PROPAGATION AND FOREST FARMING OF GOLDENSEAL AND BLACK COHOSH

Small scale farms, especially those in the Appalachian region, are generally 'land-rich and cash-poor.' Such small farms are constantly facing the challenge imposed by big corporate style farming entities. They need to find alternate means to generate more income for their families. These small farms may have some marginal woodland that cannot be used for any economic purposes but is ideal for forest farming for medicinal plants that would generate additional income, as forest farming offers multiple economic and ecological benefits. Medicinal plants have been increasingly popular as alternate cash crops, especially for families with marginal woodland. Most medicinal plants are harvested from the wild. Heavy collection created enormous pressure on such popular medicinal plants, such as goldenseal (Hydrastis Canadensis L.) and black cohosh (Actaea racemosa L.) because such medicinal plants are normally slow-growing perennials. Both goldenseal and black cohosh are among the most prominent North American trade species with significant commerce value. This project aims to investigate an alternative propagation system combined with forest farming practices to mass produce the true-to-type popular medicinal plants to increase small scale farm productivity and profitability. This project is in line with the mission of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which aims to advance knowledge for agriculture, human health and well-being, and communities. The ultimate goal of this project is to help small scale farms to find alternate ways to increase their productivity and profitability by developing an efficient propagation protocol for medicinal plants and using forest farming, an agroforestry practice on marginal woodland. This project helps address the three strategic goals identified by the USDA Agroforestry Strategic Framework 2011-2016. The specific objectives are to: (1). Establish an efficient micropropagation and production protocol; (2). Acclimatize and boost growth of micropropagated plantlets in high tunnels; and (3). Investigate and develop forest farming guidelines for growing medicinal plants at the wooded areas on the university farm.