Gicella Thamar Saldivia González

Gicella Thamar Saldivia González is a farmer and works on her family’s farm where they grow fruit, vegetables, breed sheep, and care for a heritage orchard of cider apples.

She is also the president of the Cooperative of Agroecological Producers of Chiloé, collectively owned by 16 farming families from the archipelago of Chiloé in the Patagonia region of Chile.  They have been working for the past 8 years on increasing appreciation for heritage apples from Chiloé. The cooperative has a processing plant where cider, distillate, juice and vinegar products are being developed while maintaining and respecting traditional knowledge, gradually incorporating technological improvements to add value, without losing sight of the ancestral culture that they seek to protect.