[MPWG] Echinacea Pallida:Wild harvest management

[penny at pinenut.com]

Two neighboring farmers came to us with a total of about 5 acres of wild 
Echinacea Pallida. They are hay farmers and the plants interfere with their 
hay production.

We have hand harvested about 400 lbs of dried herb, leaving mature plants to 
reseed and have taken no roots. We focused on the field edges and are just 
now getting into the very thick portion of the stand.

We have two primary issues:

#1

To convert these areas from hay production to wild crop management, we all 
have to make a profit.

The cost of a fair wage for harvesters is killing us. We need to find a 
market that will pay about $3.50 lb for wild harvested herb. Without a 
profit the landowners will apply fertilizer and kill out the stands and 
manage for hay production..This must be done without a great expense for 
equipment and processing.  We would hope to develop a long term relationship 
with the landowners and certified the field USDA wild crop next year. (this 
came too fast for us to do so this year).

#2. We don't the plant's cycle. We have observed that many species have a 
3 - 6 year pattern. We see many 1 year plants and don't know the impact of 
haying upon them. We are leaving mature seed flowers on the edges of the 
stands. However, given what we have been paying for labor, we have to try 
something different and a tractor /side mower may be the only way to do 
this. Are there guidelines for root extraction in order to keep a healthy 
wild population?

All input would be appreciated. We have a blog http://www.wildcrops.com/blog 
if anyone wants to follow the harvests and issues.

Penny Frazier

Goods From The Woods

Licking, Mo. 65542



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