On Saturday, September 27th, a small crowd gathered around the blue fiber-extraction machine at our headquarters in Hofi Cas Cora. As team member Gino Martina fed one green-and-yellow banana stem after another through the machine, long strands of fiber began to emerge and so did the excitement. What we had been imagining since the inception of the project suddenly felt very real.

Around fifteen key stakeholders from across the agricultural landscape showed up: farmers, hobby growers with a few trees, innovators in composting, funders, policy makers, and people who simply want to help move things forward.

What stood out most was the mix of perspectives. Under the slogan ‘Let’s go bananas!’, FtoC is looking for farmers and private individuals with banana plants in their gardens who are willing to supply stems on a regular basis. Based on our survey some participants immediately began calculating logistics and what a pick-up schedule could look like. Others reflected on the bigger picture. Even though our team has practical concerns around transport, and compensation, we encountered a shared willingness to experiment and co-design a system that works.

Cindy Eman from Yu di Tera and our inhouse environmental economist gave a short introduction to the broader vision: fiber extraction, natural dyes, and material development as part of a growing circular craft economy. Everything is being tested. The waste of our solar-powered machinery could be used in byproducts like compost and animal feed. In these early stages, we are learning what the machine can do, what farmers need, and what a realistic flow of stems might look like.

This gathering didn’t give us all the answers, but it gave us momentum and data straight from the field. We are not building this in isolation. There is interest, constructive skepticism, and even praise for the value of actually doing instead of only dreaming.

The message we delivered was clear: the machine is running and we are forming our network. The momentum carried into the following week, when about 25 banana stems came in. Bringing us one step closer to our goal.