Growing for the Natural Health Products Market - · PDF fileBC Herb Producers Natural Health...
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Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers Growing for the Natural Health Products Market Innovations 2012 COABC Conference Jeanette Lee Naturally Grown Herb & Spice Producers
Transcript of Growing for the Natural Health Products Market - · PDF fileBC Herb Producers Natural Health...
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Growing for the Natural Health Products Market
Innovations
2012 COABC Conference
Jeanette Lee Naturally Grown Herb & Spice Producers
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Naturally Grown Herb & Spice Producers Cooperative
Roots - community initiative in the Koots
Branding - HerbPro
20 members
Focus - sustainable cultivation limited wildharvesting
Processing - drying, testing, milling and bulk distribution
Some value add product development underway
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Natural Health Products Market?
NHP supplements Practitioners:
naturopaths, herbalists, TCM, ayurvedic, etc.
Apothecaries Herbal teas
Natural Pet Care Natural Cosmetics “Healthy for You”
Food Website – direct
sales
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Understanding the Market
Regulatory requirements – US and Canada
Selling to NHP means you’re an ingredient supplier
No longer trust quality and efficacy of commodity products.
Need volumes & consistency of supply Historically have relied on commodity market suppliers
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Herbs & Botanicals – What are they?
Annuals – aerials/flowers/some roots
Biennials - aerials/flowers/roots
Perennials - aerials/flowers/roots
Shrubs/Trees – leaf/flower/berry/nuts & hulls/bark/roots
Other – fungi, algae, etc.
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
What is in demand?
Product Labelling – off the shelf products
Websites – list ingredients
Develop relationships with prospective buyers … ask questions
You’ll find that the list of herbs /botanicals
is a long one!
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
What to Grow?
Production planning
Income expectations?
Site characteristics/habitat/zone?
Diversifying or just starting out (equipment, knowledge, skills)?
What land management system is best suited to your land/values/equipment?
What types of herbs/botanicals fit?
Many herbs are considered INVASIVE
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Land Management Systems
Field grown - Intercropping
Alley Cropping
Windbreak
Forest Farming
Integrated Riparian
Greenhouse?
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Wait, there’s more to think about!
Plant/Species/Cultivar
Cultivation Practices
Water
Pre Harvest
`
Harvest/Collection
Transport
Post Harvest Handling
Record Keeping
Fresh
Frozen
Drying
Processing
Packaging
Shipping
Marketing, Sales, Distribution Accounting, Profitabilitly …
Sustainability Practices
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Research NHP Requirements Regulatory – Understand what your buyer
must meet
Plant Identification – IMPORTANT - Be 100% SURE of species your buyer wants - Ability to maintain and identify a pure species
Buyer specifications
Primary Processing – drying, cutting/grinding equipment
CONSISTENCY OF SUPPLY
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
You Must Ensure Safe Consistent Supplies
Highly recommend taking a Good Agricultural Collections Practices Workshop – On Farm Food Safety
– includes the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Food Safety Practices which may be essential or an asset to your operation whether it is collecting plants, growing herbs, spices or natural health products or primary and secondary processing of these products.
http://www.saskherbspice.org/CHSNC/gacp.html
Funding provided by Growing Forward – a federal-provincial-territorial initiative
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Raw Material Identification
Common Names: Rosehip
Family: Rosacea
Latin Name (Genus & species) Rosa canina
Plant Part: Fruit
Form: Pwd 80 mesh
Origin: Canada, BC
Date, Lot Number/Batch Number
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Certificate of Analysis – Purity
Moisture: < 10% (w/w)
Escherichia coli: Negative
Salmonella spp.: Negative
Total Aerobic Count: < 1 X 105 CFU/g
Yeast and Mold: < 1 X 104 CFU/g
Heavy Metal/pesticide/herbicide
Other visible foreign material
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Identity Testing
Organoleptic character (smell/taste)
Macroscopic analysis comparison
– No visible adulterants/contaminants
– Foreign matter analysis ≤ 5%
Most will do HPLC for specific markers
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Traceability
System to allow buyers to trace raw materials back to:
original supplier, grower/harvester
field/location/inputs
time of harvest/handling
plant/seed source.
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Hawthorn Agroforestry Research
Determine the economic viability of hawthorn as a new medicinal plant crop in BC
Agroforestry Alley Cropping Field Trial
BC Hawthorn potentially new material for the NHP market
Phase II of research underway
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Why Hawthorn?
Health Benefits - Historical and scientific evidence for cardiovascular health, hypertension
Agroforestry – Alley Cropping - integrated production of trees & farm crops
Market Access - Natural health products/value added products, food additives, etc.
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Current Research Practitioner sales market assessment
Native Hawthorn research
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Practitioner Sales Market Assessment
Is there a opportunity for hawthorn (dried, fresh, other products)
Size of market
Use of hawthorn/botanicals & what form
Supplies and volumes
What they look for when purchasing
Higher revenues versus commodity market
Value chain opportunities?
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Hawthorn Research Project
Botanical Identification of BC Hawthorns
– Uses DNA barcoding
Why? Species (Plant) identity required for NHP market/propagation
Has it been used traditionally?
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Berry Analysis North American species
have more peaks due to phenolic compounds than European species
Large scatter indicative of additional biological effects
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Ripening increases berry volume and sugar concentrations
Stage of ripeness has greatest effect on phenolic compound concentration ― Phenolic
concentration highest midway through growing season; lowest at maturity (Cui, 2006)
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
North American hawthorn leaf and flower extracts differ significantly from European species
Research shows phenolic compounds (rutin & hyperoside) have large positive effect on cardiovascular functioning (Schüssler, 1995).
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
• Flower/Leaf from North American species have higher concentrations of:
• Rutin (3c)
• Hyperoside (3b)
• Chlorogenic acid (1)
• Sugars (4, 5)
• Saturated and unsaturated fatty acids
than the Eurasian species
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
In Vivo Trials
University of Alberta is conducting live animal trials to determine potential to improve cardio vascular disease and vascular function.
BC Native hawthorn tissue is incorporated into rat diets for in vivo analyses of hawthorn’s cardiotonic activity.
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Challenges With Growing Herbs Availability & applicability of cost/benefit info
Some herbs you simply cannot reasonably profit from
Choosing which herbs/botanicals to grow
Equipment versus manual harvesting
Learning curve
Availability of hands-on expertise
Post harvest handling and processing
Certificate of analysis/purity
Our Future is Growing BC Herb Producers
Coop Structure Can Work For Growers Access to more diverse market – local supplier Understand herbs/botanicals Expertise and mentorship, training Good Agricultural Collection Practices and
Standard Operating Procedures Traceability Production Management Protocols Production Planning Guide Web Based Member Forum Shared equipment/facilities
