About Us
Finca La Anita:
Finca La Anita is a tropical macadamia plantation surrounded by virgin rainforest and cloud forest in northern Costa Rica. These diverse forests create a haven for hundreds of species of tropical birds, for huge indigo-fluorescent butterflies the size of a small bird, for communities of monkey troops and jungle cats. The forests surrounding Finca La Anita support more species than the entire North American continent north of the Rio Grande. The Rincon de la Vieja National Park, one of Costa Rica's most prolific reserves is a boarding neighbor to Finca La Anita.
A decade ago, the poor farmers who reside in this area were forced to clear rainforest each year to grow a subsistence crop for their families. However with 22 feet of rain each year, after only one year the nutrients were washed from the soil and the subsequent year the families had to once again clear more rainforest in order to grow a crop for their next years food. Year in and year out this diminished the forest. More than a decade ago a group of Minnesotans invested in Finca La Anita growing macadamia nuts, a high value crop, which then gave these poor subsistence farmers stable employment and they no longer had need to clear forest each year to feed their family. This in itself saves about 1000 acres of forest per year in the area AND provides an economic engine for the small village of Colonia Libertad thus raising this village out of hopeless poverty.
La Anita Rainforest Ranch:
Beginning in 2006, some of the larger hotels on the Nicoya Peninsula found that it was an advantage to them if their guests could make day trips from the hot beach areas into the cooler tropical rainforest surrounding Finca La Anita. Visits were configured to provide visitors a very high educational experience so they learned about rainforest benefits, they learned about tropical plants and medicinal herbs, tropical fruits, tropical flowers, birds and they learned about the culture of people in this remote area. To differentiate this experience we named the tourism component of our business La Anita Rainforest Ranch so today we cater to visitors under this name when they visit Finca La Anita.
Minntica:
Minntica is a Costa Rican Company formed by Minnesotans and Costa Ricans(hence the name Minntica) to provide the capital to establish Finca La Anita. Back in 1989 this area of Costa Rica was completely isolated with no real road, no electricity and people lived in the barest of conditions. Minntica began funding the various activities that were undertaken over the time period so that today the infrastructure is sufficient for people in the area to have employment and have a relative quality of life.