FARM UPDATES

Our Australian bushfire assistance activities – for growers, suppliers, and especially our koalas – have had great results. Thank you!

At the height of the bushfires in December, we undertook a range of activities for those affected, including support for our koalas and other wildlife, our suppliers, and some of our growers too. 

Our Bushfire Support Fundraising Campaign has been successful.  Collectively we raised over $7,000 for Australian Wildlife Rescue (WIRES), and over $21,000 for Kamal, one of our organic Tea Tree growers.

For Kamal and her team, the battle for recovery is ongoing. But the Australian bush has an amazing ability to recover.  Following recent rains, the native trees are getting a green flush. We are continuing to work with Kamal and her team to replace the seedling nursery, replace burned equipment, and establish new tree plantings.  With your help, they are getting back on their feet – but it’s still a long road to any sense of normalcy. 

However for the Australian koala, with over 30,000 bushfire related koala deaths, their struggle for survival will unfortunately continue for many years. 

WIRES has recently recognized Down Under’s commitment to helping these iconic Australian animals, separate from our tree-food planting efforts and the fundraising campaign, as a major corporate sponsor.

If you missed the chance to donate and want to, the Wildlife Rescure (WIRES) and Organic Tea Tree Grower fundraising sites are still open – even $20 helps considerably.  Thank you!

 

TRACEABILITY

Traceability for Down Under means we know the grower, we know the source, and we share this information with you.  

Our new Partnership with New Zealand Manuka Group (NZM) for the Preferred Distribution of their Manuka Oil perfectly exemplifies this commitment to making sure you know the source of our oils.

For many months, we have been working with the team at New Zealand Manuka to establish how to bring the benefits of this special relationship to you, including coordinated Quality Management, Scientific and Technical Support, and local US warehousing, to name a few. 

In November 2019, we spent a week with New Zealand Manuka, our exclusive Manuka grower, visiting their farms in the East Cape of New Zealand.  We learned from traditional Maori of their caring for the land, their long-term and intrinsic relationship with the Manuka plant, what their close relationship with New Zealand Manuka means for them and their families, and of the significant plantings underway, by the traditional Maori landowners themselves, to provide more pure Manuka Oil to Down Under's customers around the world.

We even tasted Manuka Honey straight from the hive. This rich and nutritious honey, now famous around the world is highly sought after by consumers, medical, and personal care manufacturers alike for its unique antibacterial properties.

With New Zealand - and especially the East Cape - being the closest major landmass to the International Date Line, we arose at 3am one morning, climbed in the pitch dark, up to the East Cape lighthouse to catch the first rays of sunshine of a new day on Earth. What an incredible experience!

Knowing our growers, knowing the source of our oils, and their benefits for your products is core to what we do at Down Under.

Talk with us about your questions on Manuka Oil or any of our other 100% pure native Australian essential oils and botanicals today.

EMPLOYEE PROFILE

Our first employee was Dee-Ann, the founder of Down Under Enterprises.

Ironically 35 years ago she made the trek from the family farm, 12 hours South, to attend the University of Sydney and gain a degree in Economics. Dee-Ann vowed never to go back to farming!  Nowadays Dee-Ann loves getting out of our Sydney office and up to our farm, Buhlambar. You can just see the joy in her 6^th generation Australian farmer eyes.

What she loves equally as much is working with our customers who truly believe in naturals and in producing a better product for their customers.  It’s a far cry from her days on a trading floor of an Investment Bank (Macquarie Bank and Bankers Trust) or managing complex customer projects as a Management Consultant (Deloitte). 

Since founding Down Under in 2001, Dee-Ann has seen the total transformation of ‘Naturals’ from being niche and quirky to now mainstream consumer focus.  She has seen (with a bit of trepidation) multinationals gobble up her early customers – think Tom’s of Maine and Colgate; Aveda and Estee Lauder; and The Art of Shaving and P&G.  But Dee-Ann is now encouraged by this. These acquired – but feisty – natural companies have impacted their much larger suitors more than she ever imagined.  MNCs are learning and understanding natural supply chains, how to assure purity and provenance, and the embedded value of true naturals quickly.  

For these reasons, Dee-Ann sees her little start-up of nearly 20 years ago - focused on traceable and sustainable native Australian and New Zealand botanicals - is only just getting started.

There’s a reason she’s still smiling after all these years. 

SUSTAINABILITY

EcoVadis is the world’s most trusted provider of business sustainability (CSR) ratings.

Over 450 multinationals rely upon EcoVadis to independently validate the CSR credentials of their supply chain.  This reduces risk in their supply chain and assists innovation in their own sustainability efforts.

We are anxiously awaiting the results of our EcoVadis assessment.  Once our CSR rating is in place, we will be one of >60,000 businesses on the EcoVadis network.  Watch this space next month for our results.

If your company is one of these businesses which prefers to work with EcoVadis-certified suppliers, CONTACT US to receive a copy of our certification as soon as it is available.