Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for David | Delivered June 25, 2020

Heart of Palm

Goals

To identify a list of farms or exporting companies that specialize in exporting freshly peeled hearts of palm to the US by air. The list will only include primary growers or exporters of the produce from host countries. 

Early Findings

The palm trees from which the "heart of palm" is extracted are mostly grown in the South American region. The majority of the product is harvested in Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Ecuador. 
Heart of palm is also commonly known as "palmetto," a local name for the product. 
The world's largest producer of palmetto is DEMASA, which controls 20 percent of the world's production.  However, DAMASA only offers the canned variant of the product and does not export freshly cut produce to the US. 
Other top producers of palmetto include Conservas del Valle, Palmitos of Costa Rica, Ticochaal, Palmitos del Norte, Palmitos Amador, Corpa S.A., Tucurrique, and El Hogar.
Due to their extremely short life span, fresh palmettos are mostly sold in the local food markets of their host countries, while those meant for export are often canned. 

Summary of FindingsIn our initial hour of research, we were able to identify the top producing countries and top producers of the "heart of palm" across the globe.  Although we were not able to identify any farms or exporters outside the US that facilitate the delivery of fresh palmettos to the US, we believe it is possible to identify a number of businesses that provide the required services based on the insights already garnered in the preliminary research. 