Each member is also contributing wood, construction materials and labor to build the processing facility. Members of the cooperative are working in several different ways to encourage the restoration of the forest. By creating local demand for these nuts, which only produce in their natural setting, the trees become more valuable and thus farmers and foresters look for new and innovative ways to protect this fragile ecosystem. Nuts for this market come from different sources. Both members and non-members bring nuts from their land to sell to the cooperative.
Many nuts arrive by boat, traveling down the Madeira River.
This year the co-op purchased over 200,000 kilos of nuts. Most members have about 60 trees planted at least six years ago. These trees are not expected to yield for many more years. However, they will be in place when, hopefully, researchers discover new pollination techniques to set larger nut crops. Additionally, they are propagating new trees to supply their members and for sale to other farmers.