SHANAO CACAO

The first meeting began on the steps of the local community hall. Gordon introduced us and began listening. People filed in and the meeting began. Señor Leon spoke as the manager of the local bank, Euler and Linda spoke about the importance of control for frosty pod rot and the necessity of provenance for profit maximization and organic certification. It came time for Gordon to speak and over the next 45 minutes he laid out the concept of the regenerative model for conservati

In November 2013 Gordon called me and asked if I would like to go into a partnership and buy an 8.5 acre cacao farm in the Alto Mayo region of Shanao Peru. Two months later Gordon's wife Sarah (a Peruvian citizen) became the owner of our first farm. Using Google Maps we gained our first glimpse of what was soon to become a large part of our dreams and hopes. The first photos were hard to put into context. The farm looked like it needed a lot of work but it helped us locate it