On the ridgeline of Cerro Grande in northern Chile, inside the Fray Jorge Biosphere Reserve, the farming community of Peña Blanca has built a strange and beautiful orchard: thirty four great mesh panels standing face on to the Pacific fog. When the camanchaca, the thick coastal fog, rolls through each morning, droplets condense on the mesh, run down into gutters and gather in ponds. No pumps, no power, no waste. Just nets, patience and weather.
This June the community finished its newest expansion, adding around ninety square metres of mesh expected to catch roughly 200,000 extra litres a year, lifting the whole system toward 650,000 litres annually. The water irrigates crops, supplies people and animals, and, most beautifully, waters the restoration of the reserve's own native plants. Gustavo Carvajal, president of the agricultural community, and Guido Rojas, who has built the catchers for years, are the hands behind it, with support from the UN's food agency.
Our short take: the full story is by Carla Espinoza Gutiérrez for Fresh Fruit Portal, June 2026. Cover photograph: fog collectors in the mist by Liu277339840, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.