Mission

• Manufacture traditional herbal products that truly heal and make these products available
• Offer flavoursome, top quality organic teas, culinary herbs and spices
• Favour sound development and a healthy earth, healthy growers, workers, clients and consumers

Values

Since the company’s creation in 1978, Marie Provost has been guided by noble values and a deep passion for medicinal plants. These values have remained unchanged for 28 years:
•  Respect for people
•  Respect for the earth
•  Socially responsible
•  Belief in the power of plants

Sustainable Development

Aware of its impact on the environment, Clef des Champs takes its role as a responsible citizen very seriously. We take social, environmental and ecological concerns into consideration in our daily activities and decisions. The company has therefore adopted principles based on equity, continuity, solidarity and sharing. We also implemented a salary policy and working conditions that foster the health and personal growth of each team member, making safety a primary
and constant concern.

On the farm, we practice sustainable agriculture based on monitoring, awareness of every action taken, valorization of the elements and traceability in all of our operations. As for the management of renewable resources, we put a great deal of thought into every choice we make. All of the paper products used by the business are 100% post-consumer recycled. Our utility paper, such as toilet paper and the paper used by our production department, is also made from 100% recycled fibre. We recycle all of the plastic and glass we use, compost our organic waste and reuse our boxes. Furthermore, we are striving to make our packaging more environmentally-friendly. This year, we have decided to package our capsules in bottles made of glass, which is easily recycled.

We also do things for our community. For the past five years, we have collected organic waste from the daycare centre and several restaurants in our village. The local organic bakery is also involved, collecting compost from clients who want their organic waste to be recycled, but do not have sufficient space to do so themselves. These small acts help reduce the amount of recoverable waste that is dumped in landfills. We also help organize ecological projects (such as computer recycling, large-scale composting and tree planting) with municipal organizations.

We are continuing our efforts to become carbon neutral. It is a sizeable challenge and we must carefully examine each aspect. We are already quite active in several areas, having begun (in collaboration with the Centre d’expérimentation des véhicules électriques du Québec) to convert to electricity the vehicles we use in our garden, converting our tractor to biodiesel (fuel made from recycled oil) and gradually changing the vehicles in our fleet to biodiesel.

We are also in the midst of developing an ecological construction project that will move all of the company’s operations to the foot of the gardens. We will be concentrating our efforts on this wonderful project throughout 2009 as the new building is expected to be integrated by late fall.