by Rob Marshall

Kansas Rural Center Home Page

Heartland Network

Group Contact

GPHGA
908 W. 20th Terrace
PO Box 4422
Lawrence, KS 66046
(785) 841-9241
Fax: (785) 841-4975
herbgrowers@
sunflower.com

Board of Directors

Rob Marshall, Lawrence

Teri Leahy,
Eudora

Steve Moring, Oskaloosa

David Coltrain,  Manhattan (KSU)

Jeanie DeArmond,  Manhattan (KSU)

Rhonda Janke,  Manhattan (KSU)

Emily Hunter, Matfield Green

Nancy Marshall, Lawrence

Jim Rowh,
Norton

Steve Stimmerman, Alice Julian, (a San Francisco partner in Vajra Botanicals of Lawrence),
Denese Janelle, (a Permaculture farm apprentice from Costa Rica) work on the processing
of Echinacea into tinctures at the Treehouse Berry Farm kitchen.

The Great Plains Herb Growers Association (Herb Growers) serves herb growers and enthusiasts in the Great Plains states. The Great Plains States include: Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster communication among herb growers, herb buyers, retailers, herbalists, health practitioners and other interested parties; to further the knowledge and safe use of herbs and herbal products; to educate farmers about organic cultivation practices for medicinal plants best suited for the Great Plains bio-region; and to provide collective resources to aid in the production, processing and marketing of organically grown, high quality herbs.

Herbs are often considered high value, alternative or specialty crops with more economic potential than traditional grain crops. Therefore, Great Plains growers began requesting information from Kansas State University (KSU) on how to grow medicinal herbs as crops beginning in the 1990’s. KSU responded by hosting a series of grower workshops. These were all-day meetings with industry speakers, grower roundtable discussions, presentations on marketing and co-ops, and hands-on field and farm tours. The meetings were attended by hundreds of folks mainly from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Eight of these meetings have been held since 1997 and from these the Herb Growers association was formed.

In 2001, Herb Growers began distributing a newsletter.  A Kansas Rural Center Heartland cluster grant has helped publish and mail recent issues. The March 2003 newsletter was sent to more than 1,000 addresses in the Great Plains region.

You may become an association member by filling the membership application form and returning it.

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