👩‍🌾 Meet our vanilla farmers! 👩‍🌾 ⁠ ⁠ Hey, it’s Ben, Co-Founder and Chief Herbalist at Rasa 👋 ⁠ ⁠ This spring, Lopa and I traveled to India to meet the farmers who grow many of our herbs, understand their processes and challenges, and build a culture of trust and transparency throughout our supply systems. ⁠ ⁠ The Indian state of Karnataka, where these farmers are based, has one of the biggest coconut belts in India, and also grows the most areca palms in the country. The trees are stable cash crops for farmers and many of the farms we visited had one or both. Vanilla is a creeper vine that needs a tree to climb up, so it’s a perfect addition to these coconut and palm groves, providing supplemental income while taking up no extra space. It’s a win-win for farmers. ⁠ ⁠ Learn more and meet the farmers in today’s blog post. Link in our bio!