SHI Toolkit 3.0
Best Practices for Sustainable & Ethical Sourcing in the Herbal Products Industry
This toolkit builds on years of work by SHI partners farmers, wild harvesters, processors, brands, and advocates turning shared values into action. It codifies what we’ve been learning together: the assumptions behind how change happens and the practical steps that make it real.
Our goal is to shift the botanical industry from transactional to reciprocal relationships where value and respect flow in all directions. Every actor in the herbal value network has intrinsic worth. Healthy trade depends on healthy ecosystems and communities.
What concrete tools can we use to support and respect stakeholders throughout the sourcing network?
How do we make visible the risks borne by different stakeholders and help reduce those risks?
What concrete tools can we use to support and respect stakeholders throughout the sourcing network?
How do we make visible the risks borne by different stakeholders and help reduce those risks?
People · Plants · Place
Reciprocal Trade
Traceable Sourcing
Long-term Resilience
Fair Pricing
Foundation
SHI Core Practices
The secret is not in the tools themselves it’s in the heart with which you use them. These practices cultivate the attention and intention needed for genuine, non-transactional relationships in global trade.
The secret is not how you manage the land or the technology you use. The secret is the heart with which you manage it.
Awe & Gratitude
Begin from a place of respect. Spend time connecting with the place and the plants before any business conversation begins.
Intention
Open every gathering by having each person share their intention. This creates a shared container built on real engagement, not just agenda items.
Connecting to Place
Whenever gathering in person, invite someone to introduce the history of the land who lived here, what happened, what they knew, where they are now.
Deep Listening
Listen not just to respond, but to understand and to sense what is trying to emerge. Seek out voices that are not often heard in global trade.
Farmer & Harvester Visits
Visit to connect, not to inspect. Help with a work project. Share a meal. Let relationship not compliance guide the conversation.
Reflection & Action
After every field visit, pause. Journal. Circle up. Then take small, specific actions. This work takes courage ask: if I had 25% more courage, what would I do?
Practices that support this work
Dialogue walks, listen without trying to fix
Dialogue walks, listen without trying to fix
Stakeholder interviews with people rarely heard
Stakeholder interviews with people rarely heard
Solo time with plants at in-person gatherings
Solo time with plants at in-person gatherings
3D systems mapping via Theory U frameworks
3D systems mapping via Theory U frameworks
Physical work that gets everyone out of their heads
Physical work that gets everyone out of their heads
Rotating conversation groups to prevent cliques
Rotating conversation groups to prevent cliques
Commitments
The 5 Sourcing Principles
Long-term supply depends on ecologically, economically, and culturally resilient source communities. These principles are best practices to build that resilience, not a checklist, but a direction of travel.
Traceable Sourcing
Get as close as possible to the farmers, wild harvesters, and processors. Knowing conditions on the ground is essential to taking real responsibility for your purchasing impact.
Fair Prices
Make purchasing decisions based on quality and relationships, not price pressure. Third-party certifications with premiums are one tool to invest in long-term human and ecological health.
Collaborative Relationships
Treat supplier relationships as true partnerships. Share risks. Work through challenges together. Build long-term plans rather than transactional one-off orders.
Invest in Producer Development
Invest in training and professional development for producers and processors, to improve quality, create marketable products, and give greater meaning to the work.
Invest in Research
Use data to guide decisions. Support research on how practices affect quality, sustainability of wild harvest, climate impacts on yields, and how certifications influence ecosystem health.
Pick a plant. Start with one herb that matters most to your company. Learn everything about it, where it grows, who collects it, what pressures it faces. Then go to the source.
Baseline Tool
Sourcing Self-Assessment
Use this to assess where your company stands today, set short and long-term goals, and outline action steps. Best done together with your certification, sourcing, and sustainability teams.
Part I: Baseline
Where are you now? Covers sustainability definitions, what percentage of herbs are sustainably sourced, traceability depth, and risk assessment practices.
Part II: Reflection
What's working and what isn't? Assess satisfaction with quality, pricing, relationships, and sustainability outcomes, and identify what you'd like to change.
Part III: Planning
Where do you want to go? Translate your reflections into concrete next steps with timelines and accountable owners inside your organization
Key areas the assessment covers
How you define "sustainably sourced"
How you define "sustainably sourced"
% of herbs under third-party certification
% of herbs under third-party certification
How you verify and visit suppliers
How you verify and visit suppliers
Tenure and depth of supplier relationships
Tenure and depth of supplier relationships
Risk assessment methodology
Risk assessment methodology
Traceability back to farm or collection site
Traceability back to farm or collection site
Goals for future sourcing improvement
Goals for future sourcing improvement
Use of data to guide sourcing decisions
Use of data to guide sourcing decisions
The secret is not how you manage the land or the technology you use. The secret is the heart with which you manage it.
The PPP Framework
Building Relationships in Sourcing
Sustainable herbal sourcing begins when you stop treating herbs as commodities and start treating the health of People, Plants, and Place as the product itself.
People
Traditional knowledge, stewardship, and stories. People are the link between local care for place and the plant's journey to market.
Plants
Phytoconstituents, biodiversity, and ecological services. Plants express their chemical profiles through the specific places they grow.
Place
The context that grounds everything. How climate, soil, and culture interact to shape both the herb's quality and the community's livelihood.
The maturity ladder — where is your relationship today?
Level 1
Transactional
- Spot buys
- Limited traceability
- Price is the priority
Level 2
Aligned
- Basic forecast sharing
- Annual visit or audit
- On-time payments
Level 3
Partnered
- Multi-year MOUs
- Pre-financing inputs
- Joint QA planning
- Shared data
Level 4
Co-creative
- Co-investment in infrastructure
- Living-income benchmarks
- Joint storytelling
- Shared innovation roadmap
Four actions to move toward Level 4
Share forecasts early
A 6–12 month forecast lets suppliers plan crops, secure inputs, and build processing capacity, instead of reacting to last-minute orders. It also reduces over/underproduction risk for both sides.
Commit to consistent payment terms
Predictable payment timing lets suppliers cover wages and expenses without high-interest loans. Regular on-time payments make you a priority partner when supply gets tight.
Co-create specifications
Herbal materials are not generics. Chemical composition varies by origin, season, and infrastructure. Co-created specs ensure quality standards are achievable and context-aware, not one-size-fits-all.
Share feedback and meet regularly
Monthly operational calls catch emerging issues early. Annual After Action Reviews (AARs) surface systemic patterns. Regular touchpoints keep information flowing in both directions.
Field Practice
Importance of Supplier Visits
A visit signals genuine commitment. When a company spends money and time to show up at origin, it shifts the conversation from “prove it to me” to “let’s solve this together.”
Why visits matter
- Build trust that paperwork cannot replicate
- Make hidden costs and constraints visible
- Prevent quality problems before they reach the lab
- Support better community and resource stewardship
- Support better community and resource stewardship
What a successful visit looks like
- Both sides leave with a clearer picture of each other's realities
- At least one concrete change follows, a spec adjustment, pricing conversation, or new support
- Trust increases; suppliers feel safe naming problems early
- Knowledge is documented so it survives staff turnover
- The supplier would willingly host another visit
How to show up
- Arrive as a partner, not an inspector
- Ask "What would help you meet this?" not "Can you meet this?"
- Practice both Zoom In (quality critical points) and Step Back (labor, stress points, system health)
- Share what you test for and why transparency goes both ways
- Get informed consent before using photos or stories
Common failure modes to avoid
- Surprise inspections, they create fear, not insight
- Adding requirements without changing price or lead times
- Adding requirements Visiting during peak harvest season without asking firstwithout changing price or lead times
- Extracting images and stories without consent or benefit
- Leaving without any action or follow-up
After the visit
Close the loop
Within an agreed window, send a summary of what you heard, not just what you observed. Confirm priorities and agree on who does what, by when.
Convert insights into changes
Adjust specs, share testing costs, revisit pricing once you understand true costs, communicate order risks early, and consider pre-payment where cash flow is a real constraint.
Document for continuity
Build an internal supplier relationship file, seasonal constraints, what matters to the supplier, agreed non-negotiables, and what support has worked. Relationships shouldn't reset when staff change.