Impact
Our work is guided by the three core ethics of permaculture: care for the earth, care for people, and fair share.
Circular Permaculture Economy
Our work is based on the principles of permaculture – with the aim of regenerating depleted soils, strengthening biodiversity and restoring healthy ecosystems .
Our products come from cooperatives of permaculture smallholder farmers who operate according to the permaculture arboretum model. This combines permaculture with agroforestry to create productive, resilient, and profitable farms.
The focus is on three central plant types:
Social plants
Basic foodstuffs and fruits for personal consumption and local markets – they ensure the nutrition and health of communities.
Ecological plants:
Promote biodiversity, regenerate the soil and make the system more resilient to environmental stress.
Economical plants
Premium products such as vanilla, coffee, dried fruits or nuts secure income and thus long-term prospects.
The arboretum model combines these three functions without violating the principles of permaculture. Unlike monocultures, it strengthens biodiversity, ecological health, and economic resilience.
Our role: Circular Permaculture Trade connects these products to international markets. We purchase premium products (so-called "cash crops") such as vanilla, coffee, dried fruits, and nuts at reasonable prices and ensure a fair distribution of value along the supply chain.
Direct partnership & value creation
Our products are created in close collaboration with the Ugandan social enterprise Broadfield Enterprises Uganda (BEU) and its network of permaculture smallholder farmers in Africa.
For us, direct trade means:
- Partnership-based development instead of anonymous raw material procurement
- Use of local resources & expertise
- Strengthening the regional economy through real local added value
BEU works in three key areas:
- Permaculture training : for farmers and schools in Uganda and Togo
- Cooperative development: for knowledge transfer, appropriate price negotiations, joint processing and certification.
- Quality & market connection: including packaging, storage & brand development
Our role: We connect producers and customers – and make permaculture tangible through meaningful collaboration.
Permaculture Innovation: Education, Research & Improvement
In keeping with the permaculture ethic “Fairshare,” we invest 40% of our profits in projects that promote education, research, infrastructure, and local processing .
Our focus:
These investments enable:
- Tropical Permaculture Education Institute of Africa (TPEIA, www.tpei.africa ) – an educational center for regenerative land use & permaculture methods with the aim of disseminating knowledge and promoting local implementation.
- Local infrastructure for storage and processing - enables local processing, thus increasing the value of the products and the economic opportunities in the communities.
All this is made possible by an African-led permaculture value chain that:
- Strengthens small farmers,
- Increases product quality
- creates market connection,
- Providing customers worldwide with pesticide-free, high-quality, and fairly traded premium products.