Progress 09/01/04 to 08/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Sleepy Hollow Farm hosted four on-farm all-day workshops during the project. Three were held October 2, 2004, October 1, 2005, and October 7, 2006 with a total attendance of 180 small farmers and landowners. These meetings focused on the actual mechanics of establishing and maintaining a Hydrastis plantation. An additional fourth meeting was held May 13, 2006 which was attended by approximately 175 people. These workshops were presented without charge to the attendees and our goal was to recruit five to ten small farmers to enroll in a four year program to establish Hydrastis plantations on their farms and attend twice yearly training sessions. We more than doubled that goal. From these meetings we have developed a network of 23 small farmers who have planted more than 4000 pounds of fresh Hydrastis over the last three years. This is roughly equivalent to 10 acres and represents a doubling of the USDA NOP certified goldenseal in the US. Future planting commitments by these
growers will increase the total NOP certified Hydrastis acreage to roughly 20% of all cultivated Hydrastis in the US and will make a significant contribution to efforts to reduce the need for wild collection of Hydrastis to meet market needs. Additional presentations regarding this work during PhaseII were given at the following venues: International Society of Horticultural Scientists, 2007 Medicinal Plant Symposium Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, Ga., Georgia Organics 2006 Annual Conference, West Georgia Community College, Waco, Ga., Tennessee State University Forest Farming Inservice Training Workshop, Jackson TN, Tennessee State University Forest Farming Grower Work Shop, Grundy County, TN, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Dalton, Georgia, Medical College of Georgia Life Sciences Business Incubator Admissions Panel. Total number of attendees at all presentations regarding this project was 566. Total number of presentations was 10.
PARTICIPANTS: Key partners with this work included Drs. Jeremy Tzeng, Xuiping Jaing, and Jeff Tomkins from the Institute for Nutraceutical Research at Clemson University, Dr. Christine Wu, University of Illinois College of Denistry, Dr. James Simon and the New Use Agriculture and Natural Plants program at Rutgers University, and Drs. Kent Wolfe and John McKessick from the University Of Georgia Center for AgriBusiness and Economic Development.
TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted audience for dissemination of information from this project was small family farmers in Appalachia one of the most distressed and poverty sticken areas of the Nation. Currently growers involved in the project are located in 14 Appalachian Regional Commission counties.
Impacts
The end result of our outreach work has been the establishment of the only known 100% grower owned botanical product processing company in the US. In May, 2004 an initial meeting of persons interested in forming a cooperative or other association of medicinal plant growers was held. This meeting was attended by more than 250 small farmers and landowners with presentations given by the PI, Dr. Kent Wolfe from the UGA CAED and Craig Scroggs, USDA Cooperative Development Specialist for Georgia. 42 small farmers returned surveys indicating an interest and a steering committee was formed to pursue the matter further. The steering committee continued to meet twice yearly during training sessions through 2006 and decided in October, 2006 to formally organize and begin an effort to raise sufficient capital to start operations. A goal of $100,000 in cash and in-kind contributions by December 31, 2006 was set and exceeded from 10 growers committing from $3,000 to $35,000 each.
Two special meetings were held in January and February 2007 in consultation with an attorney and CPA in order to adopt an operating agreement. The operating agreement was formally adopted March 1, 2007 and efforts have begun to bring the company into operation. OP will be occupying office space in the Life Sciences Small Business Incubator at the Medical College of Georgia September 1, 2007. This space will also include laboratory area with sufficient equipment for the quality control of our products. As a resident member of the Life Sciences Center of Innovation (COI) OP will be assigned a Mentor and a Group of Advisors with which we will meet at regular intervals. This begins Phase III commercialization of this project. We expect additional growers to join OP as their plantations mature.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/06
Outputs
Significant progress has been made toward the development of optimal processing methods for Hydrastis. The liquid extraction chemical marker standardization process was extended to include one additional alkaloid, canadine, and verification of an absence of palmatine. A business plan for a grower owned, vertically integrated medicinal plant processing facility was developed and presented to the growers at an on-farm workshop held May 13, 2006. The grower group has decided to proceed with implementation of the plan. A goal was set for a minimum level of capitalization by year's end with operations to begin shortly thereafter effectively commercializing the technology developed through this project.
Impacts
The network of growers developed and trained through this project have planted a total of 7 acres of certified organic Hydrastis over the past three years and have committed to plant that much per year over the next three years, a total financial commitment of more than $80,000 plus several thousand man-hours of sweat equity. Others are planting additional medicinal plants besides Hydrastis. These new plantings effectively double the amount of certified organic Hydrastis in the US with total current planting commitments through 2008 amounting to approximately 20% of all currently cultivated goldenseal. This begins accomplishment of a major goal of our work through the establishment of cultivated goldenseal plantations on small farms in order to increase farm income and relieve pressure on wild populations from overcollection. Establishment of the processing facility promises to enhance grower income significantly through participation in the next step in the grower to
consumer chain.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05
Outputs
Significant progress toward achievement of our goals has been realized as outlined below. Objective 1. Samples from our 2004 harvest were subjected to a series of treatments regarding drying, grinding, and storage of goldenseal in order to maintain alkaloid content. These samples have been packaged and shipped to our cooperators at Rutgers for alkaloid analysis. The studies will be repeated in the Fall of 2005, then all the data will be complied and analyzed. Objective 2. Work related to this objective has resulted in a significant enhancement to the provisional patent application filed in Phase I. Owing to the presence of unknown compounds in goldenseal which provide significant synergistic activity, standardization to a specific level of a chemical marker will never be an accurate reflection of the bioactivity of a goldenseal product. We were able to develop a method of standardizing goldenseal products to not only chemical marker content but also bioactivity. This
process is detailed in United States Patent and Trademark Office regular Patent Application # 11/070,891 filed March 3, 2005. The PI visited our cooperators at the University of Illinois, Chicago Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy on April 18, 2005. A research plan was developed which will lead to the isolation and identification of the compound(s) responsible for the above synergism then use that information to optimize our standardization process. We also anticipate that the data from this work will provide basis for the inclusion of our goldenseal extracts in natural oral care products. Objective 3. Discussed with Objective 4 below Objective 4. We believe our greatest success has been in our efforts to not only disseminate the information we have learned to other farmers but also to organize them in such a manner as to optimize the amount of profits they will realize from their work. On Oct. 2, 2004 we held an all day workshop at Sleepy Hollow Farm. This workshop was attended by 48
people who were establishing goldenseal plantations as a result of our earlier workshop last May. It focused on production and post-harvest methods that will produce consistently high alkaloid content as well as methods of cooperative effort that will allow the group to maximize their profits. A method of distributing goldenseal products back through the growers to their local areas is being developed. We will host another workshop at Sleepy Hollow Farm in October, 2005 where we hope to bring new growers into the system and provide additional training to those already involved. In addition to the on-farm workshops, a presentation concerning this work was given to the Celebrating Rural Georgia Conference, Aug. 14, 2004 at Dalton State College, Dalton, Georgia. This conference, sponsored by the Georgia Rural Development Council, was attended by city and county administrators, cooperative extension agents, various governmental and non-governmental organizations and others involved in
rural and community development policy decision making. A presentation regarding this work was also given at the Georgia Organics Annual Convention, March, 11, 2005 at West Central Technical College, Waco, Ga.
Impacts
The network of growers developed and trained through this project have planted a total of 3 acres of certified organic goldenseal over the last year and have committed to plant that much per year over the next three years, a total financial commitment of more than $80,000 plus several thousand man-hours of sweat equity. Others are planting additional medicinal plants besides goldenseal. We have personally visited almost all these farms over the last year and provided individual training and advice. We anticipate visiting the rest in the coming year. The Sleepy Hollow Farm plantation combined with the new plantings this year effectively double the amount of certified organic goldenseal in the US with total current planting commitments through 2008 amounting to approximately 20% of all currently cultivated goldenseal. This begins accomplishment of a major goal of our work through the establishment of cultivated goldenseal plantations on small farms in order to increase
farm income and relieve pressure on wild populations from overcollection.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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