From June 19-30, the Herb Research Foundation will co-sponsor the Purdue University Horticulture Department's popular two-week intensive seminar, An International Training Program in New Crops: Aromatic and Medicinal Plants. The program is scheduled to take place in West Lafayette, Indiana, utilizing the state-of-the-art facilities at the Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products.

The Purdue program is designed to give natural products industry members a broad-based, intensive overview of new crop production, processing, and marketing. The program offers a fast-paced, information-packed two weeks of classroom instruction, field trips, hands-on lab sessions, demonstrations, and intensive discussion on a vast range of topics. The curriculum is focus-ed on germplasm collection and preservation; crop production technologies; natural product extraction, processing, standardization, and quality control systems; and new product development, regulation, and marketing. Participants come from all over the world. Those who complete the program receive four units of continuing education credit from Purdue University.

The program was founded in 1993 to serve the growing number of producers, researchers, and marketers requesting training in the rapidly evolving botanicals industry. To ensure that the program provides in-depth coverage of a diverse range of topics, Purdue developed co-sponsorships with both HRF and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Pharmacy. This year, program instructors include HRF president Robert S. McCaleb; James Simon, PhD, Varro Tyler, PhD, and many other members of the Purdue University faculty; author and industry consultant Steven Foster; Norman Farnsworth, PhD and other faculty from the University of Illinois-Chicago; Mark Blumenthal of the American Botanical Council; and many other experts.

For more information, contact Jim Simon at Purdue University at simon@hort.purdue.edu or (765) 494-1328. To get on the mailing list, contact Tom Robertston at tlrobertson@stew-01.cea.purdue.edu or (765) 494-7220.

Natural Products Roundtable a Success

More than 140 delegates from 16 countries attended the first Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products (A-SNAPP) Roundtable, held in Capetown, South Africa from April 4-6, 2000. The Roundtable brought together African producers and processors, American and European wholesale herb buyers, and related government agencies in an effort to explore and promote the trade of sustainably produced natural products from Africa to the world marketplace. "The Roundtable was a resounding success," said HRF President Rob McCaleb. "All of the countries involved see this as an important opportunity to go beyond commodity food crops into more specialized food products." During his visit, Rob McCaleb was interviewed by a film crew from the television station the Discovery Channel, as part of an upcoming show on traditional medicine in South Africa.

Roundtable participants from France to Cameroon have emailed HRF to express their satisfaction with the wide range of topics covered at the Roundtable, including the status of African natural products production, an international market overview, international trade and regulation of plant-based products, sustainable agriculture, and intellectual property rights. One of the greatest attractions for many attendees were the 1-1/2 hour and one hour videoconference sessions that provided an opportunity to speak directly with major overseas buyers about market needs and demands. Participating companies included Celestial Seasonings, the world's largest specialty tea company; Tom's of Maine, a body care company that has expanded into herbal extracts; KHL Flavors, a spice and herb broker; Frontier Natural Products Cooperative, a major buyer of organic herbs; Botanicals International, one of the major processors of bulk botanicals for supplement manufacturers; and Whole Herb Company, a full-service botanical trader.