The American Botanical Council (ABC) Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP) has become the Sustainable Herbs Initiative (SHI), and will continue to operate under Ann Armbrecht, founder and director of the organization. SHI is now a part of the nonprofit Sustainable Food Lab.
SHI started as a web-based educational project in 2016, to promote knowledge about where herbs come from and the importance of origin. In 2018, the program joined ABC, operating under its umbrella alongside ABC’s HerbalGram, Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP), HerbMedPro, and others.
Under Armbrecht’s leadership, the Sustainable Herbs Program grew, with video-rich editorial content, a monthly newsletter, a blog, 42 free webinars, and other educational resources relevant to sustainable and regenerative sourcing of herbs and medicinal plants.
Another notable contribution was the “SHP Sustainable and Regenerative Practices ToolKit 2.0,” a document that provides a variety of resources to help herb businesses of any size become more aware of sustainability concerns and enhance their ability to implement sustainable and regenerative practices, from sourcing to the creation of finished products.
SHP also initiated conversations among industry members to improve sustainable and regenerative consciousness and practices, marking a shift from strictly creating educational content to embracing and expanding collaborative efforts. This led to the evolution from SHP to SHI.
In the upcoming issue of HerbalGram, ABC will publish a report summarizing the growth and impact of SHP during its six-year history.
“Ann Armbrecht and SHP have made an enormous, unparalleled contribution to the awareness and consciousness of the herb and medicinal plant industry in North America and worldwide about the global imperative of operating herb businesses in a sustainable and regenerative manner,” said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC. “SHP’s focus has been not only on the value and importance of plants, but on the value and importance of the people who are involved in producing botanical materials for their health products. SHP’s emphasis on the term ‘value network’ to denote the human aspect of ‘supply chain’ and SHP’s key role in introducing this concept to the herb industry is evidence of SHP’s significant vision and contribution.”
SHP was highly compatible with ABC’s nonprofit mission, making its inclusion under the ABC umbrella an “easy decision,” Blumenthal noted.
“This exciting new development represents the increasingly collaborative model that SHP has been engaging,” said Armbrecht. “ABC has been a wonderful home to incubate and help grow SHP. ABC has provided a platform from which this work can transform from an idea into a fully developed program with support and recognition in the botanical industry. We could have never gotten to where we are without this home.
“I am deeply grateful to Mark Blumenthal, the late Steven Foster, and the ABC staff for their trust in and support of my vision. I am also deeply grateful to the Inaugural Underwriters who believed in this vision from the outset and provided the financial support needed for it to be developed. Thanks also to the whole community of SHP supporters as well as the individuals who have joined me for the many webinars and conversations we have organized over the past five years,” Armbrecht continued. “As SHP moves more fully into the collaborative work that the next five years will focus on. I look forward to continuing to explore ways to work together with ABC in our shared mission to support the sustainable and ethical sourcing of the medicinal plants on which this industry depends.”
ABC will continue to engage with and support SHI, and report on its progress and collaboraitons in ABC publications.
