The potential for a thriving medicinal plant hub in Taranaki has been highlighted at an event held by Venture Taranaki
Branching Out Blueprint Medicinal Plants, the opportunity for Taranaki
This blueprint provides an overview for commercial production and processing of medicinal plants and their value chain in Taranaki, and an indication of potential returns.
Medicinal Plants Branching Out Event
Landowners, food entrepreneurs, interested growers, and potential investors, heard from speakers Phil Rasmussen of Phytomed Medicinal Herbs and Anna Campbell of leading agribusiness consultancy AbacusBio, who shared their thoughts on what is needed to enable the commercialisation of medicinal plants activities already underway in the region.
Attendees were the first to see a demonstration of a new pilot Venture Taranaki has launched to map the region's medicinal plant growing activity. The digital map will enable the collection of meaningful data, further collaboration, and could be extended to other potential crop opportunities.
Venture Taranaki is keen to see what emerges out of this first phase in terms of interest and genuine commercial potential. Following this, the next stage, subject to resourcing, could lead to a pilot phase, more detailed research into determining the bio-active efficacy of plants grown in Taranaki, and further support to facilitate connections between growers, manufactures and buyers, both domestically and abroad.
You can find the contact details for the organisations and their presentations below.
Shonagh Hopkirk - Introduction to Taranaki’s medicinal plant activity
[email protected]
Phil Rasmussen - The medicinal plants opportunity for Taranaki
Anna Campbell - An investigation of medicinal plants for land-use in Taranaki from agronomic, market, scientific and supply chain perspectives
Venture Taranaki - Branching Out: Mapping the medicinal plant opportunity
How can you get involved?
Venture Taranaki is calling on growers to participate in the mapping activity to understand the scale and what grows well in the region to support the growth of a medicinal plant industry.
Those that participate will receive access to the crowd-sourced data to further enable their efforts. There may also be opportunity to communicate with others around the commercialisation of the ventures.
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Watch a recording of the event here
Event date 16 February 2022
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