News

November 30, 2016

-Young Living signed a long-term partnership agreement with Australia-based TFS to supply its premium Indian Sandalwood oil-

Lehi, UT – November 30, 2016 – Young Living Essential Oils, the world leader in essential oils, today announced a partnership with Australia-based grower and distiller, TFS Corporation (TFS), to supply the company with its Indian Sandalwood (Santalum album) oil. The long-term agreement will help drive new product development and allow Young Living to immediately double its sandalwood oil volume to meet current and future demand. The new sandalwood oil will compliment Young Living’s existing supply of Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood from its partner farm in Hawaii.
“We admire TFS’ commitment to sourcing high quality, sustainably grown sandalwood,” said Jared Turner, Young Living Chief Operating Officer. “Its practices align with our commitment to stewardship of the earth and follow our strict Seed to Seal®standards for quality.”
Since 1999, TFS has established the world’s largest plantation of sandalwood trees in Australia’s tropical north, and each year harvests 15-year-old trees. As part of its commitment to sustainability, TFS then replants saplings to replace the harvested trees. TFS is committed to the highest environmental and ethical standards demanded by Young Living, and uses renewable energy and an award-winning water recycling system in oil distillation.
With the new partnership with TFS, Young Living now has 15 corporate and partner farms, along with its Seed to Seal certified suppliers around the world.
“We’re proud to work with Young Living to share our premium oil with consumers across the globe,” said Mario Di Lallo, Head of Global Products for TFS Corporation. “We are honored to align our business with Young Living, a like-minded, environmentally conscious, global company.”

At TFS, our priority is the health and wellbeing of our staff and trees, as well as the environment and the communities where we work.

Where possible, we always look to find efficient, environmentally-sensitive ways of managing the plantations. When herbicides or insecticides are required, we manage this carefully according the international framework ISO 14001 (Environment), ensuring we monitor and minimise our impact.

For example to minimise our use of herbicides, we use groundcover which acts as a pot host for the sandalwood, and also supresses the weeds naturally. We also slash and mulch to help control weeds.

When our trees are small we supplement these methods with an extremely dilute mix of herbicide and water. For example Basta - a safe herbicide that only affects the sprayed stem and foliage area – is used at 0.1ml/1m2 in water (it is likely the 4,000 litres referenced is this dilute water and herbicide mixture). When used, this is carefully applied only to affected areas (spot application) using methods to avoid drift. Most importantly, we do not use residual herbicide and we never use chemicals at levels which will run off or leach in the soil.

To nurture and protect the health of our trees, we’re also committed to an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. Similar to promoting healthy gut bacteria in humans, we encourage populations of beneficial insects in the sandalwood plantations which help control undesirable pests. Occasionally APMVA approved insecticides are used at recommended label rates and are generally targeted to one species (eg only caterpillars).

To protect our team, we provide our staff with training and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when using chemicals, or coming into contact with caterpillars and hairy leaves which can create skin irritation and eczema-like symptoms. This forms part of our AS/NZ 4801 Health and Safety framework – an important part of our company culture and ethos.

We also work to manage natural resources carefully using drip irrigation systems, and have won multiple awards for our water recycling systems.
For more information about TFS visit their website http://www.tfsltd.com.au