Co-Impact Sourcing

Let's talk about it! doTERRA deliberately chooses locations where they can improve the individual, social, economic, and environmental well-being, while producing the highest quality essential oils. As many of our essential oils grow best in developing countries, dōTERRA is in a unique position to build and support ethical supply chains that benefit rural communities in need. Co-Impact Sourcing provides the tools needed to help lift these families and communities out of poverty and promote economic development. dōTERRA adheres to additional Sourcing Guiding Principles when working in developing nations.

Co-Impact Sourcing creates shared value for all stakeholders in the supply chain by being at the source and intentionally implementing environmental stewardship and/or social impact initiatives. There are 8 Principles that doTERRA adheres to in their Co-Impact Sourcing. We want to share these principles and dive into a few of them a little deeper!

1- Generating Jobs: dōTERRA seeks to reduce poverty through generating ethically responsible employment in essential oil production. By creating and sustaining jobs in rural and underdeveloped areas, doTERRA supports marginalized workers and small-scale producers in developing countries and seeks to enable them to move from income insecurity and poverty to economic self-sufficiency

2- Fair, On-Time Payments: dōTERRA provides fair pricing. A fair price is one that has been contractually agreed on by all through dialogue and participation, which provides fair and on-time pay to producers, and can also be sustained by the market. Fair pay means (i) provision of socially acceptable remuneration in the local context and which the producers themselves consider to be fair, and (ii) equal pay for equal work by women and men. Additionally, pre-payments or loans are often provided to sourcing partners to help manage cash-flows and stabilize incomes throughout the year.

A great example of these first two principles is that of Rose essential oil in Bulgaria. Roses have been grown and picked in Bulgaria for over 200 years. Because of this history, Bulgaria has become one of the largest producers of rose oil in the world. While Bulgaria has historically boasted some of the world’s premier essential oil research, development, and production, the industry faltered because of the government’s financial support for wheat, sunflower, and corn. The establishment of Esseterre has provided significant economic revitalization to the Dobrich, Bulgaria region. It has brought a multi-million investment and many jobs to a country where nearly a quarter of its population lives at or below the global poverty line. More and more farmers are coming to Esseterre with their crops. This can be attributed to several things including the sophistication and quality of the equipment and technology, as well as Esseterre’s reputation as a reliable buyer that pays fairly and promptly.

For years, the few remaining distilleries in Bulgaria have been mostly managed by brokers. They determined how much and when the farmers would get paid. Many farmers are paid unfairly, and some are not paid for months, or even years, until the brokers have sold the oil. At Esseterre, however, we can test the quality of a farmer’s crop and essential oil nearly immediately. The on-site, state of the art laboratory includes a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) machine to confirm quality and a space where farmers can watch and wait while their crops are being distilled. Having this technology on-site allows us to not only confirm, while the farmer waits, that their plants produced the highest quality oil, but also to pay farmers fairly and timely—usually the same day. We also award bonuses to farmers with the highest quality oil.

3-Building Supplier Capacity: doTERRA builds the capacity of farmers, distillers, and producers of essential oils. Increased capacity leads to increased incomes for supply chain partners through improvements in farming techniques, increased yields, improved process efficiencies, and strengthens productivity of the supply-chain ecosystem as a whole. dōTERRA supports initiatives, typically through local NGO partners, that build capacity and deliver greater profitability through harvesting and storage services, technology improvements, logistics enhancements, provision of farm inputs, and agricultural training

4-Sustaining Long-Term Partnerships: dōTERRA develops long-term partnerships with growers and distillers based on solidarity, trust, and mutual respect. dōTERRA promotes the growth of its partners through long-term contracts that do not maximize profit at their expense, and facilitates predictable pricing for small scale producers to ensure consistent, growing demand. dōTERRA finds appropriate, participatory ways to involve its partners in decision-making processes and ensures that communication channels are open at all levels of the supply chain.

Ramekwal Saha and his wife are from Nepal and are two of many farmers who take on the laborious process of growing turmeric. The market requires turmeric farmers to not only grow and harvest their turmeric, but also clean, boil, and dry their yield before they can even try to sell it. doTERRA’s goal when beginning their work in Nepal was to establish and support partnerships with turmeric farmers like Ramekwal. Unlike farming turmeric before, farmers don’t need to boil or dry the turmeric before selling it to our partner supplier. This saves the farmers both time and energy. Furthermore, it allows us to generate jobs for local women who are hired to wash and prepare turmeric for distillation. These women receive fair wages for their work.

Ramekwal now earns 25% more income while investing less time and less labor into the process than before. Now, all eight of their children are attending school and one step closer to achieving their own dreams someday!

5. Fair Labor Conditions: Cō-Impact Sourcing® requires our partners to ensure fair labor conditions and to promote safe and healthy workingenvironments free from exploitive practices, harassment, and discrimination. Furthermore, it requires partners to comply, at a minimum, with national and local laws and ILO conventions on health and safety, working conditions, and labor laws.

6. Promoting Co-Operatives: Cō-Impact Sourcing supports and respects the right of all employees and producers to form and join cooperatives, to bargain collectively, and to maximize the benefits of collective organization. Such collective membership often enables members to obtain better pricing on agricultural inputs, better access to financial instruments, as well as access to collectively-owned harvesting and other equipment.

doTERRA Co-Impact Sourcing initiative in Haiti provides Vetiver farmers with a stable income, an organized sourcing cooperative, and improved resources that encourage self-reliance. doTERRA International launched a Co-Impact Sourcing Initiative in the Haitian commune of Les Cayes, by starting a cooperative for raw materials. The Co-Impact Sourcing Initiative in Haiti aims to solve the issue of disorganization among farmers, by forming cooperatives for growers in the area. These cooperatives provide training for growers, which will allow them to produce high-quality Vetiver oil. With the help of an exclusive distiller partner, doTERRA also established a fair payment schedule for the farmers, allowing them to receive payment during all stages of production—planting, pre-harvest, and harvest.

7. Environmental Stewardship: Cō-Impact Sourcing promotes the use of energy efficient technologies and renewable energy technologies to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. dōTERRA supports regenerative agriculture practices, encourages agricultural producers to minimize their environmental impacts, and seeks to minimize the impact of waste streams on the environment. Priority is given to buying products made from raw materials that originate from sustainably managed sources, and bulk goods are dispatched by sea wherever possible to minimize carbon footprint

8. Facilitating Community Development: dōTERRA recognizes that the well-being of communities surrounding our sourcing partners is key to the long-term viability of essential oil supply. Increasing livelihoods and improving living standards in these communities at large is one of the primary goals of Cō-Impact Sourcing. Premiums are often paid for Cō-Impact Sourced oils, and these funds, as well as contributions from the dōTERRA Healing Hands Foundation®, are used to support community development projects such as the construction of schools, health clinics, training facilities, and clean water systems.

Black Spruce is a great example of the Environmental Stewardship principle. Black Spruce is mainly harvested for the lumber, pulp, and paper industries. The Forest Ministry has designed a forest management plan for harvesting Black Spruce. When a tree is harvested, the trunk is quickly stripped of its branched and needles. Historically, no one has been able to capture additional value from the remnant branches and needles left behind. Until now! Once the Black Spruce timber has been harvested and hauled away, our key partner goes in to gather all of the branches and needles that were left behind using a grapple arm excavator. These leftover materials are then steam distilled for a powerful and beautiful essential oil. After the Black Spruce remnants have been distilled, the branches and needles are taken to a local power plant, where they are burned to produce energy. From this process, they are also able to produce steam, which then powers the distillation process again. This creates a closed-loop system for maximum environmental sustainability and responsibility.