This fact sheet summarizes findings from a recently published a new paper in Environmental Research Letters authored by NFFC staff and partners. The paper examines the federal rules that govern the harvest of both wild and wild-simulated (forest-farmed) American ginseng. Based on data collected at the forest farm Wild Hudson Valley, the study asks whether the age-based rules that currently govern ginseng harvest are actually the best way to protect wild populations while supporting sustainable harvesting. Click below to read the fact sheet, and find links to read the research paper here.

This fact sheet provides information for forest farmers on Connecticut state policy and federal and international regulations governing the harvest and sale of ginseng and goldenseal, two valuable and rare forest farmed medicinal plants. This is a joint project with the Forest School at Yale School of the Environment, made possible by a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the CT Department of Agriculture.

The NFFC is working to create a network of propagation hubs to provide reliable and sustainable sources of locally adapted planting stock for forest-farmed herbs. If you have a robust local population of a common woodland botanical and permission to collect, this protocol, written and published by the Native Seed Network, is the gold standard for sustainable wild seed collection.

This worksheet is designed to assist beginning forest farmers in selecting a site for establishing new populations of forest botanicals in their forest. Much of the information used to produce this worksheet is based on a) The Forest Farmers Handbook which was developed by Rural Action, United Plant Savers, and Appalachian Sustainable Development and b) the West Virginia Forest Farming Evaluation Guide designed by Appalachian Sustainable Development.

This YouTube channel features over 170 educational videos, showcasing a wide range of forest farming practices across the Eastern deciduous forests of the continental U.S. and beyond. This is a great way to get connected to the broader forest farming community and to learn about specific forest farms, plants, and practices. The channel is always being updated with more resources, so stay tuned and check back often.

A project of Rural Action and United Plant Savers, The Forest Farmers Handbook provides all you need to know about growing, harvesting, and marketing five different commercially valuable understory species: American ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, bloodroot, Solomon’s seal, and black cohosh. Click below to view a free pdf of the resource, or you can purchase a hard copy of the handbook here.

The Forest Farming Calculator is an Excel spreadsheet-based scoping tool for evaluating the economic potential of growing forest botanticals for the medicinal market. This tool estimates the prices per pound of dried roots that would need to be harvested to break even. A profit may be obtained if you can get a higher price for the product. This tool does not require internet access and no information is tracked. However, there are links embedded in the tool which link to additional resources that will not work unless you are connected to the internet. The Forest Farming Calculator is available on the USDA National Agroforestry Center’s website. *Be sure to enable macros when opening this Excel-based tool.