Environmental impact of herbal medicine

The NHS carbon-reduction strategy for England, entitled Saving Carbon, Improving Health (January 2009), reveals that Pharmaceuticals represent an astonishing four million tonnes of CO2 a year which, according to The Ecologist magazine, is equivalent to three quarters of a million cars on the road. Locally grown biodynamic organic herbal medicine therefore, contributes to the better health of the nation in more than one way.

Our Biodynamic and Organic Certification

Our Biodynamic and Organic Certification not only means complete traceability and sustainability, but also includes a total audit of the environmental impact of all our activities from raw materials, which includes our land, seeds and packaging, through to composting and drainage. Due to the many thousands of trees planted on the farm over the last twenty years, it is estimated that all our activities now absorb more greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) than generated.

Wherever possible, we place considerable emphasis on any product sourced from poorer countries being independently audited as economically and ecologically sound, for example under the auspices of IFOAM, The Soil Association or Demeter.

In addition a vast saving in carbon is provided by our 50KW ground- source space heating system, which warms the offices, farm and factory in the winter. The heat energy is conducted by water in one and a half miles of piping, buried 2 metres under the naturally highly insulated permanent pasture fields, where it is stored.

Each winter we plant yet more trees (and have done so for quarter of a century), so that overall, the whole whole farm activity has a reducing effect on atmospheric carbon.

Giving back to the land

All the Organic herb ‘marc’ left over after extraction is thoroughly mixed with farm-yard manure (from cattle) throughout the year and is composted on the farm before being spread onto the fields where it first grew. This way it is itself ‘recycled’ by the activity of micro fauna and flora of the soil, which with the help of the sun, moon and stars, work the miracle of seeds back into herbs again!

Water is probably the single most valuable resource. Excesses must be managed but shortages must be planned for. In 2020 we invested in a new water treatment system to handle our waste water, which is now aerobically digested, naturally purified and decanted back to the land in a highly purified potable state.

The water we use in our process, is however drawn from a bore hole sunk some 20 metres into water bearing strata and filtered that has been filtered for thousands of years through the prehistoric river gravels found 80ft under the farm and then through a variety of natural non-chemical static media. We have invested heavily in filtration equipment and, this way we avoid importing uncontrolled dissolved chemicals and microbes, normally found in public mains water, onto the farm or into processes and products. Unlike public mains water, no chemicals whatsoever are added to our on-farm water supply. We also use purified water tested to British Pharmacopoeia standards.