FairWild Week: sustainable wild harvesting
This week is FairWild Week, a global campaign that shines a light on sustainable wild harvesting and aims to raise awareness of the wild plant ingredients that we find in everyday products, from beauty and foods to home furnishings.
This is a cause close to our hearts, and we are proud that by using FairWild-certified ingredients, we can create a positive impact on the landscapes and communities where our ingredients are harvested.
What is sustainable wild harvesting?
Sustainable wild harvesting prioritises the protection of and respect for thriving biodiversity and indigenous communities. Defending this practise, The FairWild Foundation works to protect the planet’s last remaining pristine landscapes and ensures that the harvesting of any natural resource is equitable and sustainable, for planet and people.
It is vital that communities of growers and collectors are empowered and prioritised with fair wages and premiums, so that we may help to protect local communities and save endangered wild plants for future generations to come.
Harvesting our ingredients sustainably: wild rosehips
The majority of the radiance-boosting rosehips that go into some of our best-loved products start their life growing wild on the hillsides surrounding the town of Svrljig, in rural, south-eastern Serbia.
Our partners in Svrljig operate a family-run business, helping us to wild-harvest our rosehips alongside the 120 herbs that they collect from the area. Around 100 local villages handpick the rosehips for us during harvesting season, when the ripe berries carpet the ground in vast expanses of crimson red.
As a key source of local income in a remote area with high levels of unemployment, rosehips are deeply embedded in the culture of the area, and while the berries aren’t edible directly from the plant, they are used during harvest time to make local teas, jams, jellies and wines.
The local collectors cut, blow and sieve the rosehips to separate the seeds from the shells (only about 10-15 seeds per fruit), which are then cold-pressed in distilleries to help preserve their antioxidant properties. To ensure a sustainable harvest year after year, the collectors only pick from established plants and leave at least 10% of the fruit on the bush, to safeguard the natural regeneration of the plant.
Our Serbian rosehip oil is FairWild certified, meaning that everybody involved throughout the process is paid a fair wage, and the benefits are felt by the local communities directly. We’re also proud to have been able to support the production of a local mill, which means that the collectors are able to produce the rosehip oil themselves and instead of outsourcing them abroad, we are able to buy it directly from our partners in Svrljig.
