental footprint.

Along with these technical innovations comes the social impacts. Much of the benefit that we can create through our business, comes from the behavioural change that we hope to trigger. We want people thinking about food miles and food waste when they buy their food, if people are in tune with the source of their food and the journey it has taken to get to them, then they will live healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. 

In addition to these behavioural changes, we want to tackle the reputation of the word "Hydroponics". Hydroponics is a word often associated with marijuana - a damaging reputations that breezes over the ability of the technology to aptly address the growing demand for food in our increasingly urban societies. We will continue to change perceptions of the word "hydroponics", and in doing so break down barriers for its use in agriculture.

Above all else - we plan(t) to give back. How great would it be if end of financial year bonuses went to charities rather than CEOs? We are working on clearly defined donation targets so that our customers can know that if we make "XXX" sales per year, that means a $1000 donation, or if we sell "YYY" items, then we will plant 200 trees. Giving back is a social obligation of businesses, and an area where we think real impacts can be made.

Thanks for reading, there is plenty more to come from Urban Plant Growers. As always, feel free to shoot us any questions in comments, social media, or through our email address.

Happy Growing,

Dilhan and Peter,

Founders of Urban Plant Growers