Gaining consumer confidence is important in any industry, especially when human health is at stake. A human-nutraceutical researcher at the University of Guelph is working to improve consumer confidence, by helping producers and manufacturers make informed decisions.

Dr. Julie Conquer, of the HNRU and director of the Natural Health Products Technology Cluster (NHPTC), is aiming to gain consumer confidence by improving information flow to all stages of growth, manufacturing, distribution and research, in the development of natural health products. With support from the Agricultural Adaptation Council she’s encouraging a value-chain approach to production, through the activities of the NHPTC.

“By providing our members with up-to-date, accurate information, the quality of natural health products produced in Ontario will improve,” says Conquer.

Natural health products have yet to be officially defined, but are considered to include the likes of traditional herbal medicines, homeopathic preparations, vitamin and herbal supplements and nutraceuticals. They are consumed by more than 50 per cent of the Canadian population...and the market is continually expanding.

Driving this flourishing market growth is the increasingly aging Canadian population: 65 per cent of people over the age of 55 take some sort of daily supplement. In Ontario, herbs such as ginseng and St. John’s wort are the natural health products most commonly grown by producers. Ginseng is grown on 4,800 acres of land annually, with root sales alone average $70 million each year. But the industry needs a cooperative alliance - or chain - at all stages of production, development and marketing to help it grow.

In 1999, that became apparent to PureSource Inc., a natural health product manufacture based out of Guelph. It thought there needed to be an organization in place to increase the size and global competitiveness of the natural health products industry in Ontario.

PureSource teamed up with the University of Guelph’s Human Nutraceutical Research Unit, and approached the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) for funding to conducted a market analysis and survey of natural health product growers, businesses, organizations and institutions.

The AAC is funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It is a non-profit coalition of 54 organizations, committed to funding innovative initiatives that foster long-term growth, self reliance, competitiveness and employment for Ontario’s agricultural, agri-food and rural communities.

FUNDING WAS PROVIDED by the AAC under their CanAdapt Small Projects Initiative program for the natural health product analysis and survey. Results showed that there was a need for a central organization, and the Natural Health Product Technology Cluster (NHPTC) was formed.

The organization now consists of 22 members and is based out of the University of Guelph. To meet its goals of providing a forum for information dissemination and sharing – and to help maintain and advance quality natural health products in Ontario – the cluster runs a web site and has a quarterly newsletter that is distributed to members and non-members alike. The cluster also regularly participates in conferences and hosts semi-annual symposiums.

Producers and manufactures may have also seen information about the cluster at the 2001 International Plowing Match, Outdoor Farm Show or Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, where the organization was part of the University of Guelph display.

Conquer says there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding the industry. One of the most prevalent is that growers have to be limited to only producing natural health products. Conquer says that although much of the natural health product growth in Ontario is done on prime agricultural land, growers can be anyone with land that can’t be used for traditional agricultural crops - such as field corners and low-lying land.

“Farmers can indirectly benefit and profit from unused land, most natural health products can grow on small patches of land,” she says. “They act and grow much like a weed.” Stan Pajor, a cluster member, farms outside of Waterford, Ontario. He plants up to three acres of ginseng annually in the hardwood forest on his property and describes his ginseng growing activities as the best total-use of his property.

Through the NHPTC, Pajor hopes to see an improved consistency in Ontario natural health products.

"The cluster provides a starting place for quality assurance of natural health products,” he says. “The general public has to trust someone - and once they know that the cluster is there consumer confidence is going to increase.” Conquer says that despite all of the activities and information the cluster provides, it still has a long way to go before it becomes a fully functional value-chain system. But she is optimistic that they will be there in the near future.

“Ultimately improving the quality of Ontario grown natural health products will improve the health of consumers,” she says.

For more information about this project and many other initiatives funded by the Agricultural Adaptation Council, visit the new web site at www.adaptcouncil.org . Shannon Hicks is a student at the University of Guelph involved in the agricultural communication initiative there.