A letter from Joe Chermesino, co-owner of EcoTeas.

The subtropical province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina is about the size of the state of Massachusetts. Although it comprises only 1% of Argentina's landmass, it produces 70% of Argentina's timber, and it is home to 40% of Argentina's biodiversity.

Misiones contains the largest surviving remnant of the Interior Atlantic forest, which once stretched from southern Brazil to Paraguay.

One of the many beautiful things about yerba maté - in addition to its great taste and amazing health benefits - is that it can be grown organically in the shade of a thriving forest canopy. Food crops and fruit trees can be interplanted with the yerba maté trees. Yerba maté can form the basis of a sustainable local economy.

However, most yerba maté is grown on large plantations. The forest is logged off, never to be replanted. Weeds are controlled with herbicides. Workers are payed low wages to harvest the herb from these large estates. The subtropical sun beats down on the exposed red earth.

My two best friends and I started EcoTeas seven years ago with a clear set of intentions: to promote organic agriculture; to provide healthy high-quality teas at great prices; and to model a better way to do business by incorporating sustainability and social responsibility into the bottom line equation.

Today, we find ourselves blessed with the opportunity to live our intentions. Working together with universities, nonprofits, our customers, and our family farm partners, we are turning 2007 into the "Year of the Native Tree."

Our family farm partners are planting thousands of native trees in and among their yerba maté orchards.

Also, we are helping our farm partners reacquire a parcel of ancestral yerba maté land that has lain fallow for decades. This plot will provide valuable insight into how we can encourage forest regrowth as we restore the land's economic productivity.

Finally, we are helping other small growers who live near our farmers to achieve organic certification. This will preserve our farm's watershed and raise the whole community's standard of living.

We believe this project will serve as a beacon for other small farmers throughout the region, and the world beyond. We'd like to express our deepest gratitude to you - our customers - for choosing to support us over the years. Your participation makes our efforts possible. As my good friend and business partner Stefan Schachter one wrote, "Together may we sip our teas in excellent health as we dream up a better world."

Read more about the reforestation efforts:

• Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands (.pdf)
• Presence & Abundance of Birds (.pdf)