At Mountain Rose Herbs, our independence allows us to keep corporate social responsibility at the heart of our values. That’s why changing our corporate charter to become an Oregon Benefit Company in 2018 was a natural step for us, formalizing our commitment to making a measurable positive impact on both our employees and our community. Not only did we formalize this change in our legal documents, but under Oregon law we are required to form goals, assess our progress, and report on our activities annually. With accountability at the forefront, we decided to choose B Lab’s rigorous Impact Assessment tool as the third-party standard by which to gauge our impact.

In a hyper-connected world full of consumption, how do we make the best choices when purchasing products? How do we determine the impact of our decisions based on our values? Now more than ever, we are faced with businesses greenwashing customers, and as a result, consumers have become detached from where things come from or how they have come to be. Terms like “natural” or “therapeutic” are used with reckless abandon and we are given minimal information to make the best choices for our bodies and our planet.

For over a decade, Mountain Rose Herbs has worked closely with Fair for Life (FFL), a Switzerland-based, fair trade certification program that seriously ups the ante on fair trade practices, making life-changing improvements in labor relationships both externally and internally. The mission is clear in this program statement: Fair for Life’s vision is a world where trade, through ethical, fair, and respectful partnerships, is a driving force for positive and sustainable change benefiting people and their environment.

2023 was quite a year! While we worked hard to ensure access to pure, organic ingredients to support health and wellness, the Mountain Rose Herbs team also completed some exciting goals. As we reflect on the last year, we want to share our most notable accomplishments and extend our gratitude to you. We could not have accomplished these things without your incredible support. Here are some of our favorite initiatives from 2023 and a peek at what’s coming up in 2024.

In 2001, we moved Mountain Rose Herbs from California to Oregon to be closer to our farm operations, wild harvesters, and processors. We are proud of the fact that we have nurtured relationships with our Pacific Northwest farm partners for 30-plus years. Today, we source about 75% of our American-grown organic herbs from Pacific Northwest farmers here in the bioregion we call home.

If you’ve spent time reading Mountain Rose Herbs blogs, you know that one of our primary concerns is the alarming and increasing loss of native plants. Because of overharvesting, climate change, and habitat destruction, some of the most important medicinal herbs in North America are at risk or endangered, and several are already critically imperiled. We are passionate about finding solutions for these precious botanicals, but like so many important causes on our planet, it takes a village. We need researchers, scientists, data collectors, herbalists, farmers, wildharvesters, state and federal lawmakers, herb suppliers, gardeners, and the list goes on. In addition to all of these essential roles, we need to build connections around the world with other dedicated plant people who may be seeing the same things in their part of the world. We need to understand what plants are at risk and what alternatives we can access. This is where our allies at United Plant Savers (UpS) step in.

For more than ten years, Mountain Rose Herbs has been working with United Plant Savers (UpS) and other conservation organizations to address the alarming decline in wild ginseng populations in North America. Despite concerted efforts and the support of federal and state governments, as well as ethical ginseng forest farmers and wildcrafters, the state of this precious botanical in the wild remains precarious due to overharvesting and habitat destruction. With that in mind, we are delighted to say that a new way of farming ginseng is providing hope for the future of Panax quinquefolius!

If you’re at all familiar with Mountain Rose Herbs, chances are you’ve heard us proudly shout from the rooftops that sustainability is always on the brain here. The idea that all life can harmoniously co-exist alongside our planet—absent of imbalance between what is taken and what is provided—is a concept woven deeply into our company’s seams. Whether that be our commitment to organic agriculture, fair trade relationships, zero-waste innovation, plant and river conservation, or community support, we truly keep sustainability at the forefront of our minds.

Among the stellar organizations that Mountain Rose Herbs works with, our Fair for Life partnership is one that we are particularly proud of due to the demonstrable good that it does. Its principles impact people and the environments they live and work in around the world, as well as our community here in Eugene, Oregon.

You already know that Mountain Rose Herbs is a purveyor of organic herbs, essential oils, teas, and exceptional botanical offerings. And you've probably read that we are serious about putting people, plants, and planet before profit with everything we do: from supporting sustainable agriculture to encouraging employee volunteerism. What you may not have known is that in 2018 these values led us to become an Oregon Benefit Company.