Sourcing botanicals for herbal teas is a complicated process. Most herbal teas are a blend of different ingredients, typically from small-scale producers, including as many as 300 different ingredients in herbal teas, originating in more than 100 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Challenges to sourcing include threats to biodiversity, overuse of pesticides, minimal quality control, and over-harvesting of wild botanical species. This webinar will discuss some of the challenges in sourcing herbal tea ingredients with respect to social equity and biodiversity, with particular attention to how to improve conditions on small farms.

Sustainable Herbs Program Director Ann Armbrecht will be speaking with Gocha Dzneladze, COO of GeoFlower, Georgia, which provides FairWild certified licorice, among other products, to the global market, Diana Bartolić Director for quality, purchase and general affairs for the Spider Group, a producing company in Croatia that provides UEBT (Union for Ethical BioTrade) certified chamomile and other ingredients, and Rik Kutsch Lojenga, Executive Director of UEBT.