Establishing A Viable Organic Goldenseal Production System for Small Family Farms Phase II

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Many small, limited resource farms are only marginally profitable and their owners are seeking ways of increasing farm income and financial stability through diversification. It has been suggested that innovative businesses need to be designed to optimize the mix of labor, capital, and natural resources to the size and scale of the farm. Opportunities that exist for smaller-scale agriculture tend to concentrate around speciality and high value crops such as the medicinal plants, however wide information gaps exist that impede the development of these opportunities. Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) is a popular shade loving medicinal herb that is primarily wild-collected and has become endangered or threatened in many areas. By developing a viable organic production system for goldenseal we are addressing both these problems through a work plan which will provide increased income and financial stability for small farmers through the utilization of idle forestland to produce goldenseal but also provides a desirable environmental side benefit through the reduction in the need for wild collected goldenseal. The purpose of this project is to provide data necessary for high quality goldenseal raw material and value-added product production not only at the small farm level but also for the development of a cooperative of farmers. The model produced by this project would also be applicable to other medicinal plants.