Ozark Herbs: Building
a Profitable Enterprise One Root at a Time
With demand for medicinal herbs in the United
States showing no sign of peaking, but with
little production information available,
would-be herb farmers often struggle to produce
economically sustainable yields. Understanding
the forest and garden ecology of her 500-variety
terraced herb farm in the Missouri Ozarks
remains key for Lavinia McKinney to meet
her profit, environmental, and educational
goals.
With a Sustainable Agriculture Research
and Education (SARE) producer grant, McKinney
sought to increase her production and marketing
of astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus),
a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine
to boost the immune system. SARE funds helped
maintain a new astragalus planting and collect
root harvest information on five plots.
Though the astragalus root harvest was low
in the first year, McKinney was able to sell
the dry root to an herbal product manufacturer
at $17.50 per pound. By extrapolating the
income from sales, McKinney determined that,
with lowered labor costs, the root and seeds
would be a feasible crop. She also plans
to increase the soil's alkaline content to
meet the needs of the base-loving plant.
“The data we acquired from our astragalus
is very important to us,” McKinney
said. “This is a very rewarding plant
to grow, and one we would like to see in
everyone's herb garden.”
McKinney's Elixir Farm has more than a decade's
experience in cultivating medicinals, with
a large collection of rare and unusual plants,
the seeds of which she sells to producers
across the country. Her continuous research
into medicinal plants has brought more than
100 new species into cultivation in the last
5 years, many of them shown off at her nonprofit
botanical garden.
With a background as a master herb grower
and researcher, McKinney was an ideal candidate
to lead workshops at Elixir Farm on growing
medicinal herbs. She conducted two 3-day
residential herb-growing workshops during
her SARE grant period, attended by 25 farmers
and gardeners. Those workshops are now annual
events, attracting about 40 participants
each.
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