Reforestation

Our South American team lead by founding partner, Alex Pryor, is dedicated to finding the best mate in the world.  Over the past decade, Alex has built relationships with growers committed to sustainable forest production in Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil.   We work with these growers to produce yerba mate which is rainforest-grown, certified organic and fairly traded.

The Kue Tuvy Preserve borders the 150,000 acre Mbaracayu Biosphere Preserve.  The Kue Tuvy Preserve sustains 35 families of indigenous Ache Guayaki people and is protecting 12,500 acres of Interior Atlantic Forest.  The Ache Guayaki are the last hunters and gatherers remaining in the Atlantic Forest. This particular community believes in not cutting the forest down and is motivated to discover new alternative sources of income in order to keep the forest intact.  We are working on a 4 year plan to grow yerba mate below the native forest canopy in order to generate a sustained income for at least 10 families by the end of the decade.  Our goal is to be part of an economic alternative for the Ache Guayaki community by offering a market for sustainable management practices and certified organic products. 

You are the ones who make this all possible!


Achipurangui is the shaman at the Ache Guayaki community.

Learning the strings at an early age


Ache passing mate in the forest

Alex shares a gourd with Beto

Harvesting at Cofaeco

This is LULA, president of Brazil, having a gourd at Beto's father in law farm. A member of COFAECO from whom we purchase yerba mate.

Bird Conservation

The conservation of yerba mate’s natural habitat is important to biodiversity conservation; and specifically bird conservation.  Only a century ago, most of the Atlantic Forest was intact.  Today, less than 5% of this forest is left (see map below).  The Atlantic Forest of North Eastern Paraguay, North Eastern Argentina and Southern Eastern Brazil, is one of the world’s top 5 biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al. 20000) and one of South America’s highest priority sites for bird conservation (Stotz et al. 1996; Stattersfield et al. 1998).  Yerba mate is endemic to the Atlantic Forest.  There are several ecoregions within the Atlantic orest with varying elevations, flora and fauna.  In the Southern province of Santa Catarina, Brazil, for example, mate grows natively and abundantly below a higher elevation “araucaria” tree species which is also endangered and under protection in Brazil.

Conservation and native mate production go hand in hand.  While it may be hard to believe, most yerba mate today is cultivated in sun plantations, on land that was once part of the Atlantic Forest. Regional economic pressure and history took its course.  Today, the survival of many endangered bird species is dependent upon the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest– For complete study, click here.  One of the Atlantic forest region’s most widespread crops is the native yerba mate.  Although it is almost always produced as a monoculture in full sun, yerba mate can be grown in shade under native trees (Eibl et al. 2000).  For certified organic, shade-grown yerba, farmers in Paraguay receive two times the price of traditional, sun-grown yerba mate, making shade-grown mate an economically viable option despite slightly lower yields. 

Management considerations:  (Excerpt from study)   
“Thus, shade-grown yerba mate could be planted in buffer zones or biosphere reserves as a compromise between bird conservation and agriculture.  Although the shade-grown yerba plantation did not support forest understory or midstory birds, it contained all of the canopy and tree trunk species from the nearby forest, including five globally threatened and near-threatened species.  The results suggest that shade-grown yerba mate may be an appropriate land-use for buffer zones around reserves in the Atlantic Forest.”

  Bird Study PDF