Folk Oils - From Idmine, Anti-Atlas
Before certifications. Before ESG reports. Before sustainability became a selling point - there was a woman, a forest, and a promise passed down from generation to generation.
2,800+
Women producers in our direct sector
20+
Years of cooperative commitment (since 2004)
2.5M
Ha of protected UNESCO Reserve
100%
Recycled co-products · Zero process waste
8–12kg
CO₂ sequestered by argan tree / year
Lhajja Fatima Ait Moussa, founder of the Afoulki Cooperative, Idmine - 2004
The origin · Idmine, Anti-Atlas
“We have never produced to export. We have always produced to last. The difference is what our hands have learned to respect. »
In 2004, in the village of Idmine in the heart of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, Lhajja Fatima Ait Moussa founded the Afoulki Cooperative with a simple conviction: that the value of an argan plantation is measured by the quality of the relationship between those who cultivate it and those who benefit from it.
Twenty years later, this founding principle has become the operational architecture of Folk Oils. Not a slogan. A sector structure. Multi-year commitments. Fair prices. Technical support that strengthens - rather than exhausts - the land and those who work it.
826 permanent women. 2,000 seasonal. 12 cooperatives. These are not CSR statistics. These are the people who make every liter of Folk Oils oil possible.
Our CSR architecture
Direct supply chain, circular model, carbon data per batch. Not statements - documented evidence.
01
A supplier who buys spot cannot claim to have a sustainable chain. Folk Oils sources its supplies directly, with commitments on stable conditions over several seasons - an essential condition for a producer to invest in sustainable practices and maintain quality over the long term.
02
Our pressure cakes become plant proteins and specialty bioactives (sterols, squalene, phenolic compounds). No fraction of our raw material is treated as waste. Sustainability and economic performance are two results of the same industrial choice.
03
CSRD, Scope 3, Green Claims, EUDR - your reporting obligations are evolving quickly. Our FolkCarbon program produces batch carbon footprint data, from cultivation to shipping, calculated according to GHG Protocol and ISO 14064, which can be integrated directly into your reporting.
Circular economy
The circular economy is not an objective at Folk Oils. This has been the production model since day one.
The extraction of vegetable oil generates co-products whose management defines the real environmental impact of an industrial operator. The majority of players in the sector treat these co-products as residues to be eliminated.
Folk Oils made the opposite choice: to integrate the total valorization of these fractions into its production model from the industrial design stage. The result: an optimized environmental balance sheet and a more competitive cost structure.
Raw material - Direct harvest
Direct cooperative channel, zero intermediaries, lot-by-lot traceability from collection.
Extraction - Cold Press
BRC/IFS, ISO 22000 certified process. The extracted oil retains all of its active ingredients.
Meals → Proteins & Bioactives
Protein isolate (up to 80%), sterols (schottenol, spinasterol), squalene, tocopherols, isorhamnetin.
Return to the earth
The residual organic fractions are returned as agricultural amendment. The cycle is closed.
Arganiculture & Carbon sequestration
Argan tree is not a raw material. It is living ecological infrastructure. Its presence in the Anti-Atlas landscape regulates the water cycle, fixes the soil against desertification, and sequesters carbon over life cycles that can exceed two centuries.
The Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve, classified UNESCO since 1998, covers 2.5 million hectares. Each mature argan tree sequesters between 8 and 12 kg of CO₂ per year - a living carbon stock whose survival directly depends on the economic viability of the sector.
By maintaining an economically fair sector, Folk Oils contributes to the active preservation of this ecosystem. Each liter of Folk Oils argan oil is backed by an argan grove which sequesters carbon, fixes the soil and maintains local biodiversity.
2.5 M ha
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
200 years
Longevity of the argan tree
8–12kg
CO₂ sequestered / tree / year
1998
UNESCO ranking
The traceability of our argan sector allows each batch to be associated with a certified production area in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Data available for integration into your Scope 3 reporting and Green Claims declarations.
UNESCO Reserve · Anti-Atlas, Morocco
Regulatory Compliance
CSRD, EUDR, Green Claims, Scope 3 - your clients’ ESG reporting obligations are evolving. Folk Oils documents its compliance before your teams request it.
| Regulatory framework | Folk Oils Status |
|---|---|
| EU Green Claims Regulation | Traceability and fingerprint data available |
| Zero Deforestation (EUDR) | Direct traceable supply chain, documented compliance |
| Scope 3 Reporting (CSRD) | Batch carbon data via FolkCarbon |
| EU Organic / USDA NOP | Active certifications on organic grades |
| ISO 22000 · BRC · IFS | Active certifications |
| ILO fundamental conventions | Documented respect throughout the sector |
| GHG Protocol · ISO 14064 | Applied methodology - FolkCarbon |
Deepen our axes
Selection criteria, long-term partnerships and requirements aligned with each origin. Sustainability is committed to the contract, not the relationship.
Carbon traceability and sequestration equivalence documented in the sectors concerned. EU CRCF aligned approach. Scope 3 integrable data.
The argan tree takes 200 years to grow big. We have 200 years ahead of us to protect it. An endemic species, an irreplaceable ecological service.
Creation of local value, working conditions and dialogue with upstream partners. 2,800+ women, 12 cooperatives, a model that redistributes at the source.
The legacy of Lhajja Fatima Ait Moussa institutionalized. Education, health and know-how preservation programs in Anti-Atlas communities.
Water, energy, packaging and logistics balance. Real indicators of industrial environmental performance measured, not estimated.
ESG data
FolkCarbon file, procurement policy and compliance support - structured response by our CSR team within 48 hours.
Commercial actions
Response within 24 working hours
04
Measurable social impact at source
Stability of income, access to high-value markets, maintenance of traditional know-how in a certified industrial framework. Our sector generates a direct and measurable economic impact on the producing communities of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas.