Where do companies get their essential oils from?

Each company is different on where they get their essential oils from. Some companies will grow the plants needed on their own farms, some contract out to farms, and other buy them from a third party vendor. The problem with not knowing where the essential oils are coming from is you don't know how the oil is made. In some instances it could take a plant a while to go from harvest to distillation if they do not distill on site. You don't know how the fields are kept and what is used on them. The best thing to do when researching essential oils is to go to each company's website and see if they list where their oils come from. If the site does not list it, I suggest calling the company and asking. This article is a great article to read and have on hand when starting to research, "12 Questions to Ask an Essential Oil Company" http://heavenscentoils4u.com/articles/twelve-questions-to-ask-an-essential-oil-company/.

Young Living prides itself on their exclusive Seed to Seal process. The Seed to Seal process allows Young Living to ensure quality from the seeds (picking the right seeds for planting), cultivating (making only organic and positivity touch the fields), distillation (ensuring that no chemicals are used in process), and seal (each batch is test before it gets to the buyers. If one little thing is off they will toss the entire batch.) Young Living is able to uphold the Seed to Seal process because they own their own farms, have partnership farms, coop farms, and qualified vendors.

How does Young Living keep their farms?
Young Living only farms on land that never had pesticides, herbicides, or any other chemicals on them. They use only organic herbicides on the fields. Each field has their own compost yard. The plant material that is not used during the distillation process is put into the compost yard. Nothing goes to waste from the plant during the process of getting the oils. Approximately 5 million tons of compost is used on Young Living farms annually. The soil is injected with fertilizer that contains microbes, enzymes, and liquid from worm castings. The weeds are kept under control by workers pulling them or hoeing by hand. The workers that work the fields are not allowed to go work the field with a negative attitude, anger, or while using foul language. I find the latter a very interesting fact. Here's a fun fact- aromatic plants require a pH balance of 7-7.8 (which the farms make sure that's what the soil is at).

Benefits of owning their own farms
Most Young Living farms have a distillery on site to ensure the plant materials do not sit and lose their beneficial qualities. Owning, having exclusive partnerships with other farms, and distilling on those farms allows Young Living to have complete control of every step of the Seed to Seal process. This ensure the products deliver purity and efficacy to members (or those purchasing the products). Here's another fun fact- plant materials can be distilled up to four times, by doing this it changes the aroma and benefits of the oil. Young Living only uses the first distillation as that is the most potent, most aromatic, and provides the most benefits.

Young Living Farms
Earlier I mentioned that Young Living owns their own farms, has partnership farms, coop farms, and qualified vendors. Young Living's qualified vendors must abide to Young Living's stringent and demanding Seed to Seal process. Young Living thoroughly and rigorously test every batch of essential oils that are provided by these vendors. If they are not up to Young Living's standards they will not be used. Young Living also sources many essential oils from coop farms. These respected growers work exclusively with Young Living. These growers also adhere to the strict Seed to Seal process. As an investor in these farms, Young Living closely monitors the quality and authenticity of the botanical matter and oils.
The partnership farms Young Living uses are partially owned by Young Living and independent growers. The partnership farms also have to agree to the strict Seed to Seal process. These farms are carefully vetted for compliance, this allows Young Living to support local independent farming while upholding their absolute commitment to quality.
The farms used by Young Living essential oils are all over the country. The farms only grow what is indigenous to that region. This allows for the best plants to be used. Young Living, though headquartered in the USA, owns farms all over the world and are continuously looking for more to keep up with the supply and demand. The following are where Young Living's farms are and what they grow on them.

• Highland Flats, Naples, Idaho, USA- this farm grows and distills Idaho balsam fir, western red cedar, pine, Idaho blue spruce, and other conifers.
• Mona, Utah, USA- this farm grows lavender, hyssop, clary sage, peppermint, and goldenrod.
• St. Maries, Idaho, USA- this field grows lavender, melissa, and tansy. This field is where Gary Young purchased his first farmland and where Young Living started. These 200 acres have never before or since been exposed to harmful, modern farming techniques.
• Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada- this farm grows black spruce, ledum, yarrow, and other botanicals. This farm will soon be distilling these also. The distillery is currently being built.
• Guayaquil, Ecuador- this farm grows eucalyptus blue, ylang ylang, chocolate, dorado azul, and ocotea.
• Iquitos, Peru-Young Living has purchased 3400 acres of wild Amazon Rainforest where they will build a distillery and research wild crafting of native plants and trees.
• Simiane-La-Rotonde, France- this farm grows lavender, lavandin, rosemary, calry sage, and einkorn grain.
• Salalah, Oman- this farm grows sacred frankincense. Young Living is the first and only company to obtain permission to distill and export this precious essential oil.

Resources used for this post are heavenscentoils4u.com and ylpure.com/evesgarden. Always remember to do your own research and find answers yourself.