Organic as a starting point
During the last many decades, the natural products industry sought to manage these values by creating organic standards. It had pros and cons. On the one hand it created a standard that farms and brands had to meet; in turn giving consumers a means of assessment. On the other, it narrowly focused on the absence of harmful additives rather than the greater fabric of land stewardship.
Recognizing this, farmers, business leaders, and experts in soil health set a new standard called regenerative agriculture. This view recognizes the fundamentals that have captured not just the spirit of the organic movement but also its founding vision: that soil is the foundation of our culture and civilization.
Beyond Organic
Two paths to regenerative certification have emerged: Regenerative Organic Certified and Certified Regenified. The former uses the USDA Certified Organic standard as a baseline upon which other pillars are included in one certification. Both are supporting farmers to rebuild our soil health. Ultimately contributing to long-term solutions to the climate crisis, factory farming, and fractured rural economies.
What does this mean for us?
We will continue working with and supporting the villages, cooperatives, and farms that steward our core ingredients such as argan, rosehip, hydrosols. With our hydrosol stewards we are supporting their efforts to secure certification as a regenerative farm. At present we use close to a dozen herbal extracts in our moisturizers and cleansers. These have been produced by an artisanal farm in Colorado for the past dozen years or more. Though organic they have never been certified due to the cost and the effort required. Now, with their retirement from farming, we are exploring the option of finding herbs from regenerative certified farms and preparing the extracts ourselves.
Planting seeds
As always, our challenge remains — how can we be better? One such effort sees us seeking out more partners that will either supply regenerative raw materials and/or bring us together with a larger community of like-minded organizations, communities, and brands. Rather than doing our own small part via individual effort, we are looking to align ourselves with others with the determination of making a bigger impact.
Stewards of the earth
Our land stewards define our brand. Our stewards lend credibility to and ultimately confidence in our products. Few brands are engaged with stewards in the manner that we are. This year we will share more information about and deeper insights into the families and communities who steward the land where our ingredients grow. In addition, we will reach out to stewards whose work with us have not yet been extensively featured. Among others this will include the families and communities that harvest and distill our frankincense and rose as well as our prickly pear seed oil.
Let's spread the word
All of this is incredibly inspiring. That more and more brands and organizations are engaged in a vision that recognizes all facets in the farm system – from the soil microbiome to the workers, that farmers are the stewards of the land, and that collectively we can impact the world. That more and more aspire to work with those who demonstrate respect and restraint with the environment, that honor relationships over ownership, and that celebrate the sacred in the earth and its people.