Ancient land.
New agriculture.
Forty thousand trees.
For generations the hillside above Ilat, in northern Lebanon, grew nothing. Today it carries an avocado orchard of 40,000 trees, planted at high density and fed by its own mountain spring.
Sustainable farming, in practice. Soil we feed. Ground we keep living. Water we measure to the drop and move with sunlight. Not a phrase on a label — the way this orchard is run every day. Organic certification is where we are headed as the orchard matures.
What grows there is Gem and Lamb Hass, raised slowly in deep soil and mountain spring water. Ready for market in 2028.
See the orchard →trees planted
Lebanon
Nineteen hectares,
planted in a year.
Nineteen hectares, planted in a year. The land was taken on in June 2025 and the first trees went in that August. Today 40,000 avocado trees stand where nothing was cultivated before, with room on the holding to reach 60,000 by 2028.
The project →
The sun lifts the water.
The water grows the fruit.
The sun lifts the water. The water grows the fruit.
A spring that never stops, raised 250 metres to the orchard by more than 350 solar panels, then given to every tree by drip. Sunlight into water, water into fruit. And more panels than the pump needs - so the water keeps moving on the cloudiest day of the year.
Planted close,
grown carefully.
The orchard is planted densely - around 2,200 trees to the hectare, where a conventional orchard carries a few hundred.
The trees are kept low rather than tall, which makes it practical to inspect them, spot problems early and pick from the ground when the time comes.
We are converting the orchard toward organic: compost and mulch at the tree, living cover between the rows, mowing instead of spraying, and feed delivered through the irrigation rather than broadcast over the ground.
Sustainability →
Life at the orchard
The land, the trees, and the people who care for them.
A young orchard
takes its time
A handful of our trees are carrying fruit now - the first sign of what the rest will do.
We expect our first commercial harvest in 2028, with Gem and Lamb Hass making up eight trees in every ten.
Built with the village
it sits above.
Ilat is a small village in the north of Lebanon, and the people who work this land come from it. The farm stands on land leased from the Maronite Church, whose interest is in seeing quiet rural places develop. Ground that was never cultivated now carries water, power, roads and 40,000 trees.
Impact →
Still being built.
More land goes under trees through 2027, alongside a second water source, additional storage and a larger solar array. Certification work runs in parallel, ahead of first harvest in 2028.