Responsible Vanilla Sourcing: Building Resilient Supply Chains

A sweet, decadent taste of creamy ice cream. A warm, cozy fragrance that rounds out an elegant perfume.

That sweet, familiar comfort is vanilla, and it is used across a variety of foods, beverages and fragrances.

It often begins its life in Madagascar, a land of lush rainforests, winding rivers and vibrant communities. Here, vanilla vines climb native trees, shaded by the canopy, nurtured by tropical rains and the careful, attentive hands of thousands of farmers.

The global demand for vanilla is high, and the market is only growing, making sustainable ingredient sourcing as important as ever.

For the last several years, IFF has worked to promote sustainable Madagascan vanilla production in collaboration with our local vanilla suppliers, cooperatives and strategic implementation partners.

Our objective is to work toward delivering magnificent, ethically sourced vanilla to the world, while also bringing support and benefits to the surrounding communities and ecosystems where vanilla is produced.

Madagascar’s Ecosystem: A Living Tapestry

Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, is a living tapestry of 28 million people and diverse flora and fauna, all dispersed throughout long coastlines of mangrove forests and coral reefs, deep rainforests, expansive deserts, grassy plains and towering mountains.

The vanilla supply chain of Madagascar weaves through the northeastern coast of the island, known as the SAVA region. Local cooperatives connect producers across small villages to suppliers and, ultimately, the international markets.

But it’s a difficult life to farm vanilla: Theft, climactic conditions (such as tropical storms, cyclones, drought or crop disease) and an uncertain market for vanilla prices all endanger vanilla production and threaten the livelihoods of those who grow and harvest it.

And it’s laborious. Each flower must be pollinated carefully by hand. To avoid theft, some farmers sleep in their fields for months as the beans grow and ripen. After harvest, vanilla beans are often hand-carried down mountains in baskets for processing.

While the land is rich in biodiversity, life for vanilla farmers is precarious. Many families lack a reliable, steady income, access to education or basic infrastructure like clean water and sanitation. Women’s economic opportunities in these regions are also limited, and agricultural practices are often dictated by necessity, not sustainability.

The unpredictable nature of farming vanilla means that sourcing can be fragmented, traceability is difficult and farmers committed to sticking with sustainable agricultural practices for vanilla may be hard to come by without the proper training and awareness.

Across our vanilla procurement operations, we are continually working toward more ethical sourcing for our scent and food solutions by establishing partnerships with local experts who support a fuller picture of the market and its people. We work primarily with two key suppliers that engage with three cooperatives who employ more than 1,500 vanilla producers.

Promoting Regenerative Vanilla Farming and Biodiversity

Beginning around 2010, IFF has been working in Madagascar with our vanilla farmers to support their livelihoods and the local community and ecosystem.

By 2017, a more detailed vision began taking root: sustainable vanilla sourcing that would make lives better, increase farmer productivity, restore ecosystems and create a more resilient vanilla supply chain.

We began a pilot program with these objectives to solidify our approach, and by 2019, the Sustainable Vanilla Program was born.

In the beginning, the SVP focused on agroforestry, land stewardship and education on the best practices in land management. Within three years, it had established a solid foundation of farmer education and had built trusted relationships with suppliers, co-ops and farmers.

This foundation of trust mattered. Farmers felt represented within their co-ops, and the investment was proof that suppliers and buyers would be a steady presence to ensure vanilla farming remained prosperous for their families. The program was beginning to stabilize the vanilla supply chain and farmers’ incomes.

Following the completion of Phase 1 and a year of evaluation, we were ready by October 2024 to launch the next phase of our SVP: a bold program running through 2027. While the program would continue to serve as a vital bridge connecting IFF, farmers and suppliers, our experience from Phase 1 and sharper objectives made it clear that the next phase required a deeper level of on-the-ground expertise.

For Phase 2, IFF began working with a new implementation partner, UEBT – Sourcing with Respect, an international nonprofit that promotes sourcing with respect for people and biodiversity. UEBT brought a deep and unique understanding of the social and cultural contexts of vanilla production to their work with farmers.

Alongside UEBT and two of our trusted vanilla suppliers, we continued to focus on improving livelihoods by delivering long-term net beneficial economic and social impacts for vanilla farmers, their families and communities. We also wanted to further support the natural environmental processes that are part of the vanilla sourcing ecosystem in Madagascar.

To achieve these objectives, the program expanded training on agriculture and income diversification (food processing/transformation, small-scale poultry and fish farming, and beekeeping), as well as the Village Savings and Loan Association model to encourage self-managed savings and lending groups, among other activities. This next-level approach also emphasized greater resilience of vanilla production and yield through a focus on biodiversity, conservation, agroforestry and reforestation.

IFF’s Sustainable Vanilla Program: Core Activities
(2024 – 2027)

Vanilla Sourcing with Social & Environmental Benefits

Steered by farmers and our partners at UEBT, IFF’s Sustainable Vanilla Program across Madagascar’s SAVA region works closely with farming communities to strengthen livelihoods, promote regenerative agriculture and support long‑term resilience.

The program seeks to ensure that every bean in IFF’s vanilla procurement path tells a story of dignity and hope: empowered farmers, enhanced livelihoods, technical training, restored ecosystems and access to sanitation services, health care and microloans that were once unavailable.

Thanks to the power of partnership, thousands of individuals are experiencing life-improving benefits from this farmer-led, customized vanilla program that supports livelihoods and communities. As of the end of 2025, the first full year of operation, the program had achieved significant progress.

Building Resilient Livelihoods through Sustainable Vanilla

Through cooperative partnerships, SVP combines agronomic training, income diversification, financial inclusion and social support, helping farming households build more secure futures.

In 2025, a delegation of IFF’s Procurement, Growth & Marketing and Sustainability teams traveled to Madagascar to reaffirm our deep-rooted commitment to sustainable vanilla sourcing at origin. Our visit reinforced a powerful truth: Responsible sourcing begins with people. We witnessed the three workstreams of the SVP in action and heard moving reflections on the early impact these initiatives are having across local communities.

The experiences of two vanilla producers highlight how tailored support can create meaningful change at both the farm and household level.

Farmer Feature: Meet Ms. Razafinosy Payette

Ms. Razafinosy Payette, 44, is a mother of three and a vanilla farmer living in the rural SAVA region of Madagascar. A member of the SAVASOA Cooperative since 2021, she is actively engaged in SVP’s programs to support women farmers in strengthening their skills, income and leadership within their communities.

Through SVP, Ms. Payette has participated in trainings on regenerative agroforestry for vanilla cultivation, poultry farming, and cutting and sewing skills, an assortment of disciplines that helps her diversify income streams, build greater economic independence and support her family’s needs. She is now applying regenerative practices on one of her vanilla plots to compare results with traditional methods, with the aim of improving both quality and yield.

Beyond training, SVP has supported her household through access to a Village Savings and Loan Association savings group, school supplies, food support during the lean season, and clean energy solutions such as an improved cookstove and solar lighting. Through cooperative participation and shared learning, Ms. Payette is strengthening her role as a farmer and provider while creating a more resilient future for her family.

Farmer Feature: Meet Mr. Razafindrakosy Moril

Mr. Razafindrakosy Moril, 41, is a vanilla producer living in the SAVA region. He has grown vanilla since 2000, becoming a member of the AVAMA Cooperative in 2025. Through SVP, he has expanded his role beyond vanilla farming by training to manage a seedling production site for both forest and cash-crop trees, providing both environmental benefits and a reliable source of additional monthly income.

Mr. Moril has also participated in training on calculating farm production costs, strengthening his financial management skills and helping him plan expenses, cut unnecessary costs, improve profitability and diversify crops. His household benefits further from his partner’s participation in a VSLA savings group, improving access to savings and credit.

Through the cooperative, Mr. Moril’s family has also accessed social benefits such as rice support, school supply kits and health insurance that helped cover malaria treatment last year. Together, these initiatives have enabled him and his family to steadily improve household finances. The result is real progress: they can now save money each month, something they weren’t able to do before.

More Than a Logo: Fair for Life and Fair Trade

Vanilla is a luxurious and complex ingredient that can be difficult to source reliably. The relationships and partnerships we build help mitigate risk for our customers, creating a transparent, dependable, resilient supply chain. Going a step further with certifications like organic, Fair Trade or Fair For Life is also key to our customers who want sustainable vanilla in line with their own sourcing policies, goals for traceable ingredients and storytelling objectives. These certifications also offer price premiums both to growers and suppliers.

Fair Trade and Fair for Life are certification programs that promote ethical trade practices. A Fair Trade certification shows that producers receive fair compensation for their labor, work in safe conditions and follow environmentally sustainable practices. Fair for Life, on the other hand, is a certification for products from Fair Trade and responsible, resilient supply chains. It shows a focus on corporate social responsibility. Both programs support equity in the global economy, ensuring that trade benefits everyone involved, not just large corporations.

These third-party certifications matter to our vanilla procurement process because they serve as reminders that building sustainability into our ingredient supply chain has incredible impacts throughout the value chain, from field to shelf, and everywhere in between. This includes IFF’s vanilla flavor and extraction sites where we use raw materials like vanilla beans from Madagascar to create delicious and fragrant solutions for our customers, including vanilla extracts and ingredients for ice cream.

In February 2026, we were proud to announce the milestone of achieving Fair Trade and Fair for Life certifications for several of our global vanilla flavor and extraction sites, including:

• Fair Trade certified: South Brunswick, N.J; North Philadelphia, PA (Tastepoint); Tilburg, the Netherlands; and Haverhill, United Kingdom
• Fair for Life certified: Tilburg, the Netherlands; Grasse, France

We know the demand from consumers for sustainability and traceability is only increasing. In response, we can now offer certified vanilla solutions for our customers that meet globally recognized sustainability standards that guarantee respect for people and planet. These certifications underscore the value of our Sustainable Vanilla Program and demonstrate our end-to-end commitment to responsible sourcing and creating positive impact across the entire value chain, from source to shelf.

We also know that the success of the SVP and the credibility of our related certifications only serve to open even more doors for opportunities and partnerships that help us continue and multiply the cycle of shared value and giving back to our communities for the future.

Benefits Beyond the Vine: Resiliency, Traceability and Transparency

The benefits of certified vanilla and the SVP program extend far beyond the farms where vanilla is grown. A reliable, stable farmer base is essential for suppliers, and the SVP strengthens this foundation by investing in farming practices and supporting steady farmer incomes. These investments build trust and deepen relationships between suppliers and farming communities. By participating in capacity building programs, suppliers help equip farmers with the skills and resources they need to thrive. In turn, these farmer-led improvements foster long-term partnerships and ensure a consistent, high-quality supply of vanilla for both suppliers and IFF.

By investing in our ingredient supply chain this way, we secure our access to quality, sustainable vanilla and create meaningful relationships with partners we can depend on. Our suppliers and UEBT offer updates, manage the programs and farming, and help us stay connected to the vanilla supply chain.

Partnering for the Future of Sustainable Vanilla

When you see Fair for Life or Fair Trade certifications on our vanilla, know it’s more than a logo. It’s a reflection of IFF’s longstanding commitment to Do More Good for people and planet, a comment we express across our vanilla supply chain through programs and partnerships that continually seek to strengthen local livelihoods and ecosystems.

Our most recent alignment as a new member of the SVI – The Sustainable Vanilla Initiative brings us even closer to our producers, partners, NGOs and industry peers to drive collective action for a more responsible vanilla supply chain. Our membership in this voluntary industry forum reflects our shared commitment towards ultimately promoting a long-term, stable supply of high-quality, natural vanilla in the market in ways that advance traceability, forest-positive practices and  farmer livelihoods.

We were also pleased to announce the opening of our new Vanilla Innovation Center in Madagascar, reinforcing vanilla as a strategic and priority tonality for IFF and strengthening our ability to innovate at origin with our partners.

Looking ahead, we will continue to expand our relationships with farmers, cooperatives, suppliers and other partners around the world to make sure we’re cultivating a global supply chain that is not only more resilient and inclusive, but one that uplifts everyone involved, from vine to farmer households, to each decadent flavor and fragrance produced.

Want to partner with IFF? Contact Our Team