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In March 2009, Guayaki, a leading creator of organic yerba mate beverages, announced that it was the first company in the world to offer fair trade certified yerba mate through the Institute for Marketecology’s (IMO) Fair for Life certification program.

Since its founding in 1996, Guayaki has been paying more than double the commodity price directly to small-scale farmers and responsible growers for its yerba mate. Like coffee and cocoa, yerba mate is now a fair trade certified global commodity.

Guayaki’s current goal is to steward and restore 200,000 acres of South American Atlantic rainforest and create over 1,000 living-wage jobs by 2020 by leveraging their “market-driven restoration” business model.