At a Glance

Location: Chile

Impact Areas: Employment generation, Labor inclusion

People Supported:
Indigenous Peoples, Smallholder Farmers

Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2022

cooperativarewe.com

Overview

Chile is the world’s third largest exporter of frozen raspberries. In the last decade, an increase in consumer demand for berries has transformed the fruit into one of the world’s main agri-food export products.

Based in Cholchol, Araucanía, Cooperativa Rewe is a Mapuche cooperative that produces berries. The cooperative is dedicated to supporting local Mapuche farmers – a group of indigenous inhabitants native to south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina – and grew from five to 200 active members in 16 years, impacting more than 1,000 people in the community. 

Following regenerative agriculture practices, the cooperative sustainably sources and sells berries harvested by Mapuche farmers as frozen juices, jams, and pulp, to national and international wholesale clients and food stores. They also sell individually quick frozen berries to exporters.

As part of its strategy, Rewe provides tailored technical assistance and training to its Mapuche members, supporting them to improve orchard and land management. Rewe’s production technique training is rooted in traditional Mapuche practices. Rewe organizes its farmers through “Mingakos” – a process by which farmers within the community help each other to complete farming activities, including irrigation installation, planting, and pruning, to reduce costs and improve production efficiency. 

NESsT Investment

NESsT’s investment will support Cooperativa Rewe to improve its infrastructure and expand its irrigation and food plants to include more hectares of agro-ecological farming lands. NESsT will work with Rewe to establish goals for client acquisition and to strengthen marketing and communications.