In 2017, the Appalachian Harvest Food Hub expanded to include an Herb Hub™ in its Duffield, Virginia facility. Our goal is to help build and support a thriving and sustainable herbal economy in Central Appalachia, where plant conservation is achieved through profitable cultivation.
We are your reliable source for top-quality, sustainably sourced medicinal herbs.
Founded in 2017, we are the very first Herb Hub in the country. We operate out of The Appalachian Harvest Food Hub, which is one of the oldest rural food hubs in the country. We are committed to providing the herbal industry with Appalachia’s highest quality botanicals, backed by top-notch customer service.
Questions? Contact Katie Commender, Director of Agroforestry, at kcommender@asdevelop,org.
Our annual order process
November – January: Download and complete theBuyer Demand Projections sheet (below) with your estimated needs for the upcoming year, and email it to Katie Commender by January 15 annually. For accurate production planning, it’s important to include all details requested in the sheet (volume, certs, form, etc.) to ensure supply meets your needs.
January – February: The Herb Hub procurement team will compile and share an aggregate demand list with our network of medicinal herb producers to confirm supply availability and pricing.
February – March: Purchase orders will be finalized with all buyers, based on supply commitments from our producer network.
April – December: Herbs will be harvested in season and processed according to your specifications. Orders will be fulfilled once enough supply has been aggregated to meet the order. Each herb’s harvest season varies, but barks are generally harvested in spring to early summer, roots in fall and winter, and aerials in late spring to mid-summer.
Since 2017, our Herb Hub has helped producers just like you connect to markets – and profits – through our suite of creative business solutions:
Seed to Sale Training: Check our calendar on the “Events, FAQs, Resources” tab for workshops on plant propagation, forest farming, post-harvest handling, and more.
Herb Processing Equipment: Root washers, herb dryers, milling equipment, and more are available at AH to reduce labor costs & enhance product quality.
Technical Assistance: On-farm technical assistance to assess your farm’s potential for growing forest botanicals and field-grown medicinal herbs (as grant funding allows).
Aggregation & Sales: Connection to premium-priced markets that pay top dollar for high-quality, sustainably harvested herbs, so you can expand your business and increase profitability and sales.
Need more information? Check out the Producer Pathway to help you understand the programs we offer and how we can help, based on your current knowledge level and business and educational goals.
You grow the herbs, we’ll grow your business.
Current Herb Hub Market opportunitiesand price Lists
Our Market Opportunities spreadsheet is generally updated annually around February. If interested, please email Robin Suggs at rsuggs@asdevelop.org with the volume and price for each herb you’d like to supply this season, making sure you’re able to meet the specification and certification requirements listed.
Wild stewards alliance – a Point of Harvest initiative
ASD and Virginia Tech are piloting a new workforce development program that offers free training to wild harvesters and buyers of woodland roots, barks, and herbs. Training topics include: plant identification, safety, sustainable harvest, post-harvest handling, processing, and more. ASD’s Appalachian Harvest Herb Hub helps trained harvesters access fair wage markets for high quality, sustainable sourced botanicals. Click the buttons below to learn more and purchase PoH certified planting stock!
Forest Botanicals Week (FBW), held May 18-22, 2020, was a free online public awareness campaign supporting a sustainable, responsible, and equitable supply of Appalachian forest botanicals. The campaign was co-created by ASD and the American Botanical Council’s Sustainable Herbs Program. Together, we developed a number of educational videos, compiled dozens of forest botanical resources, and shared daily stories and calls to action to inspire collective change. We invite you to join us in the journey, to learn more about the people and plants from Appalachia, and discover how you can help.
ASD is a founding member of the Appalachian Forest Farmer Coalition (AFFC), a network of over 1,000 forestland owners, universities, and governmental and non-governmental organizations that share a common goal of improving agroforestry production opportunities and farming capabilities among forest farmers. AFFC membership is FREE, and provides access to a variety of resources, tools, and networking opportunities. In 2020, AFFC was honored with the Herbal Insight Award from the American Herbal Products Association for going above and beyond to ensure the continued success of the herbal industry. AFFC interviewed by NPR about forest farming: “Cash Crops from the Woods; Forest Farming Economy to Shoot up”.
The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument seeks to challenge existing narratives about what is valued in Central Appalachia by highlighting the cultural, historical, ecological, and economic significance of the region’s abundant understory of native medicinal herbs and forest foods. Located at Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Virginia, the Monument will include four components: 1) a 2-mile Forest Botanical Storywalk loop trail consisting of 10 interpretive signs; 2) an online exhibit about the Forest Botanicals Region, linked via QR code on the interpretive signs; 3) a sculpture celebrating the stewardship of forest botanicals in Appalachia; and 4) two large interpretive signs, one that will be placed at the site of the sculpture and another at the start of the Storywalk trail. This project is a collaboration between Virginia Tech, Appalachian Sustainable Development, the City of Norton, VA, forest botanicals practitioners, and members of the community.
Step behind the scenes for a virtual tour of the Appalachian Harvest Herb Hub in action! Check out the video below to learn more about the types of services we can offer.
Upcoming Events
There are no upcoming events.
Resources
Click here for a deep dive into our extensive collection of agroforestry resources, including information on forest farming, herb marketing, and more. Or for quick access to some of the top highlights on YouTube, see below.
A: People who need or want assistance processing and selling their herbs to herbal products companies. The Herb Hub has space and equipment for washing, drying, milling, sifting, and packaging medicinal herbs in a GAP certified facility.
Q: What types of herbs are in demand at the Herb Hub?
A: Most of our customers are medicine makers, tea companies, and resellers of medicinal herbs. Therefore, most of our demand is for field and forest grown medicinal herbs. These would include things like peppermint, elderberry, black cohosh, goldenseal, witch hazel bark, and many others! To see our current demand list, click on the For Producers tab.
Q: for us to work together, do my herbs have to be processed at the Herb Hub?
A: For quality control, we prefer that all herbs be processed at our GAP certified Herb Hub in Duffield, VA. Comparable processing at/near your farm can be used, subject to prior approval on a case by case basis.
Q: What geographic region does the Herb Hub serve?
A: Most producers who use the Herb Hub marketing and processing services are located within a three-hour drive of Duffield, Virginia.
Q: if I live outside the recommended three-hour radius of Duffield, can I still use the Herb Hub?
A: You can. Our three-hour drive radius to Duffield is a recommendation to safeguard your profitability. Consider the following expenses versus profits scenario for a producer traveling from Roanoke, Virginia to Duffield::
2 nine hour days including 6 hours drive time and 3 hours processing time each (18 hours time invested, total)
378 mile round trip X 2 trips (756 miles total)
10 pounds of dried peppermint (~100 pounds fresh) at $25/pound less 10% Herb Hub commission = $225.00 gross profit
756 miles X .50 per mile = $378.00
This provides for a net loss of .$153.00.
This scenario does not even account for your time growing and harvesting your crop.
In this example, it is not profitable to travel such a long distance to sell 10 pounds of dried material. Your profitability changes, however, if you sell more – say, 50 pounds of dried material (~500 pounds of fresh material) or if you sell a crop that pays more than $25 per pound.
Only you can determine what makes sense for you.
Q: What level of expertise do I need as a grower to market through the Herb Hub?
A: While we want to encourage everyone who is interested to become involved in agriculture, realistically we need folks who have experience in agriculture production. If you do not have experience bringing in a commercial crop to market, or if you consider yourself a beginner, we encourage you to check out our Producer Pathway to see which of our other programs can help you get started or advance in agriculture (i.e. FARM, SWVA Field School or Grow Your Own).
Q: What if I can grow some, but not all, of the amount of a particular crop on your demand list. Are you still interested?
A: We are still interested but there are a few considerations to keep in mind. When working with our buyers, the closer we come to providing the quantities desired by each buyer, the more likely we are to get that bid. In other words, if we can supply only 5 pounds of a requested 60 pounds, we are not as likely to secure the bid as we would by supplying all or most of the requested 60 pounds. The closer the commitment is to the buyer’s requested amount, the more likely we are to be able to sell to that buyer. Keep that in mind when you are looking at the Demand List.
Help Make A Difference
Donate today and help Appalachian farmers make a profit forest farming, while conserving at-risk medicinal plants. Your donation, no matter the size, makes a big difference for the people, plants, and future of Appalachia.
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