Wild harvesting is the way that we've sourced for generations our botanicals
woodlands, and it, as the name implies, essentially is finding these
products where they grow naturally and harvesting them in the wild.
So technically defined forest farming is the kind of intentional cultivation or
propagation of non-timber forest products, "NTFPs," as they're called.
There are several ways you can go about this, one of which really resembles
farming in terms of planting and kind of tending, growing, to harvest, harvesting,
and then selling. Others are related to existing plant populations, and rather
than ignoring or exploiting, working to tend and propagate and grow out those
plant populations with a kind of market end in mind and, you know, applying
essentially these ecological principles to the agricultural proposition in the
woodlands. In terms of being an alternative to wild harvesting, it
offers an element of control with respect to the quality of the product. It
also provides assurances related to the oversight and the tending of the stand
such that there are objectives with respect to our environmental benefits
that can be achieved, and it also provides companies assurances and the
kind of product lines they need to reduce adulteration and any of the kind
of complications associated with large volume orders that may come from those
areas.
I think one of the most important factors is just the recognition writ
large, or at least growing, on the part of the consumer in society around that the
products that they purchase, and where they're coming from, and the impacts that
they're having in terms of environmental sustainability, market equity, social
justice, and other issues around their purchasing behaviors. And so there's an
element of social responsibility that's at play here on the part of companies
and on the part of consumers, and that can be pulled or traced back to forest
farming in terms of the chain of custody that is clear and consistent in that system.
I think consumers should know that there are people and there are
places tied to their product, and it's not just knowing where your product
comes from, but it's also understanding the context wherein that product is
harvested or provided from, and that is an important issue that the discerning
consumer who does care about the environment, who does have a sense of
responsibility to society, can work to grasp the real issues associated with
the supply chains in the industry and help, as others along the way have worked
to help, improve the overall situation so that those people and those places can
be improved.
In large part, where many of our woodland botanicals are harvested and sourced to
the herbal products industries come from areas in Appalachia
that are extremely economically depressed and distressed, and forest
farming, through the possibilities of better prices, greater recognition on the
part of consumers, interest on the part of companies in those raw materials,
provides one avenue of a kind of natural capital and environmentally focused
economic development, which to me, recognizes the true wealth in that
region that has not necessarily been in the hands of the people that live there.
And so it's accessing that "green capital," if you will, and looking to kind of push
the boundary with respect to market evolution around the intentional
cultivation and, at the same time through that, helping to protect and steward some
of those plant populations in that area, so that the capital is not lost in the
midst of generating revenue or income, but in fact it's enhanced, and developed,
and grown.
So I think it's important to ensure that, you know, a producer base that's long been marginalized
is not marginalized in the future, but lifted up at this kind of
critical moment, where there's a great deal of opportunity enfolded into the
possibilities. I think one of the biggest challenges is how to move forward
together in terms of outreach and education, and by that, I mean there are
those that are interested in forest farming and that intentional cultivation
system, which is an agroforestry practice; there are those that have been long
involved in the wild harvesting trade; and neither, I think, should be segregated
or separated or weighted one versus the other, but we need to think about how
those systems of production can move forward together, such that the entire
market benefits in terms of the traceability, the confidence associated with
the harvesting practices, and through all of that, we're doing right by our
environment and our plants. One of the biggest challenges associated with
forest farming is the time lag. These are slow growing perennial plants primarily,
and so to invest today in something that renders a saleable product in four
to six years is a risky proposition or risk proposition, and so those
landowners that are interested, or those others that are interested in forest
farming, are facing a situation where there's some uncertainty regarding next
steps or the possibility of sales. So particularly at the outset, taking that
step and investing with not all the information known (regarding where the
sale may happen down the road) is a difficult hurdle for those who are
interested in forest farming. I think also, too, we're lacking some of the basic
support structures that the government has put in place for our field farming,
insurance being a good example. There's not really a well-defined
insurance possibility for forest farmers, because for the longest time,
many of these non-timber forest products have been seen as recreational,
or things that are of little consequence or value in the market, but of course we
know those markets are fairly large... they've just been, for the longest time,
sourced through wild harvesting. Forest farming at the stages that it exists now
is not going to, say, take over the entire supply chain, it's just not going to
happen. Nor do I think it should, really. I think it can be balanced. I think that in
that regard, the understanding of the extent to which consumers will purchase
these materials and where they will purchase them, and pulling back to some
sort of financial planning in terms of buying forest farmed products relative to
some of the other sourcing, is a critical step that's yet to be defined, but that
could improve the opportunities for forest farmers and expand the scale of
supply.
Mountain Rose Herbs is a leader in this movement, in terms of defining the next steps of the
herbal products industry, truly. They have, with passion and practicality, taken some
very important steps, and they're pushing the boundary, and I think that's critical
and important. Working part and parcel with others that have been involved with
the forest farming proposition, not shying away from that, but kind of diving
in, has really been one of the strengths on the part of Mountain Rose Herbs'
involvement, and then in doing that, putting basically money where their
mouth is by actually buying these products at higher price points to
demonstrate, in the region, where this kind of economic development could
really pay off, and that environmental sustainability can be part of that.
Through the purchasing of those forest farmed, forest grown products, Mountain
Rose Herbs has demonstrated that it's possible, and I think that right there is
the most kind of powerful impact that the company has had thus far,
in terms of the work underway in Appalachia and beyond. They are defining
ways in which we can move forward, and to do that, they have to take on that risk, but that risk is being absorbed, because they believe in a variety of principles
associated with the business operation: providing, obviously, quality products to
their consumers, but then looking back to the regions where those products are
coming from and ensuring that we can do right by those providers of that raw
material, and so also do right by the plant material itself, the forests, and
the environment, and working in that regard to show others how we can move
together toward this end.
United Plant Savers brings the conservation piece of the equation to
the table in a very powerful way. They have a long history of working to
conserve plants throughout Appalachia and beyond,
internationally even, and they have been a key driver along the way in terms of
defining these next steps. They have partnered with many organizations to
bring that conservation message to the overall strategy. They stick to that, they
are tried-and-true in that regard, and that plays a very valuable and important
role in the midst of this economic development proposition because what
they do is, they've helped formulate a process that balances the environmental
sustainability with the economic development, and in all of that cuts
through the issue of social justice. So it's the people, and the plants, and the
products all together, and they help to ensure that that piece of the equation,
or that piece of the pie, is front and center.
There are a variety of places that people can go to gather information
related to forest farming. Universities and their extension services provide
fact sheets and other types of publications around the particular
plants, and even some of the aspects of management. There are nongovernmental
organizations such as United Plant Savers, Appalachian Sustainable
Development, Rural Action, that have worked to put out information to provide
workshops and training (the same with the extension services, they also do that), and
all of those organizations that I mentioned are tied into a coalition that
focuses on promoting forest farming and working with landowners and and other
stewards that are interested in that particular agroforestry practice, and
transferring the techniques and market information that would be relevant and
useful in a forest farming operation to assist those individuals as they move
forward in terms of production. So you can find that information on websites, the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition is an outfit that was
sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture and their
beginning farmer and rancher development program, and that includes
nongovernmental organizations and university partners and agency partners,
as well, and that is a clearinghouse of sorts for this type of information. Also,
training events are hosted by the Coalition periodically...over the last
three years, we've trained 750 people in terms of forest farming practices, but we
have 1500 members in the Coalition, and we have events upcoming in the future.
And so we continue to kind of push along in terms of a centralized way to
transfer information and make that available.