ABOUT
ECOTIERRA

WHO WE ARE

ECOTIERRA is a unique, holistic, sustainable agroforestry project developer & operator.

Foreword.

ECOTIERRA is the culmination of over 20 years of work with coffee and cocoa cooperatives and their members. First, as founders of Pro-A, a non-profit, we saw cooperatives through their creation, their first certifications, and their first exports. We then founded Distribution Solidaire, an importing business created to sell cooperatives’ certified products in Canada. Working with cooperatives from different angles, and working through the whole value chain cycle, we were able to see firsthand what works and what doesn’t.

We understood that the biggest opportunity to increase producers’ revenues and livelihoods was to go beyond certification, to increase quality and productivity. We also realized that most producers had significant untapped potential to increase production on degraded land but lacked the financial means and access to quality inputs, adapted technical assistance and carbon finance. We saw the opportunity of cultivating coffee, cocoa and other products in agroforestry systems to generate diversified incomes.

We created ECOTIERRA in 2011 to bring those solutions to scale which have the added benefit of addressing two of the most significant threats of our time: climate change and land degradation. Farmers are the first to suffer from those threats. And when we invest with them, they can play an essential role in making the solutions reality.

- Étienne & Karina

Picture of Karina Santa COO and Co-Founder of Ecotierra in front of a Peruvian Landascape

Karina Santana
COO and Co-Founder

Picture of Étienne Desmarais in front of a coffee drying bed. He is the CEO and CO-Founder of Ecotierra.

Étienne Desmarais
CEO and Co-Founder

Our
Mission.

Work with small-scale producers to use land responsibly to accelerate the sustainable development of their communities, thereby combating climate change and land degradation.

Our
Vision.

Co-create and integrate multiple partnerships that enable producers to control their economic, social and environmental development through the strengthening of agricultural and forestry value chains.

Our
Values.

. Empowerment
. Social justice
. Integrity
. Achieving Result

Article.

ECOTIERRA: A Holistic Approach to Face the Challenges of Coffee Production

Climate change imposes redefining our production habits, to which coffee makes no exception. While specialized coffee becomes increasingly democratized and grows at an unparalleled speed in major centers, farmers are abandoning their plantations as they struggle to make a decent living.

Read full article here.

Leaf less tree with a sunset in the back

Finca Escuela Nursery of coffee plants and young trees

Field technician making an analysis of the soil

Our Team.

ECOTIERRA’s team is composed of passionate individuals who share a common goal:
creating and operating climate change mitigation projects in the land-use sector, empowering communities through sustainable production and climate-smart agriculture.