Globally Present

Problems: At the time of our partnership, Panama was a little-known origin for pineapple. Neighboring Costa Rica was a dominant force in pineapple exports, owning over 50% of the market share internationally. The Vergara family had the experience, but lacked the global presence, market awareness, and logistical capabilities to access profitable markets overseas. Because they relied heavily on importers, La Dona of Panama had little control over their distribution channels, and couldn’t diversify their customer base. Thus, they had a limited ability to respond to changes in the market. With La Dona Fruit, the biggest challenge was establishing ourselves in markets, asserting control over our distribution channels, and promoting awareness of Panama as an origin of high-quality pineapple.

Solutions: We knew that we couldn’t compete with Costa Rica on volume. With lower labor and transportation costs, Costa Rican producers were able to flood the markets with huge quantities of green and low-color fruit. But we knew that the Vergara farm in Panama had certain advantages: with less rainfall and more sunlight, we could produce fruit with better coloration. Additionally, there were more direct flights to Europe and other regions from Panama City – five flights to Europe per day, compared to two per week in Costa Rica. We knew we had to leverage our superior access to markets. By leaving the fruit on the plant for a longer period of time and using air-freight to access markets quickly, we were able to establish a position for ourselves as high-color, high-maturity pineapple producers. This allowed us to introduce Panama as a trusted origin for premium air-freighted pineapple, and helped us carve out a place for ourselves in high-end markets like Europe and even Dubai. Additionally, by acquiring the La Dona brand, we were able to utilize Farmfolio’s global presence and acute awareness of market conditions, allowing us to respond to volatility and sell directly to wholesalers and retails. Air Pineapple been a huge success, and is emblematic of our ability to solve problems across the agribusiness supply chain.

Problems: As we analysed global teak markets, we found that after extraction, transportation, processing, shipping, and marketing, the value of Farmfolio’s teak holdings at Pietrasanta had been overstated. As we continued to investigate teak forestry operations in Colombia, we identified a problem – and an opportunity. Colombia lacked any major centralized, organized teak processing facility, and teak sourcing was for the most part disorganized and decentralized. We concluded that the absence of a centralized, formalized, value-added teak processing facility was preventing Colombia’s high-quality teak from being consistently available in global markets .

Solutions: In the teak-producing regions of Colombia, there was no local resource for value-added processing or sales. Farmfolio established Burroteka as the first centralized facility for value-added teak processing in Colombia. Growers throughout the Caribbean coastal region of Colombia now have an accessible location to sell or transform their teak. Burroteka offers international teak buyers the opportunity to minimize transportation costs by transforming teak in the country of origin, and reduce unnecessary timber tariffs. The facility features a state-of-the-art, high-velocity saw milling line, which maximizes timber processing efficiency and net output. The unique location of the facility is in the heart of the largest timber-growing region of the country, and is also within close proximity to multiple international ports, allowing easy access to the major teak markets. Farmfolio has implemented its go-to-market strategy, and is concentrating on distribution channels downstream in the supply chain to maximize the profitability of the project. In its first three months of operation, Burroteka became the largest clean-cut sawn teak exporter in Colombia.