Well Being
Spices: Organic Vanilla Bean, Organic Vanilla Extract
Country: Madagascar
We source our premium-quality organic Bourbon vanilla beans from a group made up of thousands of small growers in Madagascar, who grow, hand-pollinate, and cure the beans. Through our Well Earth program, we were able to help dig 49 wells in 38 of our vanilla-farming communities. This let the farmers increase their income by using the water to more efficiently and effectively process their vanilla beans, and made clean water conveniently available to nearly 25,000 people. Women and children no longer need to fetch water from streams for daily use, which sometimes meant walking for hours each day.
Community
Spices: Whole Star Anise, Organic Vietnamese Cinnamon
Country: Vietnam
The people who harvest the bark of cassia trees for our Vietnamese cinnamon live in numerous small villages in the mountainous far Northern part of the country. Life in these remote hamlets still revolves around subsistence farming and foraging — and many children in rural Vietnam cannot attend school simply because they live too far away. Frontier is funding lodging, food and school supplies for 475 children so they can stay at their schools during the week, providing new opportunities for education in this remote region.
Nourishment
Spices: Organic Ground Turmeric, Organic Cayenne, Organic Black Peppercorns
Country: India
We buy our pepper from a Well Earth partner that’s a co-op of 1,900 farmers in the world’s premier pepper region of India. We recently installed a roller mill for the co-op to improve their processing efficiency and product quality. We also contribute to Akshaya Patra, a foundation in India that provides meals to children in remote areas. We funded a food truck specially designed to traverse rough terrain and keep food clean and secure. Many Indian children stay in school to get the one good meal a day Akshaya Patra provides.
Sustainability
Spices: Fair Trade Nutmeg, Fair Trade Ginger
Country: Sri Lanka
We worked with our long-time Well Earth partner the Small Organic Farmers Association (SOFA) in Sri Lanka — a 2,043-member cooperative of small-scale farmers — when we introduced Fair Trade Certified™ spices to the U.S. in 2010. We also gave SOFA a $25,000 grant for the construction of an organic training center to educate SOFA members and other farmers on organic, sustainable growing techniques, both in a classroom setting and on its fully functional research and development farm.