Our Story

In 1972, Lawrence Gottschamer was retired in the line of duty as a fireman in Redwood City, CA.  Three years later, he was part of the beginnings of the macadamia industry in that country when he assisted in the planting of 100 acr4es of macadamia there. He was trained in sustainable agriculture by Dr Edelberto Cammacho, a well known agricultural engineer from Costa Rica. 

When the work was finished and the plantation established in Costa Rica, Lawrence went to Guatemala, where macadamia was not as well known. He built several small processing plants and was co-founder of an agro-industrial consulting company, “Voit, Juarez and Gottschamer Consultants”. It was during this time that he met his wife, Emilia Aguirre, who shares to the day his passion for the environment. They married and have been working together since then for the preservation of the environment.

In 1984, Lawrence Gottschamer, and his wife, Emilia Aguirre acquired macadamia seedlings from the California Macadamia Society. This stock was considered one of the most advanced gene pools of macadamia in its day. In 1985, Lawrence and Emilia founded the Experimental Station Valhalla. By selectively breeding these varieties from California they were able to obtain local varieties that could produce commercially without requiring a graft, which helps preserve the genetic diversity of as species and goes in hand with their support of sustainable agricultural practice.

Their main goal was to find solutions that would help local indigenous communities to have access to more income, employment, and general well-being. Planting macadamia trees addresses these issues admirably well. And so, Valhalla started donating macadamia trees to local farming communities, hoping local farmers would grow them, sell them, eat them, and benefit from a source of constant income, food and labor. We have planted hundreds of thousands of macadamia trees throughout Guatemala, providing the country with the most diverse gene bank of macadamia varieties.

Global climate change and unsustainable practices are destroying the planet. We are dedicated to the preservation and healing of the planet through  sustainable agriculture and the education of indigenous people. For over twenty years we have been planting and maintaining Macadamia trees, preserving the environment and promoting sustainable agriculture.