Falling In Love With Our Suppliers
Love is a beautiful thing. With Valentine’s Day coming up, we want to celebrate a group of people for whom our affection grows stronger every day: the amazing farmers supplying ingredients for our beloved teas. They are the heart of everything we do, and it’s only because of them that we can offer our delicious organic teas to the world.
Supportive partnerships all over the world
At Yogi, we are committed to nurturing every supplier with whom we partner. We cultivate healthy and mutually supportive partnerships, striving for balance, empowerment, and trust. To achieve this, we try to partner with farms for years at a time. This commitment ensures security, unites our efforts to tackle challenges, and allows time to implement the best sustainable farming practices by pooling our resources and expertise.
In South Africa, we have the pleasure to cooperate with a remarkable farm called Klip op Mekaar in amazing regenerative agricultural work. Our funding support enabled them to begin producing a unique organic compost solution which they spread over their fields to increase microbial activity in topsoil. This innovative approach is helping delicate plants flourish immediately after planting and is even leading to an increase in soil carbon by drawing down greenhouses gases and storing them in soil.
Spending Time With Our Suppliers
A good relationship isn’t just being supportive from afar. Instead, what better way to show love than spending time together? That’s why we at Yogi visit our partners whenever possible, getting to know the people and places that produce our wonderful and delicious ingredients up close. We visit farms from Nepal to Guatemala, putting in the work to share the love, and we honor the insights and connections we build along the way. We love the sustainably grown mint that comes from our neighbors at Aromatics in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the gorgeous chamomile our friends at Jan Spider grow in Croatia.
We recently visited one of our suppliers in Rwanda, with whom we collaborate on several meaningful projects. First, farmers’ schoolchildren are supported daily by our collaborative Porridge Project, which provides them with a warm nutritious meal every morning and hopefully opens the door to a brighter future.
The team also saw the inspiring regenerative farming projects where we’ve been supporting crop diversification since 2021. Recently we expanded our commitment even further: funding from the Yogi Foundation provided 25 cows to farmers, whose dairy is boosting incomes and whose wastes assist in organic compost production. We are honored to share that our regenerative projects with Sorwathe earned us the Gold Sustainability Award at last year’s North American Tea Expo.
Combined Forces In Though Times
Strong relationships endure tough times, too. In 2022, farmers in Sri Lanka were surprised by a sudden ban on fertilizers. Our organic ingredients were unaffected, but the greater farming community struggled to stay productive. To assist, we combined forces with one of our suppliers, Verger, to start a project that transforms waste generated during cinnamon processing into organic fertilizer. Tons of this upcycled, organic cinnamon compost is now produced monthly and distributed to farmers in the region. The net result? Long-lasting benefits for farmers and nature alike, in a boost for environmental causes as well as farmers’ livelihoods.
You can probably tell that we’re in love with our suppliers and we hope you fall for them too. To see more, explore our last Sustainability Report and hear directly from the people who make the magic happen. We couldn’t ask for a more hardworking, visionary, reliable group to work with every day, and we’re honored to share the fruits of their efforts in our wholesome teas!
