| | After five years, a commercialization project for this medicinal herb could be on the verge of a market breakthrough.
Rhodiola rosea’s bio-actives, known as rosavins and salidrosides, are found in its root and crown.
Everything about Rhodiola rosea seems to take time. This medicinal herb – native to Siberia and known as a natural energy-booster – takes four to five years from planting the seed to harvesting a commercially viable root. International buyers, mainly from northern European countries such as Germany and Norway, spend years setting up reliable value chains capable of growing Rhodiola rosea well and supplying it dependably.
Still, five years after the launch of Alberta’s Rhodiola Rosea Commercialization Project, the province’s 80 commercial growers are beginning to see success. According to Susan Lutz, Senior Development Officer for Functional Foods and Natural Health Products with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the right pieces are beginning to come together.
“Over the last several years, we have been hard at work assembling the essential elements of a Rhodiola Rosea value chain linking producers, processors and buyers in international markets,” notes Lutz. “I think we can look back and say that 2008 saw a number of important turning points.”
More growers
One of the project’s early aims was to achieve a critical mass of growers to research how and where Rhodiola Rosea could be grown in Alberta. This band of early adopters needed real commitment to get involved; after all, it takes four or five years of growth to produce a viable crop.
Greater organization
Lutz explains that international buyers don’t want to source Rhodiola Rosea from individual growers. They prefer to deal with a single organization, capable of aggregating quantity and safeguarding quality. “In Alberta, this role is played by the Alberta Rhodiola Rosea Growers Organization (ARRGO), which currently has 80 members,” says Lutz.
In 2008 ARRGO members harvested 770 kg of finished dried root. In 1997 U.S market demand was at 49.8 metric tonnes and growing, so there is room for more Alberta-grown Rhodiola Rosea in the market.
As well as representing growers’ interests, ARRGO determines the grade of the crop on behalf of growers, settles on a price with buyers and serves as the middleman for financial transactions between the two groups.
More product
With some producers now in their fifth year growing Rhodiola Rosea, a significant amount is starting to come on stream. The plant’s bio-actives, known as rosavins and salidrosides, are found in its root and crown. In 2008, ARRGO members harvested 770 kg of finished dried root. Of this 770 kg of Alberta-grown Rhodiola Rosea, some 470 kg is being sold to buyers in root form, with the remaining 300 kg being processed into an extract. A study conducted in 1997 pegged U.S. market demand at 49.8 metric tonnes, and the market has grown since then, so there’s plenty of room for Alberta to grow more.
Greater market interest
Lutz notes that, as with other agricultural commodities, Alberta is far from being the only place where Rhodiola Rosea can grow. “You can obtain Rhodiola Rosea cheaper from China than from Alberta,” says Lutz, “but to these international buyers, quality is paramount and ARRGO can ensure this. ARRGO can provide a level of traceability, from seed origin through to quality assurance of the final product.”
Indeed, two international buyers are currently ironing out the details of a supply contract with ARRGO.
Sky-high market potential
Current commercial interest in Rhodiola Rosea is centered in northern Eurasia, where there is a history going back to the Vikings of using it for increasing stamina. Still, this doesn’t mean the interest won’t expand elsewhere.
“When we started this project there wasn’t a single Rhodiola rosea product on local health store shelves and we could only find 11 on U.S. internet sites,” says Lutz. “We can now find 12 different brands in one local health store and a U.S. internet site that does cost comparisons compares 121 available products.”
Rhodiola Rosea grows well in Alberta because it is very winter-hardy.
Small acreage, big potential
It’ll be quite some time before the Alberta landscape is characterized as a sea of waving Rhodiola Rosea. No matter. To growers like Peter Haberli of Spruce Grove, small is beautiful.
“I’m a small farmer and acreage owner,” says Haberli, Chairman of the Alberta Rhodiola Rosea Growers’ Organization (ARRGO). “I tried to grow Echinacea before, but it wasn’t hardy enough for our cold winters. Three years ago, I saw they were looking for test growers to grow seedlings of Rhodiola Rosea, so I tried half-an-acre. It seems to grow well here because it’s very winter-hardy. We are still in the early stages of developing markets, but I see lots of potential.”
For 2009, Susan Lutz is looking for 20 new growers, each willing to plant and tend an acre of Rhodiola Rosea. For more information on the crop and opportunities for growers, please contact Lutz at 780-427-4530 (dial 310-0000 for toll free) or susan.lutz@gov.ab.ca. You can also visit the ARRGO website at www.arrgo.ca
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