The 73rd International Congress and Annual Meeting of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA), took place in Naples, Italy, from September 1-3, preceded by a workshop focused on encouraging sustainable botanical ingredient production (August. 31).
Ann Armbrecht, PhD, writer, anthropologist, and founder and director of Sustainable Herbs Initiative, opened the workshop by framing the issue of quality and sustainability in sourcing medicinal plants.
“The number of companies that operate according to best practice around having a relationship with the primary processors, is few and far between,” she told NutraIngredients in advance of the event. “And the industry is driven by giant companies buying and selling huge amounts of materials with no idea how they are grown.”
Workshop attendees discussed strategies to raise awareness amongst researchers and academics about the links between climate change, ingredient quality, and adulteration.
Armbrecht spent six years with the American Botanical Council (ABC) leading the Sustainable Herbs Program (which has now spun out of the ABC and been renamed the Sustainable Herbs Initiative) focused on producing educational content, such as webinars, about the importance of this topic.
Now, she said the work has shifted from education to action points for businesses.
“We are in a geo-political, environmental, social and economic crisis and still there’s a lack of action. I observe a big disconnect between the farmers, the primary processors, and the companies.
“There are issues around the changing climate with rain coming at different times of the year, it’s hard to get people to do the work because they aren’t paid fair wages, etc, yet the conversation companies are interested in having is always around price and quantity. The driver needs to be quality.”
The conference will focus on bridging the gap between academics and the industry, aiming to answer the question of how to make these issues matter to the companies.
As such, Dr Armbrecht dove into the research indicating how better sustainability practices and higher quality ingredients can lead to less waste, improved product efficacy, reduce risk of adulteration (an issue extensively reported over the years) and ultimately impact the bottom line for the business.
Over exploitation and declining quality
Anthony Cunningham, PhD, an ethnobotanist, ethnoecologist, conservationist, artist and adjunct professor at Murdoch University in Western Australia, also spoke at the event.
Cunningham has over 45 years of experience in natural resource use and trade, with a focus on conservation and sustainable livelihoods and has conducted field research for NGOs, CITES authorities, and UN agencies.
His main focus at the workshop was how species scarcity through declining habitats and over exploitation can lead to declining quality of important species in the supply chain.
The ABC Steven Foster Award winner said far too much green washing, and too little real action, is carried out by businesses.
“We need to recognize there’s a huge gap between existing information and research and policies, and their implementation on the ground,” he told NI in advance of the event.
“Big international development agencies have PR departments that make a big song and dance about tiny successes and pseudo adoption of sustainability efforts.
“Doing the right thing does reward companies in the long run but not enough companies are seriously addressing this.”
And the problem isn’t solely with businesses. He noted that academics’ success is measured by their ‘impact factor’—how many times their publications are cited, so: “Even in applied science, your career is not furthered by the number of problems being solved in the real world.”
What’s more, although there are sustainability certification systems, he warned some of these may benefit from additional scrutiny.
A roadmap to a nature credit market
Cunningham said the GA meeting happened at “an opportune time” as the European Commission (EC) has just launched (July. 7, 2025) its roadmap towards a new Nature Credits Programme, aimed at mobilizing private investment in nature-positive actions across the EU.
The plans outline that nature credits will be certified units of nature-positive outcomes, such as: Healthier soils, cleaner water, restored wetlands, and increased biodiversity.
These credits will be generated from verified environmental actions and can be valued and sold to investors.
A call for feedback on this initiative is currently open until 30 September 2025 to seek input on the plan.
Research into sustainability and quality
A 2023 scoping review in Environment, Development and Sustainability concluded that responsible sourcing practices—including supplier collaboration, certification, and traceability—are linked to higher product quality and safety standards.
A review published in Antioxidants in April this year, discussed how regenerative organic agriculture (ROA) can enhance phytochemical content and reduce harmful residues in plant-based foods. Empirical studies report increases in vitamin C, zinc, and polyphenols in crops using ROA.
Also pulished in April 2025, a literature review in Antioxidants concluded circular economy and sustainability are interlinked, and companies must implement appropriate sustainability strategies to increase their competitiveness and improve resource efficiency.
Persuading businesses
As well as investment opportunities on the horizon, there are digital tools available to make it easy to track and maintain sustainable harvesting in real time.
Whilst it has been fairly easy for companies to exploit lands with little knowledge from consumers in other continents, Dr Cunningham said cultivation can now be tracked “at the press of a button” thanks to digital and geospatial technologies—including mobile data collection, blockchain, and satellite monitoring—to improve the sustainability and traceability of harvests.
“GIS-linked technology such as Cybertracker enables local medicinal plant harvesters to monitor wild populations of a more vulnerable sub-set of products they harvest. This is particularly useful in producing countries where independent monitoring is risky for outsiders.”
This technology is already being used for threatened species such as Rhodiola, Boswellia, and Griffonia.
What’s more, perhaps the biggest influence for companies beyond investment and technological opportunities, are the new generations of consumers increasing pressure on companies.
“There is a generation of younger people who are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainable harvest and what makes companies change their approach to improve what they are doing, is consumer pressure,” said Dr Cunningham.
Ultimately, he was optimistic that the time is ripe for real change.
“There is the funding opportunity, willing researchers, and all the information required to work together with companies to improve the situation.”
Just a few of the other prominent speakers at the event included: Professor Michael Heinrich, University College London; Alain Cuerrier, researcher and writer at the Montreal Botanical Garden and Vice-President for the International Society of Ethnobiology; Stefan Gafner, chief scientific officer at ABC; Dr Gaia Scalabrino, executive director at NatPro Centre for Natural Products Research, and more.