Seed of the Incas
Starseed® Sacha Inchi is a super seed indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. Its unmatched nutrition has been valued for over 3,000 years in Peru. It has nourished native communities for centuries, providing the fuel and focus needed to help build Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire that spread throughout most of South America.
Our Story
Starseed founders and childhood friends Juan Manuel Benavides and Wallis Winder grew up in Peru, the land of plenty.
Witnessing the social unrest of the times in Peru, each pursued different paths and spent over a decade travelling, studying and working abroad.
They would however eventually return to Peru and the Starseed journey starts in the Amazon rainforest.
Amazed by the jungle’s vast energy and its fragile balance, they also soon identified some of the most imminent threats to the Amazon’s subsistence – illegal timber, unorganized cattle grazing in the jungle, subsistence slash and burn crops, single crop agriculture, illegal drug trade. They set out to find a different way…
While working in a reforestation project, trekking thru the dense forest they found what they were looking for…
Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia Volubilis l.), the best kept superfood secret of the Incas!
Wallis & Juan Manuel
Starseed co-founders, on a quest to change the way we care for our health and our planet.
Impact
Our unique model of working directly with small and integrated farming communities maximizes our impact and ensures that we are helping find alternatives to activities that harm the rainforest.
A win-win-win. For you. For our farming communities. For our planet. Together!
We directly organize, train and oversee a network of small, regenerative farms in Peru. We provide farm schools, organic certification, machinery for hulling, solar beds for clean drying, farming equipment and tools, and long-term relationships with safety net prices and fair trade practices. This allows us to have full traceability for our products, assure quality standards and make sure that the impact of our operations stay true to our values.
Impact Testimonials
"It makes us very proud that sacha inchi, which is a plant that we have cared for many generations, is now our main source of income."
- Manuel Vallejo, Sacha Inchi farmer associated to Starseed®
"When the Starseed team first came to us, we were not sure about this project. However after several years together, we are very happy to work in a fair and profitable way."
- Julio Tapullima, Sacha Inchi farmer associated to Starseed®
"Being responsible for building a true chain of value around Sacha Inchi is encouraging, given that we get to contribute to the health of our consumers and farmers, but also to the planet we live in."
- Wallis Winder - CEO & Co-Founder of Starseed®