OPIC and Big Tree Farms Partner to Modernize Southeast Asian Agriculture
November 5, 2015
(OPIC)
$3.7 million in development finance supports U.S.-led coconut and cocoa producer
in Bali, boosting livelihoods for low-income farmers
Financing comes through innovative OPIC offering to support impact investments
WASHINGTON – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S.
Government’s development finance institution, recently committed $3.7 million in
debt financing to Big Tree Farms, Inc., a U.S. company headquartered in Ashland,
OR that is advancing sustainable, organic coconut and cocoa agriculture across
the dispersed islands of Indonesia.
Big Tree Farms started organic farming operations in Bali, Indonesia in 2000,
and through sound U.S. business, labor, and environmental standards, provides a
reliable, increased livelihood for low-income farmers living in the tropical
country. With this OPIC financing, Big Tree Farms will scale up their
operations, increasing processing and production centers alongside farmer
training in sustainable agriculture practices and responsible land use.
Big Tree Farms cultivates region-specific crops like coconut and cacao, and in
turn processes these into internationally-consumed coconut sweeteners, cacao
butter, powder and nibs and concentrated coconut water. By ensuring producers
follow organic certified farming practices and managing supply chain and
processing operations in accordance with fair trade principles, Big Tree brings
U.S. leadership to advance the Indonesian agriculture sector.
The OPIC support comes through the agency’s Portfolio for Impact, a pilot
program designed to support unique projects with significant potential for
positive social impact, one of several OPIC innovations to further support to
impact investing, a sector that addresses the world’s development challenges
through private sector business solutions.
“Outward-looking American entrepreneurs with social and environmental objectives
like Big Tree Farms are at the heart of OPIC’s work,” said Elizabeth
Littlefield, OPIC’s President and CEO. “Their unique business plan was a perfect
fit for OPIC’s adaptive and innovative Portfolio for Impact, which is designed
to serve projects for which traditional finance instruments offered no perfect
fit. I look forward to the positive impacts for the Indonesian agriculture
sector Big Tree Farms will achieve thanks to OPIC support.”
“The partnership with OPIC represents an exciting new chapter in Big Tree Farm’s
growth. Our company has built a global reputation for innovation, ethical
business and high quality product, and now with this new partnership in hand,
Big Tree Farms will finally be able to scale appropriately for global demand and
market requirements. These are holistic projects we’re going to execute;
allowing us to not only expand capacity and improve our technologies, but as
well positively impact the lives of many more thousands of traditional farmers
across Indonesia,” said Ben Ripple, co-founder and co-CEO of Big Tree Farms.
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