HerbalEGram: Volume 3

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has initiated its fifth survey to gather data to quantify annual harvests of selected North American herbs that are used as ingredients in herbal products. The herbs in the survey are based on those that are subject to, for at least some part of their market demand, harvesting from wild (uncultivated) populations. As it has for the past 7 years, AHPA will compile the data to produce a biannual tonnage survey report. AHPA invites all members of the herb industry who are a primary raw material producer of any of the 23 species included in this survey (see Table 1), to participate. AHPA believes that the participation of a wide a selection of industry suppliers is essential to the production of more meaningful results.
 
The tonnage survey results can become a significant resource for the herb-producing sector of the industry. Botanical raw material suppliers have a vested interest in harvesting plants in a manner that assures their use by generations to come. Solid data enables informed decisions, and may serve to defend ongoing, sustainable use of these plants. AHPA’s tonnage surveys are an important means to quantify use. Current total harvest data is essential to plan for future use. AHPA believes that this information, already available in its components to individual companies, is a much more powerful tool when tabulated to include the industry as a whole.
 
“I realize we’re all busy,” said raw materials expert Ed Fletcher, of Strategic Sourcing and chair of AHPA’s Botanical Raw Materials Committee in an AHPA release, “but for many of us, this is the least busy time of year and I encourage any respondents to take the short time needed to complete this survey and send it back in. If at all possible, we’d like to have some preliminary data by Natural Products Expo West, in late March.”
 
AHPA emphasizes that all information received by survey participants is kept in strict confidence; no individual company data will be disclosed to any other party.

The previous tonnage survey report covered 21 botanicals; the new survey has added 2 herbs: arnica (Arnica spp.) and Venus’ fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) (see Table 1).

The latest report, “Tonnage Survey of Select North American Wild-Harvested Plants, 2002-2003,” is available to AHPA members from the AHPA website, at no charge. Non-members may purchase it for $35. This report includes data on both fresh and dried quantities of wild-harvested botanicals and fresh and dried quantities of cultivated herbal material. The reports from 1999 and the 2000-2001 surveys are also available from the AHPA bookstore: http://www.ahpa.org/bookstore.htm.
 
AHPA requests that all participants return the survey by post, fax, or as an e-mail attachment to Steven Dentali, PhD, AHPA’s Vice President of Scientific & Technical Affairs, by March 15, 2006. If participants have any questions regarding this survey, they are encouraged to contact him at (301) 588-1171, x103, or by e-mail at sdentali@ahpa.org.

The 2004-2005 Tonnage Survey questions are now posted on the association’s website: http://www.ahpa.org/AHPATonnageSurvey.pdf.

For information on the previous AHPA Tonnage Surveys[2,3] see articles in HerbalGram 51 and 61.
http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2325
http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2649

---Mark Blumenthal

References

1. AHPA. AHPA 2004-2005 Tonnage Survey Needs Your Participation [press release].
Silver Spring, MD: American Herbal Products Assn., Feb. 22, 2006.
 
2. Blumenthal M. AHPA Issues Third Tonnage Survey of Wild-Harvested Plants.
HerbalGram. 2004;61:65-66. http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2649.
 
3. McGuffin. AHPA’s 1999 Herb Tonnage Survey: Summary and Analysis.
HerbalGram. 2000;51:70.  http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2325.