The Costa Verde partnership of Anton Becker, Clive Washington and Glenn Booth began with a visit by the partners to Chile in 1993. The visit was made with the view of establishing drying facilities in close proximity to the moss resource in the Xth Region of Chile where climatic conditions are similar to the West Coast of New Zealand. This was seen as an advantage in assisting with quality control and applying experience and technology gained in New Zealand processing moss under similar climatic conditions.
The processing plant is located at Totoral in the Llanquihue province on
the Pan American Highway, 1000km south of Santiago. It is situated close
to the picturesque Lake Llanquihue and overlooked by the magnificent Osorno
Volcano. The company office is situated in Puerto Varas and all export documentation
is handled from the closest major town, Puerto Montt. Most of the moss grown
in Chile is from around this area of the factory and further south.
The construction of tunnel houses and packing facilities were completed in 1995. Orders increased markedly in 1996 which placed pressure on the operating plant to meet increasing demands. In 1996 and 1997 further drying tunnel houses and extensions to the existing processing plant were undertaken.
Chile moss was seen as providing an opportunity to enter the international market with a different species of moss to that of New Zealand but superior to Chinese moss. We also knew that we had a product that would improve the management of orchid growing compared to Chinese moss. Initially it was assumed that Chile moss would not compete against New Zealand moss due to its different structure and the true potential of Chile moss was unknown.
We are continually changing our strategy to improve and then maintain our supply and quality for the future. We as a company have been proud to produce quality and consistent moss for our markets and customers.
Since Costa Verde’s inception the Chilean industry has evolved with new entrants and competition has become intense. The quality of Chile moss has improved and the price difference to New Zealand moss became a major factor in increasing sales to the detriment of New Zealand moss sales.
Through the changes in the Chile industry, Costa Verde has continued to change bringing new innovation that has quickly been adopted throughout the industry. Costa Verde has a long and proud history in the Chile industry and will continue to strive to produce quality moss for the world Orchid industry.