Sourcing & Projects
SOURCING
One of the most significant shifts in the organic herb and spice trade in the last few years has been the huge increase in availability, or more accurately, potential availability, of organic raw materials and ingredients. As little as five years ago production struggled to keep up with the surging demand in this sector; now the situation is reversed with a plethora of producers striving to find a market, yet often finding it difficult to fulfil the requirements of today's buyers.
Organic Partners procurement expertise is not just about finding ingredients - it is about finding the right quality of ingredients and a supply chain that can be relied on to give our customers the service they require. We take the work out of the procurement process, whilst maintaining transparency, traceability and provenance.
Organic Partners origin as a herb growing company has equipped us well in understanding producers issues, enabling us to engage empathetically with their challenges and provide practical support.We began sourcing from other countries to supplement our own production in 1986 and now it has become one of our greatest strengths with over 400 sources on our database from 60 countries and covering 1500+ products.
Understanding and assessing producer capability, especially in developing countries, is as complex as it is fundamental to our procurement activity. Experience has shown us that even with extended visits to a producer, independent certification audits and lengthy correspondence, we cannot be sure of the long term potential of a relationship for at least 2-3 years.
Although long term partnerships are at the heart of Organic Partners business activity, as a procurement company we include growers, brokers, agents and traders among our sources. Currently, our organic licences certify us to trade over 1000 products and our data on producers and suppliers gives the potential to add many more should they be required.
PROJECTS
Our projects range from embryonic partnerships which do not yet carry organic certification to well developed and fully functioning trading relationships.
Afghanistan - Liquorice, Cumin, Caraway, Asafoetida
This is a multi-stakeholder program for natural ingredients for food pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in Afghanistan, involving Oxfam-Novib and ICARDA/RALF (International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas/Research in Alternative Livelihood Funds). Currently undergoing certification, this project has been used as a pilot for the FairWild programme. Although cultivating cash crops as an alternative to opium poppy production has been promoted, many feel that for reasons of climate, geography and the socio-political situation that wild collection offers the greatest opportunity for re-structuring in rural areas. Liquorice, which has been identified as having the greatest potential will be harvested in Spring 2007.
Bali - Robusta Coffee. Spices
With this 'ahead of its time' project, we are picking up the pieces of a fifteen year old initiative, which achieved organic certification for coffee and spices in 1992. Working with the local community-based agricultural organisations or 'subaks', our partners are looking to re-certify smallholder grown robusta coffee, cloves, black pepper, vanilla, nutmeg and cocoa. First certified crops will be available in 2008
Bosnia - Essential Oils: Helichrysum, Sage, Juniper, Bay, Agnus Castus, Pine, Fir and dried culinary and medicinal herbs, Sage, Juniper, Bay, Rosemary, Elder, Lime flower, Nettle, Burdock, Dandelion.
Former Yugoslavia is still recovering from the impact of war and the collapse of communism, where historically herbs from wild collection have been a major contribution to their economy. The Universities of Sarajevo are storehouses of traditional knowledge about plants and since Bosnia is probably the regions least industrialised and most species-diverse, it offers great opportunity. Here Organic Partners is partnering a small company that specialises in the wild collection and distillation of plants for essential oils and together we are currently establishing a facility for herb drying which will be operational for the 2007 harvest.
India - Southern India (1) - Black, White and Green Peppercorns, Ginger, Turmeric, Nutmeg, Mace, Vanilla, Chilli
A farming enterprise that has grown from within ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) incorporating the teaching of Srila Prabhupada, has pioneered the dry belt production of Vanilla and was the first farm to achieve Organic and Fair Trade certification for it.
This project combines the entrepreneurial skills of a multi-national organisation with not-for-profit, espousing the highest social and spiritual values. In the Bangalore area alone, ISKCON delivers 400,000 free meals to outlying rural communities every day. The spices we exclusively offer from this project, which now includes several hundred small farmers, are some of the first to receive FairTrade certification.
India - Southern India (2) - CO2 Extracts. Essential oils. Medicinal Plants. Spices
For 3 years we have been working with a company in Karnataka that not only contracts farmers and collectors for an extensive range of plants but that also has affiliated organically certified processing facilities, notably supercritical CO2 extraction. This enables us to offer CO2 extracts and essential oils on contract, as well as dried plants and pressed oils. Our associates here have also set up a charitable foundation.
India - Orrisa - Castor Seed and Oil. Spices
We are embarking on a project in conjunction with an Indian company and tribal people in Orissa for the collection and cultivation of castor seed to be pressed into oil. This is an instance where awareness of market undersupply has led to Organic Partners actively seeking out reliable producers, a difficulty compounded by the problems of pressing the castor seed due to the toxicity of the meal. This year will see the first organically certified harvest.
There is additionally a significant volume of spices being grown by smallholder groups in the region and if we can establish the necessary Internal Control Systems, we will be adding these to our product offering.
India - Himachal Pradesh - Apricot Kernels and Oil. Medicinal plants
The focus of this partnership is to expand and consolidate an existing project with Jagriti, an NGO, to enhance income of poor women through collection and value addition of wild apricot kernels (Prunus armeniaca). At present the kernels are processed into oil and sold in the domestic market where, due to limited demand, the quantities have remained small and the prices relatively low. Our aim is to add value to the apricot kernels by initiating organic and ethical trade certification, to increase the scale of operation and provide the producers access to international markets. Since the certification covers three remote valleys, the model can be expanded to include a wider range of non-timber forest products, thereby adding economic value to important indigenous plant species that are currently under threat.
Iran - Roses: Dried, Essential oil and Hydrosol
Now a remarkably successful enterprise, rose production and processing was established by an entrepreneur and philanthropist in southern Iran in the early 1990s. The speed at which production has grown is an indicator of the favourable prices that the farmers are given for their produce, especially since production takes place in what was an area of rural decline. The 2000 (and still increasing) acres of roses are grown by a cooperative of 700+ farmers who sell them to the company for drying or processing them into rosewater and rose essential oil. The harsh mountains of Kerman province with extremes of temperature and very low rain fall has been turned to advantage - producing roses of an individual and very high quality. Organic Partners acts as their international distributor.
Kenya - Vegetable Glycerin
While the argument rages in environmental circles about the benefits of bio-diesel as an alternative for fossil fuels, in Kenya there is not the same controversy. It has no fossil fuels of its own and like many sub-Saharan countries, the costs of importing fuel has stood in the way of the country's development. However, Organic Partners' interest is not in the bio-diesel itself, but in a by-product, vegetable glycerin, produced by transesterification. Field trials have been carried out on a number of seed oil species, notably Croton and Safflower and 2007 will see the first (small) production of organically certified vegetable glycerin.
Kenya - Parsley, Lemon Balm, Birds Eye Chilli, Marigold. Medicinal herbs
We have been working closely with producers of culinary herbs and essential oils in Kenya for 3 years. Despite the farmers commitment and expertise, our experience here highlights a major difficulty for any farmer - producing to the highest quality whilst maintaining competitiveness in the market - a challenge which has been exacerbated by extremes of weather, including both drought and floods. Some of the crops which were initially selected, notably Paprika and Rose Geranium, have turned out to be unviable; however, we are building on our successes and will be adding some medicinal plants later in the year.
Malawi, Namibia, Zambia - Baobab
The production of Baobab is part of a programme to research, commercialise and promote indigenous species from southern Africa. Baobab fruit has recently received EU approval for use as a novel food and Organic Partners offers the dried fruit pulp and seed oil, which will shortly be Fairtrade and Organically certified. Other new ingredients for the neutraceutical, cosmetic and medicinal sectors will follow.
Namibia - Devils Claw
Devils Claw has a localised distribution limited to the edge of the Kalahari Desert. Organic Partners have traded Devils Claw from the Omaheke region in Namibia for 14 years and was involved in the 'Devil's Claw Wild Harvesting Project' which led to the organic certification of more than 300,000 hectares for wild collection in 1997. Since then this initiative has served as a model for the organic certification of wild-collected plants, and yet ironically, struggled to remain viable. Organic Partners is currently in discussion to establish how the project can most effectively be re-structured.
Poland - Medicinal Plants
We have been working in Poland for two years with a company that organises and certifies a large number of medicinal plants from wild collection.
Situated in a National Park close to the Belarus border, it now has a network of collectors (and a growing number of farmers) throughout the country.