Goldenseal, Processing and Value-Added Product Development

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. The Wallace Center at Winrock International has 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 Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), a popular, shade loving, medicinal, wild herb. However, wide information gaps exist that impede the development of these opportunities. The model produced by this project would also be applicable to other medicinal plants. In addition, increased production information would most likely have the effect of increasing cultivation of the plant, thereby reducing the need for wild-collection, and providing a desirable environmental benefit.