Morice Land and Resource Management Plan
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- Recommendations to the LRMP Table
- Botanical Forest Products for the Nutraceutical and Medicinal Herb Market
- Industry Position
- A provincial context
- Percent of Growers
ConclusionThe wild berry business is appropriate for the Morice TSA insofar as there is an abundant supply of berries in the region. Huckleberries and saskatoon berries in particular are the most marketable type of berry from the area, which make these berries a likely focus for development. The market for fresh and frozen berries is likely to be restricted to the local resident and tourist market in the area due to the lack of affordable refrigerated shipping. There is, however, an opportunity to serve a larger external market (i.e. the hwy 16 corridor or further south) with processed berry products. Among the traditional processed berry products (jams, jellies and juices) competition is fierce but there may be opportunities to compete in the higher-end, natural and specialty food market or in the gift shops that cater to the cultural tourist. To secure market share in these higher end markets, the processed product will have to be of very good quality, well packaged and unique. Recommendations to the LRMP TableTo assist with the development of a wild berry production the LRMP can implement the following recommendations: Recommendation - An inventory of productive berry sites should be undertaken. Recommendation - Areas considered well suited for berry production should be identified and managed for this use. Recommendation - Access to these high valued berry sites should be maintained. Botanical Forest Products for the Nutraceutical and Medicinal Herb MarketOverviewThe purpose of this opportunity analysis is to identify options for managing species for pharmaceutical development in the Morice Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). This analysis will discuss economic options and issues associated with utilizing the indigenous forest growing species in the Morice LRMP. The industries that are based on utilizing natural plant species for health and wellness are diverse. The sector includes products that are stringently regulated in the international market place, which are produced in sophisticated production facilities as well as products made by simple manufacturing methods created with low tech equipment that are traded and sold within local markets. Most commercial products are made from cultivated herbs purchased from large mechanized herb farms or from countries outside of North America. A number of popular herbal and pharmaceutical products such as Echinacea, North American Ginseng, White Willow Bark, St. John’s Wort and Oregon grape have been harvested from the wild and sold in high volumes to brokers who then sell them to pharmaceutical and herbal remedy companies. While production methods, market focus and raw materials are diverse within the industry; even more complex is the classification of products that are derived from botanical species. Attempting to define these products is difficult. The lines between them are less concrete than a decade ago. Large drug companies are including botanical ingredients in some product lines, attempting to ride the wave of popularity created by public preference for natural remedies. Herbal remedy companies have become more rigorous and formal in their marketing and testing to increase customer confidence in their product thus becoming more like large drug companies. Consumers must be vigilant in order to determine the quality of the products they are purchasing. Pharmaceuticals are a wide range of prescription and over the counter compounds formulated, advertised and sold to treat the symptoms of illness. They are generally produced by major drug companies and are derived from chemical compounds or synthetic replications of natural plant materials. There are some exceptions where extracts of plant material are still used. These include products that can be used both topically and internally. An example is Feverfew used for migraine headache remedies. These products require a federally approved Drug Identification Number to be sold to consumers. Products carrying a Drug Identification Number (DIN) have gone through a process of testing and are licensed and registered with Health Canada. In 1997, there were 22 pharmaceutical companies registered in B.C., seven of those manufactured products derived from forest products or soils. Nutraceuticals are functional foods. They are defined as products derived from natural sources. Consumption is likely to benefit human health and enhance performance. These foods are in the form of a supplement/ingredient where specific components of the food are isolated or as a complete food. Because the focus of these products is on enhancement and not treatment, they are not considered drugs and do not require a drug identification number, at this point, but new Natural Products Regulations to be enacted in January 2004 could require the licensing and registration of some nutraceuticals.Herbal Remedies and Botanical Products are derived from plants or other natural substances and are produced for the treatment of specific conditions or as a preventative measure against contracting illness. They can be applied topically as salves, creams and oils or ingested as syrups, tinctures (distilled products) and pills. To further complicate matters, herbal products that are purified and standardized to stringent standards that isolate one or two medicinally active ingredients are called phytopharmceuticals. If there is a claim of treatment of disease then these products will require a DIN. If these products carry no claim of treatment then they may consider a food product but careful interpretation of the new Natural Products Regulations should be carried out by any organization contemplating getting into the botanical products market. Beauty and Personal Care Products: Both large cosmetic companies and small natural product companies use botanical products in their formulations. As with the health and wellness industries, public preference for natural products has pushed the cosmetic and personal health care market towards the use of plant materials. The Body Shop and Aveda are large-scale retail examples of these types of products. Common Products Made from Botanical Species:
Source of Forest Growing Botanical Materials: Perhaps one of the most debated topics in the natural products industry surrounds the procurement of high quality, ethically produced raw materials for making pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and botanical products. Forest growing plants in their natural habitats are thought to be a premium product that is synonymous with purity and optimum levels of medicinally active ingredients much like certified organic herbs. What’s more, harvesting of forest grown botanical plant sources are by and large free and unregulated therefore the only overhead investment is in the time of the harvester and a vehicle and gasoline to get to remote locations where wild botanicals exist. This method of obtaining raw botanical material for sale or processing is called wildcrafting. Critics of wildcrafting are concerned that some plant species will be harvested to the brink of extinction if a particular product becomes popular in the marketplace. This has happened with Echinacea angustifolia, and Goldenseal in the American hardwoods forest. An alternative method for producing forest growing medicinal plants is to use the method called agro-forestry or forest farming or designating certain areas as cultivation forests. These are methods of intentional cultivation for the purposes of obtaining botanical plant species. Forest-growing botanicals seedlings are reproduced in seedbeds under the forest canopy or in greenhouses and nursery beds. They are then planted in their natural habitat and cultivated in patches or organized rows created in the forest floor. This method can help to assure reliability of supply as well as maintaining biological diversity by not harvesting plants outside of the cultivated area. It also alleviates forest use conflicts between wildcrafting, wildlife browse, recreation use and timber harvesting. However, there is a cost to such cultivation in labor and materials, which increases the overhead costs of harvesting the plants. A compromise between the two methods of sourcing botanical ingredients is to practice sustainable harvesting by rotating harvest patches according to a 3 -year cycle thereby allowing natural regeneration of plants growing in the wild. However, there is little known about the regeneration capacities of many forest species and this method is difficult to monitor as unscrupulous operators may have access to the forest at any time and over-harvest the rotational patches. Pre-harvesting botanicals from proposed forest logging road locations and clear-cut blocks is another way of sourcing materials. Industry Position:For new entrants into the marketplace the decision regarding type of product, size and scale of operations is an important one. The primary decision is to determine if the business will be based on:
The bulk sale market is based on harvesting large volumes of plant materials at low cost and making contacts within the wild harvest broker sector. Usually the minimum increment is 50 kilograms per sale. Security of available plant material in high volume is required to be successful in this marketplace. While this market can be uncomplicated, prices fluctuate wildly and it is suitable for seasonal and supplemental income rather than being the basis of a regional industry. Value-added products derived from forest growing plants can be produced at a cottage industry scale providing supplementary income for a family or partnership, or at a community scale utilizing local labour and shared resources to participate in a medium sized enterprise or at a commercial scale with a focus on entering a provincial or national/international marketplace. A collective is also possible with a number of cottage industries contributing to a single product such as gift baskets where one business may supply the container and other business’s supply basket contents etc. A provincial context:The number of growers and wildcrafters in B.C. varies from year to year, depending on economic returns and prospects. This sector of the industry is characterized based on data collected in 1999 and 2001. The number of producers includes approximately 50 herb growers, 60 ginseng growers, 45 sea buckthorn growers, and 30 wildcrafters. The large majority of growers (77%) employ 1 to 3 persons, including themselves. The next most prominent category is 4 to 20 persons (19%) (Table 23). Table 23. Percent of Growers by Employment Class
Source: Health Product and Functional Food Industry 5 Year Strategic Plan Almost half of the growers generate sales under $25,000 annually. About 80% of all the respondents generated annual revenues under $250,000, including those that carried out other business activities in addition to growing (Table 24). Table 24. Percent of Growers by Sales Revenue Category
Source: Health Product and Functional Food Industry 5 Year Strategic Plan Growers have a number of business activities to complement their production. About 40% only produced raw ingredients. The remaining 60% carried out up to 7 other business activities (Table 25). Drying, grinding, extraction, cutting and packaging are value-added activities carried out by a significant proportion of growers. Table 25. Percent of Growers by Business Class
Source: Health Product and Functional Food Industry 5 Year Strategic Plan Profile of the Wildcrafting Sector in B.C.
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