Across the globe, agriculture is at a crossroads. Land use contributes to 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are primarily driven by deforestation and agricultural activity. Meanwhile, the WWF estimates that habitat destruction and overexploitation have led to a staggering 73% average decline in global wildlife populations over the past 50 years. Nearly 40% of the world’s land is now degraded, directly impacting the livelihoods of 3 billion people. Faced with climate instability, biodiversity loss, and the exploitation of both natural resources and rural communities, the industrial food system is being forced to confront its ecological and ethical costs.
At the same time, a countercurrent is gaining momentum—one rooted in indigenous knowledge systems, farmer autonomy, and land stewardship. Among the companies charting this alternative path is Organic India, a wellness brand that has woven regenerative organic agricultural practices into its DNA long before the term became a mainstream badge of sustainability. Starting as a grassroots movement in 1997, Organic India is deeply intertwined with the land and farming traditions of India. Its work revolves around cultivating native herbs like Tulsi (Holy Basil), Ashwagandha, and Chamomile through partnerships with thousands of smallholder farmers across rural India.
In a recent discussion, Ori Ornstein, Chief Commercial Officer at Organic India USA highlighted for me how the recent achievement of the Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™) label across multiple products reflects decades of practice. The ROC™ seal, which represents the highest global standards for soil health, animal welfare, and farmworker fairness, is a natural extension of the company’s long-standing model. From crop rotation and composting to direct trade and farmer equity, Organic India’s approach exemplifies a deeply integrated strategy for rebuilding agricultural ecosystems.
Rather than driving down costs through opaque, globalized sourcing, Organic India maintains local, vertically integrated operations with year-round agronomic support and premium payments—often 3 to 4 times higher than the conventional market. Their herbs are not just Certified Organic or Fairtrade Certified; they are the result of enduring, respectful relationships between people and place.
Our discussions also highlighted the challenges Organic India has faced. Competing against price-driven brands with superficial sustainability claims requires justifying a premium model. Yet their steady expansion, now under the ownership of Tata Consumer Products, suggests that values-led business models are gaining traction, especially when aligned with consumer demand for transparency, integrity, and environmental responsibility.
In an era when so many businesses externalize social and ecological costs, Organic India stands out for doing the opposite—internalizing responsibility and investing deeply in ecosystems and people. Their journey is a reminder that meaningful regeneration is neither quick nor easy, but possible when rooted in long-term vision and authentic relationships.
Christopher Marquis: Tell us a bit more about Organic India and its approach to providing organic herbal wellness solutions.
Ori Ornstein: Organic India was founded with the vision to be a “vehicle of consciousness” – a purpose-driven company that has a positive impact on consumers, farmers and the planet. It actually started as an organic grassroots movement in 1997 to heal ancient farmland by growing native herbs like Tulsi (Holy Basil) with traditional organic agriculture practices. By 2001, the growing movement evolved into a holistic wellness company that crafts Certified Organic herbal products inspired by Ayurveda.
Our approach is to offer consumers time-tested herbs directly sourced from small family farms in India and grown in the best possible organic conditions. There are many benefits of directly sourcing herbs from their native landscape; one, you honor the legacy of these traditional herbs; two, you support multigenerational farmers, their farmland and their villages; three, the geographic and climatic conditions are ideal for herbs to thrive sustainably with little inputs; and four, you provide authentic, efficacious herbal products that nurture the global wellness community.
It’s not just about the tea or supplement; it’s a holistic understanding that corporations need to be responsible for their impact on the world and lead by example. We are able to do this by cutting out the middleman and having a direct, integrated supply chain that upholds high, equitable standards at every stage, from seed to shelf.
Marquis: Can you tell me more about the recent news that Organic India achieved the Regenerative Organic Certified® label across multiple teas and supplements. Why did Organic India decide to pursue the rigorous certification?
Ornstein: We pursued Regenerative Organic Certified® because we’ve been growing herbs using organic, regenerative practices since our inception – before it was a certification or even a buzzword. The way people traditionally farm in India is innately regenerative and based on living in harmony with the earth. Organic India has always been at the leading edge of the Organic movement, and we are thrilled that there is now a certification that so comprehensively represents the standards we were founded on.
Our partner farms have always been small-scale and self-sufficient, with grazing animals that are treated with respect, a reflection of deeply held cultural values of the region. The independent farmers we contract with grow a variety of native herbs, as well as food like legumes for their family, adding to their land’s biodiversity. They also practice composting, companion planting, agroforestry – all core components of regenerative agriculture.
The reason we were able to release seven new ROC™ products so quickly is because from the get-go we were regenerative farming. If we weren’t it would take several years; that’s why we are so far ahead, which is a testament to our founders’ vision. This certification really encompasses the way we’ve been farming since the beginning and we’re proud to help carry its mission forward.
Marquis: Can you tell me a bit more about the ROC™ seal and what it stands for?
Ornstein: The Regenerative Organic Certified® seal represents the highest standard in the world for soil health, animal welfare and farmworker fairness. Its aim is to create a healthy food system that regenerates soil health and the whole farm ecosystem with practices like cover cropping, crop rotation, low- to no-till, compost, agroforestry, companion planting and more, as is appropriate for each unique farm. These practices reap more nutritious and abundant crop yields to build healthier communities and help conserve resources and sequester carbon to combat climate change.
Certified Organic and Fairtrade Certified are both prerequisites to become Regenerative Organic Certified®, making it the most comprehensive and cohesive layer of validation and accountability for earth stewardship within the food, textile and personal care industries. The certification is overseen by the Regenerative Organic Alliance, a nonprofit that we’ve been allied with since 2021.
Marquis: How long did the entire certification process take? What does the process involve?
Ornstein: So far, we’ve certified our oldest farming co-op in Uttar Pradesh where we grow Tulsi, Chamomile, Bacopa and more; and our newest co-op in Madhya Pradesh where we grow Ashwagandha. Our Uttar Pradesh co-op was already Certified Organic and Fairtrade Certified, so we were ahead of the curve as far as the timeline. The certification process involves tracking regenerative key performance indicators (KPIs) as they relate to tillage, biodiversity, soil health, crop rotation, water retention; many of which we had already implemented. It took about one growing cycle for our Uttar Pradesh co-op to become ROC™.
To go from conventional to organic is a longer process and would take just about 5 years if you’re very streamlined. When the Ashwagandha co-op formed, the first step was to transition the land to organic. This involves a 36-month transition period where use of prohibited substances like synthetic pesticides is discontinued and organic methods are implemented before certification can be granted. Fairtrade takes about a year and involves training and policy implementation, as the farms must align with Fairtrade standards, wages and premiums. Then you can start the ROC™ transition, which takes about another year.
Marquis: Can you say a bit more about how you implemented regenerative organic practices since the founding of the company, before certification? How do USDA Organic and the Fairtrade Certified label fit into your model?
Ornstein: Organic India was the first company to bring USDA Organic to India back in the early 2000s. Organic is the foundation of our brand, it’s our origin story, it’s in our name and it doesn’t just fit our model, it is our model. There are many parallels between traditional farming of India and regenerative organic farming. It’s not large monocultures spanning miles, our partner farms are small-scale and biodiverse with different herbs, food crops, trees and grazing cows. We don’t clear forests; we embed our farm plots into the native landscape.
Fairtrade is also inherent to our company, and we produced the first Fairtrade certified supplements on the market, starting with Tulsi and most recently with Ashwagandha – which again is the first Ashwagandha to become Fairtrade Certified. Farmworker fairness and respect are central to our values and we are proud to directly trade with farmers and help them with all paperwork, costs and training involved in the transition to Organic, Fairtrade and ROC™. It’s great because these are investments for their own land, not company land. They are independent, own their land and choose to partner with us each year.
For us it’s really not a series of practices, protocols and certifications that we strive to reach, it’s who we are as a brand and what we consider our responsibility as a business to safeguard present and future generations.
Marquis: Can you tell me a bit more about your farming partners throughout India? How are the herbs grown regeneratively? What do you mean by ethical sourcing? How does the company maintain direct partnerships with thousands of family farms?
Ornstein: I will use Tulsi as an example to illustrate how it’s grown regeneratively, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Tulsi is native to the land where we grow it and regenerative in nature. It’s highly resilient, grown during the rainy season and requires no irrigation, greatly conserving water. It also attracts pollinators, improves soil fertility and is crop rotated with Chamomile to build soil health. We directly procure roughly 500 metric tons of dry Tulsi leaves annually from nearly 300 partner farmers. We pay 3-4x above conventional market price, plus an additional 15 percent Fairtrade premium to support the community.
To give context on how we maintain direct relationships with thousands of farmers – Organic India is headquartered in India and brings traditional herbal wellness products to 40 countries. We employ an internal organic agriculture expert team, local to each of our farming co-ops across India, to trade directly with our farmer partners and provide 24×7 support year-round. We set up procurement centers during the harvest seasons to purchase directly from farmers in their villages at premium prices and then process the raw materials at our own LEED platinum facility located within a 200-mile radius of our partner farms.
Marquis: What are the long-term goals for Organic India? What challenges do you think will stand in the way?
Ornstein: The founding idea behind the Organic India name is to help manifest a fully organic India. Our goal is to continue to transition more acreage in India to Organic and Regenerative Organic Certified® and bring more farmers into our direct supply chain. We are at 2000 farmer partners and have been there for a while, so we’d love to see that increase by continuing to scale our herbal wellness offerings.
We are fortunate to have been recently acquired by Tata Consumer Products, an India-based company dedicated to sustainable sourcing, natural resources management and climate leadership. They share and support our goals and are helping accelerate our positive impact. As our business grows our mission grows so these are exciting times.
Our biggest challenge is competing against companies that prioritize having the lowest price, while sacrificing quality, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Organic India is dedicated to offering premium, organic, fairly traded products at the most affordable price possible. However, we can’t be the cheapest option when competing against products with minimal quality or ethical standards, or that boast “green” marketing rather than offering transparency into their practices.
We care about the whole spectrum from paying farmers fair wages to procuring the high-grade herbs to providing affordable wellness options for our end consumers, and at the same time, we’re up against a growing market of brands cutting corners to present the cheapest product positioned as “natural.” It’s a challenge, but a good one, and we’re committed to continuing to lead by example, be transparent for our customers and stay true to our values. ROC™ is the gold standard in helping consumers spot brands that verifiably go above and beyond for people and the planet.
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