As part of our ongoing partnership with the Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD), we have ongoing conversations about ways we can collaborate and share ideas. Recently, we had a phone call with Robin Suggs, the Procurement Manager of ASD’s Appalachian Harvest Herb Hub. In this role, Robin identifies and supports medicinal herb farmers to meet secured demand for sustainably grown and harvested forest botanicals, including American ginseng, goldenseal, black and blue cohosh.
Robin is also the lead in training as well as workforce and cooperative development regarding the Wild Stewards Alliance (WSA), an incubating organization comprised of wild crop dealers and harvesters committed to the sustainable production of wild plants of economic value.
Baseline: Mountain Rose Herbs is working on a blog article to share how wildcrafted herbs can also be certified organic. We will focus specifically on an herb or two from Herbal Ingenuity Appalachia since this process may vary from partner to partner. Hoping to ask you about 15 questions- should take 20-30 minutes.
Ladn acquisition to get certified- lease or own- have ot have control over property
OG certifies the site
Certifiers needs to have access to the site.
Thing have to be careful of is are dealers certifiers on site and then running herbs from other cites as certified.
Trust the system but also verify. We had a partner we were suspicious of- wouldn’t let us come out and see so we stopped
Slippery elm was an issue with that
ASD certified- legal permission to access site.
Organic cert won’t allow that0 you have to lease, own, or have a contract that you can exclusive access to this site.
Land ownership is the biggest hurdle
Certified organic favored by landed people-
One certifies the persona dn one certified the land.
Quality-
Wild collected material done correctly, produce superior product versus cultivated
Adapted
Beyond organic- it’s better,
Workers being compensated fairly
Wild Stuwart Alliance
Focusing on the people as well- organic doesn’t really care about wages or the human element.
- What are the base requirements for a wildcrafted botanical to qualify for organic certification
- How does they differ from cultivated crops?
- Do you think there is a benefit to wild certified organic herbs in commerce? Increased potency, etc?
- What documentation or verification steps are most challenging for wildcrafters seeking certification?
- How long does it take for a piece of land to get certified—from application to certification?
3 years- transitional certificate (had to pay for inspection for no cert. so people didn’t do it.)
Get certified is signed an affidavid that no prohibited substances were applied in last 3 years. Get local rangers to sign off.
All about paperwork to FDA-
Consumer doesn’t really know what it all means.
Wild is trendy these days-
Wild has a lot of room to play with right now-
Organic is here to stay, but there are a lot of obstacles to get there.
Used to be more
Wild
Know supply chain and be able to verify organic cert
giving attention to
Awareness building
Wild fish industry
People are financially rewarded to doing the right thing versus the wrong thing.
wildharvest-
- Preservation of wildlands
- more natural- organic cultivation monocrops aren’t as vital as wild lands. Missing the ecosystem
Organic is a step in the right direction- not the destination” – Robin
Working with wildlands and wildharveste material are the destination.
Reference FairWIld and ASD to bring in social aspect
testimony of harvesters0 video or blog.
“Know your harvesters”
Consumer acceptance of wild material is growing.
Mushrooms- next new hot thing