About the Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America

The Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America, Inc. (AFCNA) is an agricultural cooperative incorporated in 1998 under the Colorado cooperative corporation laws. AFCNA Members wholly own it. To be a Member, one must produce alpaca fiber and purchase one share of voting common stock. AFCNA is headquartered at 17494 State Highway 58 N, Decatur, Tennessee where a small permanent staff provides cooperative administration, product manufacturing management, product sales & fulfillment (packing & shipping) and customer services. A 7 to 15 Member elected, volunteer Board of Directors guides AFCNA’s business and finances.

Through economies of scale, centralized management and vertical integration, AFCNA provides its Members services at cost they cannot perform individually. AFCNA has two divisions.

Marketing Division This division seeks to build a large volume commercial and consumer product alpaca fiber industry for all grades of Member alpaca fiber. It also seeks to capture for Members the consumer and commercial value that must be added to raw fiber through product manufacture to make it useable. This large consumer and commercial value is not attained by Members when selling raw fiber directly to privately owned mills. AFCNA processes Member submitted alpaca fiber with its U.S. manufacturing pipeline into semi-finished and finished products. These products are then sold to consumers and commercial users. The net proceeds in excess of AFCNA operating needs are paid to Members as payment for their fiber in proportion to submitted fiber quantity and quality.

Purchasing Division This division seeks to provide Members a wide array of Peruvian and North American alpaca fiber products (including Marketing Division products) at wholesale prices. When sold at retail in farm stores, Members earn an immediate profit benefit. Members without farm stores can also benefit from this division with AFCNA’s Affiliate Program. The program pays members a sales commission for retail sales they direct through their farm website link to AFCNA’s online store. The net profits from division sales to Members in excess of AFCNA operating needs is allocated to Members bases on their dollar volume of purchases. 

Our Vision