Adding deep nuance to conversations around herbalism and the botanicals industry, this week’s guest Ann Armbrecht shares her extensive knowledge about herbal supply chains and the effects of herbal commodification. Ann focuses much of her research on the stories behind the herbal products available to consumers, detailing the complicated and often exploitative supply chains involved in the mass production of botanical products. Most botanical products on the shelf of grocery stores and pharmacies have passed through many hands, often across the globe, to arrive as products. Though these supply chain dynamics are often invisibilized under capitalism, the way that plants are produced, procured, handled, and transported matters. 

Ann and Ayana discuss how we might come into right relationship with the plant world. A call to foster relationships with suppliers and the people involved in producing botanical products is at the root of the conversation as Ann reminds us just how important connection and intention are when working with herbal medicine. As plants invite us to imagine and create medicine, what might true health look like?

Ann Armbrecht is an anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through her work with plants, herbal medicine, and the botanical industry. She is the director of the Sustainable Herbs Program, a program of the American Botanical Council, which she established in 2016 to help bridge the gaps between the values of herbal medicine and the reality of sourcing and producing herbs on a global scale.

She is the author of The Business of Botanicals: Exploring the Healing Promise of Plant Medicines in a Global Industry, that documents her journey following herbs from seed to shelf. She is also the author of the award winning ethnographic memoir, Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, and the co-producer of the documentary on traditional western herbalism, Numen: The Healing Power of Plants. Ann was a 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar documenting the supply chain of medicinal plants in India and she lives with her family in central Vermont.

♫ The music featured in this episode is “Share my Heart” by Flo Perlin, “Whatever Brings You Peace of Mind” by Jeffery Silverstein, and “Calm Shores” by Andy Tallent.

Episode References

“Systems Change and the Herb Industry” by Ann Armbrecht for The American Botanical Council 

“What Do You Want to Grow?”  by Ann Armbrecht for The American Botanical Council 

Sustainable Herbs Program

Numen: The Healing Power of Plants

The Business of Botanicals by Ann Armbrecht

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Read: Thinking Like a Plant by Craig Holdredge

Watch: What is Sustainable Medicine

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