Kathlyn Terry Baker, CEO of Appalachian Sustainable Development (left), speaks Friday during a visit by U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Warner visited ASD in Bristol as part of a swing through Southwest Virginia.
BRISTOL, Va. — A program designed to preserve medicinal herbs while offering new local business opportunities piqued the interest of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner on Friday.
Warner, D-Va., who is seeking reelection, spent an hour at Appalachian Sustainable Development, a regional farming and conservation organization, to learn more about its programs. It was one of more than a half-dozen stops in Southwest Virginia during the final week before Election Day on Tuesday. He faces Republican challenger Daniel Gade.
ASD is looking to expand its agroforestry programs.
“Two years ago, I got introduced to the opportunities around botanicals and agroforestry. I think they make a great case,” Warner said. “What are unique assets of this region that can’t be duplicated anywhere else? In the last two years, I think we’ve been involved in four or five grants to them. This idea of herbs and botanicals, it’s going mainstream. It used to be at the health food store, now it’s at CVS. I want them to think bigger.”
ASD CEO Kathlyn Baker said the organization has been working in this area for nearly a decade.
“We’re trying to help people understand the opportunities available in our forests with non-timber forest products — things like ginseng, goldenseal, black and blue cohosh,” Baker said. “What we’re practicing is conservation and commerce. We want to build bigger markets but pay a premium for sustainable practices on the ground. That gets more money back to people doing the work. We need to build more markets, we need to get more government support — like have extension agents be focused on supporting the people on the ground.”
Warner said the concept of investing in a local production facility makes a “great deal” of sense.
“There’s money to be made here. Jobs; sustainable; what’s not to like about this? We’ve worked really well with the state delegation, the congressional delegation; everybody is kind of all in. I just want to prod them to think bigger,” he said.
Baker said the group is trying to determine its next steps.
“We’ve been in non-timber forest products about a decade. We started doing more market development in 2017 and working with these large scale herb buyers and finding a sustainable supply they would pay a premium for,” she said. “It’s a supply problem. We have a huge demand.”
One of the keys, she said, is making the process more accessible and affordable.
“Some of the conversations today were about point-of-harvest certifications, forest-grown verifications. Those are new, but we’ve got to make that happen so they can get those,” Baker said. “We have to make that certification affordable so it’s worth doing and understandable so it’s not so overwhelming. People have barriers for getting certified organic because they think it’s too hard, but once they do it, it’s not that hard. It’s off-putting at first.”
Baker said ASD recently hired a procurement manager for its herb program and the volume is expected to increase “dramatically.” They are also working to develop a business model, she said.
“We don’t want to just live on grants for this forever,” Baker said. “We want to build a business that is viable, so we need to come up with enough revenue to make that make sense.”
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | 276-645-2532 | Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC
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October 31, 2020 at 05:30PM
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Warner praises medicinal herb preservation program as good business - Bristol Herald Courier
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