What is FAI?

We are Fundación Agroecológica Iguazú (FAI), an organization founded in 2010 that promotes shade-grown yerba mate in Argentina.

OUR CORE PURPOSE IS: to regenerate life for the health of the planet.

Our location is key. We are based on the Andresito Peninsula, in the province of Misiones, Argentina, within one of the most important biological corridors in the region. This is the area of highest biodiversity within the Atlantic Forest. Our reserves are located very close to Iguazú National Park and, across the river, to Iguaçu National Park in Brazil. This territory is of the highest priority and importance for ecological conservation—locally, regionally, and globally.

We are guardians of two reserves of life and biodiversity in Misiones—Raíz 1 and Raíz 2—spanning 115 hectares, along with a gateway office in Buenos Aires.

We unfold our work through our Domains of the Earth:
Atlantic Forest — do, Hummingbird — learn, Mycelium — research, Flying Rivers — connect, and Cereví: CEREVÍ yerba mate, CerevíLab, and the Centro de Regeneración de Vida— together weaving a living network dedicated to regenerating life and the Atlantic Forest.

We inhabit and regenerate through our Domains of the Earth:

ATLANTIC FOREST

We implement agroecological practices to regenerate the Atlantic Rainforest and promote regenerative farming for a healthy planet, aiming to become a reference site for the promotion of these practices in the region.
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We have 115 protected hectares of land: 22 hectares of shade grown yerba mate,
5 hectares of refugio and agregar la palabra: “agroecological” gardens, 88 hectares of Atlantic Rainforest.

HUMMINGBIRD

Learn

We are dedicated to learning together with the community about regenerative agroecological systems in our region, fostering more sustainable agricultural practices through our “Nature-Based Learning” initiative. We offer authentic and in-depth learning experiences for children, schools, and universities. Our intention is to amplify the voice of nature by creating immersive experiences that unfold through art, storytelling, and play, accompanied by our own visual materials.
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In these years, we have reached over 2,700 students through our workshops and visits to the Reserve, where we host local schools and conduct meetings with NGOs, universities, and international regeneration programs.

MYCELLIUM

Research

We conduct research and support others in their research on agroecological regenerative systems.
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Our wildlife monitoring program has identified
28 mammals in our reserve, including 2 yaguaretés,a critically endangered species.

FLYING RIVERS

Connect

We connect with other institutions and actors to expand our regenerative systems approach at the local, regional and global levels. These include forging collaborative framework agreements with other institutions and organizations, to engage with our foundation, to expand the regeneration network.
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We have received 20 volunteers, worked with 2 NGOs: CeiBA and Proyecto Yaguareté and 2 government agencies as INYM, Inta.

CEREVÍ

Cereví is a living way of doing, thinking, inhabiting, and sharing.
A way of relating to life through regeneration, interdependence, and learning in process.

It is also a way of experimenting: moving through questions and answers in motion, in a spiral path—returning to what has been lived with new perspectives.

It expresses itself through interwoven dimensions: as a living product in our shade-grown yerba mate cereví, as a physical space in the Centro de Regeneración de Vida, and as a methodology in CerevíLab.

How does each Kingdom unfold its work?

ATLANTIC FOREST
Do

SHADE GROWN YERBA MATE PLANTATIONS

These are regenerative yerba mate production systems, enriched with native plants that generate adequate shade for the cultivation of yerba mate, a form of sustainable production with positive environmental and social effects.

From these systems emerges CEREVÍ, our organic and biodynamic yerba mate—the result of years of work in shade-grown yerba mate groves within the native forest, where production and biodiversity coexist in balance.

NATIVE SPECIES TREE NURSERY

Native plants are species indigenous to a country or region before human intervention ever happened and are an integral piece of the local ecosystem. We are multiplying yerba mate and other native tree species in our nursery with our sights set on reforesting and restoring balance to the Atlantic Rainforest region.

AGROECOLOGICAL GARDENS

An agroecological garden is a plot of land designed for environmentally sustainable production of different crops. The garden produces healthy food regeneratively, managing resources rationally and naturally.

BIOPREPARATIONS

Biopreparations are products made from organic vegetable, mineral or animal matter used to improve crop development or soil health regeneratively.

YERBA MATE PLANTATION CERTIFICATIONS

Different certifications with an on-site audit carried out by independent control agencies, allow us to verify and guarantee that our production systems follow the established requirements for organic products and fair trade practices, biodynamic agriculture and organic regeneration.

HUMMINGBIRD
Learn

SCHOOLS VISIT FAI

We arrange visits from community schools to FAI to teach them about agroecological systems and generate more awareness and visibility about shade grown yerba mate through their lived experience at the reserve.

FAI VISITS SCHOOLS

We visit schools in the community to learn about agroecological production and the regeneration of life for the health of the planet, to make visible the production of yerba mate under shade and to generate relationships with key actors in the community.

FAI BIO-LIBRARY

We generate innovative content on the Atlantic Rainforest biome, the yerba mate productive cycle, green corridors and biodiversity that we use during visits and workshops and put on our website for educators from anywhere in the world to use.

LEARNING NETWORK

We provide spaces for discussion, participate in events organized by other institutions and offer our facilities to promote and enrich dialogue related to regenerative agroecological production systems.

MYCELLIUM
Research

RESEARCH AT FAI

We offer our foundation’s territory and facilities to institutions and researchers, conduct our own research projects and spread our knowledge about regenerative agroecological practices.

INTERNAL MONITORING OF WILDLIFE

We monitor the fauna inside the reserve to check on how they coexist with the shade grown yerba mate production and to contribute to and disseminate knowledge about Atlantic Rainforest fauna.

FLYING RIVERS
Connect

FRUITFUL DIALOGUES

In our Cerevi, Life Regeneration Center we bring people together from diverse disciplines and contexts to explore and encourage conversations in search of concrete regenerative actions that may have a positive impact on the environment and the community.

BRIDGES FOR REGENERATION

We have established collaboration framework agreements with other local, regional and global institutions to collaborate on issues related to shade grown yerba mate systems, agroecological farming and the regeneration of natural environments.

REGENERATIVE VISITS

The foundation’s reserve is open to people interested in learning about shade grown yerba mate production, agroecology and regeneration. We offer tours through our programs and an introduction to the rainforest.

SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

We share content and experiences on our social media and other media aiming to educate people about agroecology, our activities and regeneration, and with a deep and respectful view of nature and our role in it.

CEREVÍ
Connect

CEREVÍ YERBA MATE

Our organic and biodynamic yerba mate, cultivated under the living shade of the forest in our reserves in Misiones. The sale of each package of yerba mate helps sustain and expand the foundation’s regenerative projects.

CEREVÍ ESPIRAL – CENTRO DE REGENERACIÓN DE VIDA

Is a wooden structure designed in a Fibonacci spiral, created to inhabit the forest, gather, and share: a space to stay, meet, and live in direct connection with nature.

CEREVÍLAB

Is a living methodology of learning. Inspired by the sacred yerba mate plant, by the interdependence of nested systems—from the personal to the universal—and by the play proposed by Apusama, CerevíLab invites us to explore in a spiral way and to enjoy the process of co-creating responses that regenerate life. It is how we approach every question within the foundation.

CEREVÍ is our organic and biodynamic yerba mate, cultivated under the living shade of the Misiones forest

It grows in balance with native trees, fertile soils, and a biodiversity that breathes in every leaf.

For years, much of yerba mate production in Misiones has moved away from its natural environment, giving way to monoculture, full-sun systems. At Fundación Agroecológica Iguazú, we work to reverse this process by restoring the forest to the sacred yerba mate plant.

We promote shade-grown yerba mate systems, integrating native species and supporting transitions toward more diverse and living ecosystems.

Coming soon, our CEREVÍ yerba mate will be available through different channels and payment methods. 100% of the proceeds go toward sustaining the work of FAI and its regenerative projects.

Centro de Regeneración de vida - cereví

Along a spiral-shaped wooden walkway that ascends through the forest, moving across its different strata, you reach a series of yurts— culminating at a viewpoint overlooking the Iguazú River in the distance.

We stay in yurts—replicas of ancient dwellings from the steppes of Asia. These are low-impact structures designed to experience nature in a close, safe, and comfortable way.

Walking this Fibonacci path invites a shift in perspective, deepens observation, and transforms perception. It is a lived experience, difficult to fully express in words.

Cereví is a space within the Atlantic Forest that offers those who visit an experience of connection—with the jungle, with others, and with oneself. It is also a space for “Fruitful dialogues” and for living experiences in connection with the yerba mate process.

At the same time, it invites a closer connection with the daily work of Fundación Agroecológica Iguazú:the native nursery, the agroecological gardens, the care of the forest, and the regenerative and research processes unfolding across its different Kingdoms.