From One Strand of Rivermint | The Next A-Beauty Hero

Connecting Brands & Growers - The Native Rivermint Story

From the beginning, one of the main motives behind NATIVE EXTRACTS’ interest in Australian native species, was to help strengthen and grow Australia’s primary industry beyond the food industry, increasing opportunities for growers by revealing new uses of their botanicals and introducing them to new markets. From our inception we have been pursuing ways to improve Indigenous inclusion in our supply chain. 

As a result, NATIVE’s collaborations with growers have become a conduit for supporting Australia’s native botanicals industry, not only in commercializing ingredients, but in mentoring Indigenous brands as well. Through connection, inclusion and understanding, we support each other and bring the ingredients' stories closer to consumers.

CONNECTING YOU WITH AUSTRALIA'S NATIVE RIVER MINT

Meet Dominic Smith, Farmer & Business Mentor of Edible Reconciliation and Pundi Produce, grower of NATIVE EXTRACTS’ river mint for our Cellular Extracts, EssenXce and Powder. NATIVE's partnership with Dominic grew from shared values in conscious manufacturing and sustainable farming, expanding on science and innovation, bettering environment and communities, and supporting Indigenous inclusion in the native botanical supply chain and beyond.

Dominic’s innovative aquaponics farm uses less water, land and labour than traditional agriculture. Located in South Australia, with the mighty Murray River running through it, he cultivates more than native plants, but also opportunities for young indigenous people in his community. 

“I choose to work with NE because their passion to help people is high on the agenda. I believe if we work together that we will be able to help the environment and also make changes to the socio-economic outcomes in community, which in turn could have generational impacts. Lisa’s passion to get native botanicals off the ground is inspirational and a must for natives in Australia.” – Dominic Smith, Director Edible Reconciliation. 

“NATIVE EXTRACTS identifies that working with Edible Reconciliation (ER) and Dominic Smith is one way we can reach a wider group of Indigenous growers who can supply through this co-op. It also allows us to source botanicals that don’t currently have an Indigenous supply chain, which can help us identify new growing opportunities with enough demand to scale for communities to grow in the future. To date, not all native botanicals have an Indigenous supply, but it is early days, and sourcing through the co-op seems to be a good interim solution until the supply chain grows. Dom has a wealth of knowledge to share with other Indigenous growers and is also involved in the South Australian drought resilience leaders development program. He is involved in efforts surrounding resilience in farming for mental health and is also on other panels for community work on how to adapt to a new system of togetherness and how to work together for the future of native species. We share his ethos of “walking and working together,” and together we can create change,” says Lisa Carroll, Director NATIVE EXTRACTS.

A MINT THAT MEANS MORE

Rivermint (Mentha australis), also known as Wild Mint, or the Aboriginal name “Poang-gurk,” is going to be the next big hero in A-beauty skin care and ingestible applications. Expanding on traditional remedies of Rivermint to new applications, our Cellular Extracts show promise for skin, hair and oral care, beverages and our Native EssenXce deliver a highly nutrient-dense extract for use in nutraceuticals, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical formulations.

Aboriginals have used Rivermint medicinally, crushing and sniffing leaves to relieve headaches, or ingesting it to support digestion for hundreds of years. Now, we harness the species’ unique synergy of water-soluble phyto-compounds and their derivatives to offer new possibilities as a source of antioxidants, phenolics, rosmarinic acid and more. Beyond these exciting new natural ingredients, our collaboration goes deeper – our plant profiling of a species means growers have new knowledge they can build on to commercialise new formats beyond the raw material and value-add their crops. Our brands are authentic in their interest to connect to growers of the species they hero in their formulations to learn how they can collaborate on the ingredients’ development and inspire consumer interest. We cr­­eate a platform for growers and brands to tell new stories about connection and conservation.

BRANDS NEED GROWERS. GROWERS NEED BRANDS.

We need each other, and our success is connected. The global cosmetic market is an enormous platform to give growers the opportunity to tell their stories - truth telling. It is not enough today for a skincare brand to be “natural”. Consumers are demanding to know more about ingredients and a brand’s transformative purpose.  We connect multinational and startup brands to more than advanced True to Nature ingredients.

We’re brands' bridge to growers, their products’ backstories and a greater purpose: we collaborate with growers to commercialise species for new applications, we share our scientific phyto-compound profiles and our research to grow new opportunities and work toward a sustainable future for native species. We partner with Edible Reconciliation to support the growth of Indigenous inclusion in the native botanical supply chain, especially where there has typically not been an Indigenous source. 

 

Request a datasheet and explore the natural molecules we can harness in this exciting Native River Mint!

Besides a meaningful backstory, NATIVE’s Rivermint Cellular Extract and Native EssenXce deliver a stellar compound profile. The natural water-soluble molecules of this unique botanical species include amino and organic acids, phenolics, flavonoid glycosides, rosmarinic acid, terpenoids and methoxy flavonoids to power your products naturally.

"It is important in our collaborations that we protect cultural and historical use IP when we do custom extractions for our Indigenous growers, and we are currently finalizing a legal framework with a First Nation enterprise that approached us to work together to achieve this." -Lisa Carroll

 

A genuine native botanicals industry must be built on significant Indigenous participation, and we are so grateful to call Dominic a friend and partner on this journey. Dominic echoes the sentiment, “Together, we are accelerating demand for native botanicals, fostering genuine and sustainable participation in commercializing these species, and enabling communities to improve their social, cultural and economic outcomes.” Engaging deeper with growers, NATIVE EXTRACTS works toward a sustainable future for our brands' products and our growers' communities.

Contact us to learn more or request our Coming Clean report covering our commitment to ethical and eco-conscious ingredient design.