Herbs
Our program has been actively engaged in research, demonstration, and educational efforts to grow the medicinal, culinary, and aromatic herb industry across the state for almost three decades. Here you will find information developed from our many projects on growing, processing, marketing, and trying to make income from herbs of all kinds. Are you interested in buying or selling North Carolina grown medicinal herbs? Then check out our new beta site to help facilitate that at Herb Connection.
Topics
Medicinal Herbs
- Medicinal Herbs and Natural Products Training – Resource materials on growing, wild-harvesting, and manufacturing. These materials were developed for educators and advisors working with people in this industry. Information would be useful for everyone, but the target audience is educators.
- Medicinal Herb Production Guides – Black Cohosh, Bloodroot, Echinacea angustifolia, False Unicorn, Goldenseal, more coming soon!
- Medicinal Herb Enterprise Budgets – Black Cohosh, Bloodroot, more coming soon!
- Medicinal Herb Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GAPs) for NC growers
- Videos on GAPs for Medicinal Herbs from Spring 2015 Workshop
Completed Projects
- Bloodroot Project — Information on growing bloodroot at home project for artisans in Cherokee, NC led by researchers in Horticulture Science.
- Echinacea Research Project — Three-year (2012-2014) field trials in the southern mountains (Mills River) and upper piedmont (Reidsville) regions of North Carolina.
- Exploring Stevia for Western North Carolina — a two-year study is an examination of the feasibility of commercial stevia production in western North Carolina.
- WNC Forest Products Marketing Project — The project created many useful tools, publications, videos, and an eBook for non-timber forest products producers, buyers, and consumers.
- Medicinal Herbs for Commerce — Information on growing and selling medicinal herbs in North Carolina. Includes step-by-step “So you want to grow medicinal herbs” process for you to read through and decide if herbs are right for your situation. Provides North Carolina farmers an opportunity to explore the economic feasibility of medicinal herb production.
- WNC Medicinal Herb Growers Club
- Herb Connection — helps North Carolina medicinal herb growers connect with buyers to start building long-term relationships.
Organizations
- NC Herb Association
- Smoky Mountain Native Plants Association
- NC Natural Products Association
- American Society for Horticultural Science
- International Herb Association
Resources
- Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for Medicinal Herbs Training Videos
- How to Grow Bloodroot Video
- Goodies from Your Woods Webinar
- From the Western NC Forest Products Marketing Project:
- YouTube Videos of the businesses we worked with!
- WNC Forestry Success Stories: Change for the Better an Ebook highlighting the successes of the project.
Specific Topic Information
Supporting New Crops & Organics Program
Our program is almost completely funded by grants and gifts. If you value this program, we would appreciate your financial support. To become a Friend of the NC Alternative Crops and Organics Program, you can donate on-line here or print out this form and mail it in with your check. Thank you for your support!