Financing Organic Quinoa From Indigenous Farmers

Provenance Grainways LLC manages the complete U.S. supply chain operations for its affiliate Jacha Inti, Bolivia's leading organic quinoa processor and exporter, enabling direct sales to a premier membership-based retailer. Through its integrated logistics platform—handling import operations, customs clearance, warehousing, and distribution—Provenance eliminates multiple intermediary layers typically found in international commodity trading, allowing more value to flow back to Bolivian farming communities.

Provenance Grainways and Jacha Inti were founded, and are operated, by Sergio and Fabricio Nuñez de Arco, two brothers dedicated to supporting farmers and enriching the land.

By managing the complex logistics and financial requirements in North America, Provenance enables more than 100 family groups farming on 8,000 hectares (over 19,000 acres) on the Bolivian Highland Plateau to efficiently access premium US retail markets. This streamlined approach requires significant capital to both maintain inventory flow and manage payment terms with major retailers.

The farmers supplying Provenance have been stewarding the high deserts of South America for thousands of years. Their ancient methods use stone walls to protect crops from wind damage, incorporate llamas to maintain and improve soil health, and use a continuous process of selective seed breeding to ensure the quinoa remains strong in the face of a changing climate.

As quinoa grew in popularity, some farming families tried to keep up with demand by moving out of the hills to the flatter plateau and taking up the use of modern farming tools and techniques—tractors, synthetic fertilizers, irrigation systems, separation of plants and animals. It wasn’t many years before some farmers realized the modern techniques they had adapted were delivering poor soil health, poor plant health, and poor harvests. By returning to their culture’s ancient methods—reintegrating llamas, focusing on adding life to the soil, building stone walls—the Provenance farmers are able to regenerate their land and crops. Jacha Inti is working with these farmers to gain Organic and Regenerative Organic certifications, which opens doors to higher margins and more demand.

We are proud to support the Provenance and Jacha Inti team led by CEO Oscar Saavedra and COO Antonio Salazar, together with founders Sergio and Fabricio Nuñez de Arco, and the amazing farming families that are producing quinoa and regenerating their beloved home and heritage.

Use of Funds

This loan will be used by Provenance to purchase certified organic and regenerative quinoa from Jacha Inti's network of farming families. This quinoa is fully traceable and origin-preserved, and is grown on Bolivia's highland plateau to meet the exacting standards of a premier membership-based retailer's private label brand.

Provenance Grainways manages the complete U.S. supply chain operations - from import logistics and customs clearance to warehousing and distribution—enabling Jacha Inti to sell directly to one of America's leading retailers. Steward's lending is only activated once the quinoa has been cleaned, tested to meet specifications, and loaded for ocean transport. The product is insured from shipping through warehouse storage until final delivery to its client's distribution centers.

Regenerative & Sustainable Practices

Provenance is committed to supporting farmers and enriching ecosystems. They take a holistic approach to regeneration, ensuring stewardship of all the resources within the system—ecological, social, economic, and so on. To that end, Provenance Grainways, working as Jacha Inti:

• Actively tracks yields per farm as an indicator of health;

• Analyzes soil samples (measuring carbon content);

• Conducts biodiversity measurements;

• Preserves water table by not irrigating crops;

• Supports planting of cover crops for improved soil health and livestock integration;

• Provides 4 on-staff agronomists to support growers;

• Purchases 100% Certified Organic quinoa;

• Purchases 10-20% Regenerative Organic Certified quinoa;

• Purchase 60% of total volume directly from farmers and aim to continue to increase this number;

• Encourages growers to utilize the following ancestral practices:

• Crop rotation & fallow periods to preserve fertility;

• Use of llama manure as a natural fertilizer;

• Creating wind barriers to reduce erosion and adapt to the harsh conditions of the high plains;

• Preserving indigenous knowledge and encouraging farmers to hand select heirloom varieties best suited to their conditions;

• Maintain high standards for not just their farmers, but also their employees that work in their processing facility. This includes:

• Employing 100% Bolivian workforce, 95% of workforce is mestizo indigenous;

• Ensuring that all employees are on payroll and earning a social security check;

• Staffing a full time doctor at the plant that employees can access;

• Employing a full time chef and kitchen workers to provide meals to employees;

• and providing transportation to work.