Planting
Our Regenerative Organic Certified™ bananas are grown in the nutrient-dense soil of Northern Nicaragua. Our farmers use 100% regenerative organic farming techniques, drawing down atmospheric carbon into the soil to cool the earth. Additionally, legumes are planted around the plants to protect them and infuse nitrogen into the soil during their life cycle. As part of an agroforestry system, coffee and many other species of fruit trees and native hardwoods are planted to increase biodiversity and diversify our growers’ incomes.
We work directly with over 150 smallholder Nicaraguan farmers to plant, grow, and cultivate our Regenerative Organic Certified™ banana. Our regular community technical assistance workshops and those of the cooperatives, as well as our one-on-one training programs help farmers manage their watershed and soil heath, improve yields and biodiversity, and comply with certification.
We pay above market value with annual contracts and send our trucks into remote, mountainous areas to collect the bananas so our farmers do not have the burden of selling their fruit elsewhere. The results of these actions are increased income and improved livelihoods for smallholder farming families. Your support provides a market-based solution to poverty alleviation.
Harvesting
Our Regenerative Organic Certified® banana mother plants take about nine months to bear fruit. At that time, an exotic pink flower will bloom at the top of the banana’s trunk. As the flower grows, it unveils clusters of bananas. Our farming partners use a machete to cut through the thick stem when they harvest, and they use the stems as compost or to protect the soil as groundcover.
Collection Centers
The growers and our Sol Organica staff carefully inspect and weigh each farmer's harvest, review their account statements, and record their progress towards bonuses or prizes from quality competitions between collection centers. Receipts are printed out for each grower at the time of collection. Invoices are also printed and sent along with the raw material to Sol Organica's loading dock.
Sol Organica’s collection team gathers the raw material from collection centers located in San Juan del Rio Coco, Madriz and Jinotega. The team makes a visual inspection and selects the fruit according to our raw material specifications.
Receiving and Processing
The fresh, hand-selected bananas are then loaded onto Sol Organica’s truck and transported to the processing facility in San Marcos, Carazo, Nicaragua.
The warehouse staff receives all the documentation indicating the following: quantities of raw material, certification or category (FSA, fair trade, organic, regenerative organic, etc.), and name of cooperative, farm and farmer in order to guarantee full traceability. Then our staff responsible for quality control reviews samples to ensure they comply with our premium standards.
Our Regenerative Organic Certified™ bananas are washed, peeled and processed for Sol Simple Solar Dried Banana, bulk dried banana, or banana puree. They are then packed and prepared for export. Nothing is added (100% natural), and all our banana products are sugar, preservative, sulfate, and pesticide-free. The bananas are processed under strict sanitary conditions in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices and our FSSC 22000 certified food safety management system.
Transportation & Storage
The finished product is packed and then shipped in full load containers to the Port of Everglades in Florida, U.S.
For our European customers, our finished products are shipped to Port of Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
Our packaged banana products are stored at our warehouses in the U.S. and Europe, and then shipped to you and other customers to savor!