Company Committed to Organic

“For us, organic doesn’t only mean a tastier and more viable prod­uct,” Shawn Donnille, co-owner and oper­a­tions man­ager of Mountain Rose Herbs, told Organic Connections. “The social and envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits of organic prod­ucts are price­less. If we are to find a sound and jus­ti­fi­able solu­tion for the eco­log­i­cal crises we are faced with in the twenty-first cen­tury, we need to start with how our food is pro­duced. Organic agri­cul­ture encour­ages healthy soil; it con­tributes to main­tain­ing a healthy water­shed, and it pro­tects the health of the peo­ple who pro­duce it and the peo­ple who con­sume it. For Mountain Rose Herbs, we could not imag­ine a more press­ing issue.”

It is so press­ing that all the way back in 2001 Donnille, shortly after his hir­ing at the com­pany, pro­posed that Mountain Rose Herbs erad­i­cate all con­ven­tion­ally grown prod­ucts from their prod­uct line. Although it may sound odd, this was actu­ally a first in the organic herb industry.

“Back then—and even to this day—you will find that every herbal prod­ucts com­pany out there offers organic herbs and spices while simul­ta­ne­ously sell­ing con­ven­tion­ally grown herbs and spices along­side them,” Donnille explained. “This has me utterly per­plexed because you can­not espouse the ben­e­fits of organic agri­cul­ture and implore every­one to live an organic lifestyle while con­tra­dict­ing your­self by sell­ing con­ven­tion­ally grown mate­ri­als side by side with organic ones. We decided back then that our com­mit­ment to organic agri­cul­ture began with our promise to never allow con­ven­tion­ally grown items into our prod­uct list and ware­house, and we knew it was not going to be easy to implement.

“This took years to accom­plish, and it meant that we would have to be inti­mately engaged at the farm­ing level. We helped estab­lish eleven cer­ti­fied organic farms through­out the Pacific Northwest that pro­duce exclu­sively for our needs. In addi­tion, we also devel­oped con­tracts with organic pro­duc­ers out of our state and over­seas who would ded­i­cate them­selves to pro­duc­ing herbs, spices and teas exclu­sively for Mountain Rose Herbs. Between our domes­tic farms and over­seas pro­duc­tion, we are able to deliver our strictly organic guarantee. This con­certed effort enabled us to com­pletely aban­don envi­ron­men­tally destruc­tive agri­cul­tural prac­tices, and we are happy to announce that we are the only com­mer­cial herb and spice com­pany who has done so to this day.”

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Donnille also pointed out the impor­tance of the human fac­tor in their busi­ness deal­ings. “The grow­ers we deal with are the result of years’ worth of friendly nego­ti­a­tions and con­vivial con­ver­sa­tion. They know what we expect and how strong our views are, and as such they are much more ready to com­ply with our pas­sion for absolute envi­ron­men­tal com­mit­ment in every­thing we do. It basi­cally comes down to the trust we have formed in our part­ner­ships and the faith we place in our friendships.”

As it grows, the com­pany plans to only expand its pro­tec­tive activities.

“Our big plan for the next cou­ple of years is to pur­chase a 300- to 500-acre con­ven­tional farm with the sole intent of trans­form­ing it into an organic facil­ity,” Donnille said. “We are also adamant about pur­chas­ing a farm directly adja­cent to one of our major river sys­tems so as to bet­ter enhance its health and vital­ity with organic agri­cul­ture and sound farm­ing prac­tices, which work to enhance aquatic com­mu­ni­ties. We intend to do this by giv­ing up the imme­di­ate area of the farm along the river to one of the water­shed orga­ni­za­tions we chose for the pur­pose of pro­tect­ing and enhanc­ing that area for future pos­ter­ity. This project in itself is mas­sive and it will take us sev­eral years to accomplish.”

For more infor­ma­tion on Mountain Rose Herbs, visit their web­site at www.mountainroseherbs.com.