The DRUERA Sourcing Philosophy: Beyond Fair Trade to True Partnership

"What does ‘ethical sourcing’ really mean? A sticker on a package? A fee paid to a certification body?"

Let’s be clear: Fair Trade moved mountains. It set a baseline—fair prices, no child labor, community funds. But when we founded DRUERA in 2005, with roots digging deep into Sri Lankan soil, we knew:

"Checklists don’t build futures. People do."

Our Revelation: Fair Trade is a transaction. Partnership is a bond.

"We didn’t want to ‘source’ cinnamon. We wanted to honor the hands that craft it—across generations."
— Mike de Livera, DRUERA COO

Today, we pull back the curtain on True Partnership:

• Beyond premiums → shared legacies
• Beyond audits → radical transparency
• Beyond contracts → generational trust

This is how the world’s finest Ceylon cinnamon reaches you.

The Limits of the Label: Why We Aimed for More Than "Fair Trade"

What Fair Trade Gets Right

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Fair Trade cracked open a broken system:

• Price floors shielding farmers from exploitation
• Community premiums building schools and clinics
• Zero tolerance for child/forced labor

Price floors act as a critical safety net: they prevent predatory brokers from exploiting farmers during crop gluts by guaranteeing minimum payments, ensuring growers can always cover basic costs like seeds and tools. 

Community premiums fund tangible local assets—think brick-and-mortar schools that boost literacy rates by 40% or rural clinics stocking malaria treatments. 

Most crucially, zero tolerance policies enforce strict, audited bans on child/forced labor—a non-negotiable ethical baseline.

It’s the foundation—but foundations aren’t houses.

"Fair Trade stopped the bleeding. We wanted to heal the body."
— Mike de Livera, DRUERA COO

The Unseen Gaps

Behind the logo, four cracks weaken the model:

• Transactional, Not Transformational:
  • Distant buyers + faceless co-ops = paperwork partnerships
  • Focus: Meeting standards, not building futures
• Rigid Rules, Fluid Realities:
  • Vanishing peeling skills? Soil erosion? Not in the certification handbook.
  • One-size-fits-all ignores a family farm's drought struggles, or a master peelers retirement.

• Investments Go Missing:
  • $0 for preserving 300-year-old craftsmanship
  • $0 for ergonomic tools to prevent hand injuries
  • Premiums fund projects—not people’s potential.
• The Premium Black Box:
  • Co-op admin fees swallow 30–50% of funds (Fairtrade Int'l 2023 report)
  • The 75-year-old artisan rolling your cinnamon? He sees pennies.

DRUERA’s Breaking Point: Paying ‘fair price’ while a craft goes extinct isn’t ethical—it’s performative. True sustainability needs roots, not receipts.

Our Realization:

• Certifications audit paperwork. We invest in people.
• Co-ops manage transactions. We build trust.
• Premiums fund projects. We fund legacies.

The Four Pillars of True Partnership: The DRUERA Model in Action

Pillar 1: Generational Trust, Not Annual Contracts

The Bond That Forged DRUERA

Our partnership with the De Silva family (based in Kalawana) began in 2005 when patriarch Ananda showed Mike de Livera a crumbling peeling shed. "We didn't sign contracts that day," recalls Mike. "We shared cinnamon tea under a jackfruit tree and promised to rebuild this craft together."

19 Years of Shared Milestones:

• 2007: Co-funded replanting after a fungal blight wiped out 30% of saplings
• 2012: Danced at daughter Lakshmi’s wedding (Mike was honorary "uncle")
• 2018: Slept in the fields during monsoon floods, saving the seedlings.
• 2023: Ananda’s grandson joined the farm shown in the picture above→ third-generation partnership

Action Over Agreements:

"When Ananda’s hands shook from Parkinson’s, we didn’t hire replacements. We co-designed weighted knives that let him peel for 3 more monsoons. His final quill rests in our Colombo office."
— Mike de Livera

The Trust Multiplier Effect:

• Weekly Voice Notes: Farmers report soil moisture/insect issues → immediate solutions
• Harvest Veto Power: De Silvas can reject any DRUERA design change (they nixed plastic pouches in 2019)
• Reverse Training: Their master peelers teach our staff bark-grading in Sri Lanka

This isn’t supplier management. It’s intergenerational kinship.

Pillar 2: Direct Investment, Not Just Premiums

Beyond Money: Investing in Legacy

While Fair Trade premiums fund community projects, we invest in human potential:

The Apprenticeship Revolution:

• How It Works:
  • Teens train 3 hours a day after school and are paid
  • Master peelers earn bonuses per graduate
• Results:
  ✅ 47 certified peelers (2018-2025)
  ✅ Sri Lanka’s first female master peeler (Ruwani, 22)
  ✅ Zero child labor within 20km of farm

Infrastructure That Transforms:

Soil Science Lab:

• Process:

1. Test soil pH/nutrients monthly
2. Brew custom compost tea from local biomass

• Results:
  » Bark oil content ↑ 22% → brighter citrus notes
  » Water usage ↓ 40% → drought resilience

Ruwani’s first knife? We engraved it with her name. Her first land purchase? Our profit-sharing funded it. That’s investment with a heartbeat.

Pillar 3: Shared Success, Not Just a Transaction

The Unbreakable Pact in Action

Profit Sharing Model:

• 15% of DRUERA profits → De Silva Farm Trust
• 2024 Allocation:
  • 50% education (3 uni scholarships)
  • 30% equipment (GPS soil sensors)
  • 20% emergency drought fund assisted in establishing the Cinnamon plants as shown in the picture above.

100% Harvest Guarantee:

• COVID Crisis:
  » Bought entire 2020 harvest at pre-pandemic prices
  » Shipped via air freight despite 300% cost hike
  » Result: Zero layoffs during lockdowns

Burden Sharing:

• 2023 EU Tariff Crisis:
  » DRUERA absorbed 80% of new 27% tariff
  » Co-launched "Adopt-a-Tree" program → customers offset costs

They didn’t beg for help. We saw the spreadsheets. Partners don’t wait for SOS.

Why This Ripples:

• De Silvas now mentor 6 neighboring farms in regenerative practices
• Ruwani trains women in peeling → destigmatizing females
• Scarecrow's are placed to frighten wild Deer who invade the fields at night.

Pillar 4: Radical Transparency, Not Just a Logo

The Glass-Box Philosophy

Traceability That Talks:

• Scan any QR code → access:
  • Harvest video (timestamped)
  • Soil health dashboard (Carbon, pH, heavy metals, moisture)
  • Peeler’s journal (Ruwani’s notes on bark pliability)

Science Without Secrets:

• Heavy Metal Tests:
  » Public lab reports updated quarterly
  » Detection at 0.21 ppm (FDA allows 2 ppm lead)
• Live Cams:
  » Solar dryer operations → real-time moisture monitoring

Humanity at Center Stage:

• "Meet Your Maker" Series:
  • Ruwani’s video on quill-rolling → 2.7M views
  • Ananda’s podcast on monsoon predictions
• Signature Edition:
  • Limited quills signed by peelers sold out in 72 hours.

Transparency isn’t risk—it’s respect. You deserve to know whose hands held your cinnamon before yours.

The DRUERA Difference:

Why These Pillars Transform Your Kitchen

1. Flavor That Tells a Story:

• Healthier soil → higher cinnamaldehyde oil → distinct citrus-honey notes in your oatmeal.

2. Safety You Can Swear By:

• Single-origin + batch testing → 0.21 ppm lead (vs. industry avg: 1.8 ppm)
• No blending → zero Cassia contamination

3. Legacy in Every Bite:

That warmth in your chai? It’s 19 years of trust, 47 young artisans, and soil Ananda’s grandfather tended. You don’t taste cinnamon—you taste covenant.

The Result: What True Partnership Creates

For the Farmer: Roots, Not Just Rewards

True partnership transforms survival into legacy:

✅ Economic Stability:

• 5-year income forecasts → kids in university (3 De Silva grandchildren currently studying agriculture)
• Zero loan debt since 2018

✅ Cultural Preservation:

• 47 young peelers trained → saving a craft with fewer masters than NBA teams.
• Traditional songs sung during harvest, recorded in our podcast

✅ Dignity Redefined:

"We’re not ‘suppliers’—we’re co-creators. DRUERA asks for our opinion on packaging designs."
— Ruwani De Silva, Master Peeler

This is generational change—not charity.

For You: Beyond a Spice, a Story

Your kitchen becomes the endpoint of a chain.

Unparalleled Quality:

• Soil health investments → 18% higher oil content → bright citrus notes in every bite
• Pride in craft → hand-sorted quills with zero bark defects

Unwavering Safety:

• Single-origin + traceability → rigorous metal testing (0.21 ppm lead vs. industry 1.8 ppm)
• No blending loopholes → pure Ceylon, every time
  
  

An Authentic Story:

• Scan your bag → hear Ruwani describe the harvest morning
• Your purchase funds the next master peeler’s toolkit

"The flavor in your cinnamon isn’t just from soil. It’s distilled from 19 years of trust, invested wages, and shared obsession with excellence. You taste the respect."
— Mike de Livera

Your Role in the Circle:

Conclusion: Redefining What it Means to Be an Ethical Brand 

True Partnership isn’t a certification to flaunt—it’s a sacred bond built on:

• Human connection over checklists
• Generational investment over premiums
• Radical transparency over logos

"Fair Trade asks, ‘Did we pay enough?’ We ask, ‘Did we honor enough?’"
— Mike de Livera

This is the future of ethical sourcing:

• No distant audits. Only shared dreams.
• No vague promises. Only soil-tested proof.
• No invisible farmers. Only Ruwani’s hands rolling your cinnamon at dawn.

It’s harder work. But it’s the only work that matters.

Join the circle:

👉  Shop Our Ethically Sourced Cinnamon

Taste the difference that trust makes.