Herbs and Aromatics

Abstract

I n 1987, the only extension information on herbs available from the Dept. of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, was an old leaflet on growing herbs in the home garden. County extension agents complained that they received many requests for commercial herb production information, but they did not have the training or the resources to answer the questions. In 1988, the extension herb program was initiated at North Carolina State Univ. Following is a description of the step-by-step plan used to develop a successful extension herb program. Although this is a statewide program, it could also be used as a county or regional program. Interest in growing and using herbs is increasing throughout the United States. This is reflected in the large number of newsletters, books, and magazines that are available on the topic. Many of these publications, however, are written for home gardeners or hobbyists. Although research on herbs has increased in recent years, papers in scientific journals usually contain information of interest primarily to horticulturists or large-scale producers. Practical cultural information for small-scale, commercial herb producers is limited. Inaddition, thecultural information that is available may not be suitable for growing conditions in other areas. The first step in developing the North Carolina extension herb program was to assess the present local situation; i.e., visit the growers. Operations of all sizes were visited; large, well-established ones, small profitable ones, ones that were just getting started, and some that were failing. Careful notes were taken on the successes and failures, what the primary production problems were, how marketing was handled, and what growers wanted from the extension service. The next step was to examine extension programs and materials from other states. For example, The Herb, Spice and Medicinal Plant Digest published by the Univ. of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension System (Craker and Simon, 1992) contains information on production, science, and recent literature on herbs. The Virginia Creeper (Hankins, 1991) published by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, often contains very practical information on small-scale herb production and marketing.