PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
A well-loved flavor around the world, McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract is derived from the finest quality imported vanilla beans, delivering a rich, sweet warmth to baked goods and more.
Vanilla is one of our most essential and beloved flavors used around the world. The process of vanilla bean farming is extremely tedious and highly involved. Vanilla is derived from the flat-leaved vanilla orchid, vanilla planofolia, which farmers must pollinate, flower by flower, to produce vanilla beans. Once a pod is formed, farmers must wait for it to ripen and darken before harvesting, washing, sorting, curing, and aging to name just a few steps of the farming process before it becomes the pure vanilla extract in your bottle today.
With Vanilla being such a vital global flavor, we want to continue to improve on sustainable practices that will not only protect the environment, but the farmers and their communities as well.
IMPROVING INCOME RESILIENCY
Supporting the vanilla farming community starts with empowering its farmers.
- • McCormick has supported over 4,000 vanilla farmers by increasing their crop yields, providing access to finance, and developing youth entrepreneurship opportunities.
- • McCormick works with local partners to provide direct support, such as agricultural training, to over 16,000 vanilla farmers in Madagascar and Indonesia.
- • In partnership with local entities, McCormick has developed direct sourcing programs for farmers in Madagascar and Indonesia to improve the quality of their products, improve the lives of farmers, and build transparency through the supply chain.
SUPPORTING EDUCATION IN FARMING COMMUNITIES
Our pledge extends beyond the farmers themselves and into the broader population, with a specific focus on children’s education.
- • McCormick has supported the construction or restoration of 7 rural schools in Madagascar.
- • Since 2017, McCormick has distributed over 15,000 school kits to kids in in vanilla farming communities in Madagascar, impacting the education of approximately 5,200 children.
PROVIDING ACCESS TO SERVICES
Facilitating access to basic services such as health care and financing is vital to the success of the farmers’ businesses and communities.
- • McCormick is funding programs which have provided 12,000 vanilla farmers in Madagascar with access to health insurance.
- • McCormick grants access to finance in its vanilla sourcing communities in Madagascar. So far, over $600,000 of interest-free loans have been provided to farmers and approximately 80 village saving and lending associations have been set up.
As a global leader in flavor, McCormick is committed to promoting the continuous improvement of sustainable sourcing of herbs and spices. As part of this commitment, each year our goal is to source more vanilla through our Grown for Good program.
- • McCormick launched the Grown for Good framework in the 2019, which outlines our theory of change to drive impact through sustainable sourcing.
- • Grown for Good stands for a vision in which the lives and livelihoods of farmers and farming communities are not just protected but enhanced. It is a system that conserves and enriches the local and global environment and builds resiliency across the entire farming system.
- • To create impact at scale, numerous McCormick initiatives have been awarded funding from international development agencies such as USAID, USDA and GIZ (German International Development Agency), and to date have benefited almost 23,000 farmers, including over 16,000 Madagascar and Indonesia vanilla farmers, their families, and the wider farming communities across our herbs and spices portfolio.
