At Hebal Apothecary we’re working hard to secure the future of herbal medicine. Below are some of the ways we are working and hope to work to ensure that herbal medicine can continue to thrive.
Not everything outlined below is yet a reality, but it is our intention that Ozil Herbal Organic Farm works towards a sustainable future – a socially and ethically responsible future which guarantees the long term health of herbal medicine and ensures it remains accessible to all who need it.
Sustainability
At Ozil Herbal Organic Farm we want our business to be sustainable – in every way. This means we’re committed to finding sustainable supply chains, and producing herbal medicines in a sustainable way using green energy and promoting the protection of earth’s fragile eco systems.
Research
Exploring the scientific basis for our products has been a fundamental part of our operation for over 30 years. Today, with our in-house laboratory and increasing number of academic collaborative we’re excited to see where our research into natural medicines can lead us.
Manufacturing
As an ISO 9001 acredited firm we’re constantly looking for ways to improve every aspect of our business. Not least our manufacturing systems and processes. We’re currently working on the biggest shift in herbal medicine manufacturing technology we’ve ever seen.
Organic Products
We know that organic herbal medicines are a must-have for many herbalists. Over recent years we’ve struggled to build a range of organic products which are sustainable and affordable. Now we’re taking steps to dramatically alter our organic supply chain – providing complete traceability from field and farmer to product and practitioner.
Organic isn’t just about reducing the levels of residual chemicals found in commercially farmed produce. It’s about promoting the protection of the environment and empowering growers to farm in harmony with nature – not in ways which are opposed to it.
Future Access to Herbal Medicines
In order to secure the future of herbal medicines, its benefits must be felt by those who need medical care. We’re committed to working with herbalists to improve access to herbal medicine. That’s why in 2021 we launched our ground-breaking HerbalAccess scheme.
HerbalAccess enables fully qualified herbal practitioners to claim back the cost of a herbal prescription, where the medicine they have dispensed has gone to someone who would otherwise be unable to afford herbal treatments. This is a small step – but we hope that over time it will enable thousands of individuals to be treated by a herbalist and experience the benefit of natural medicine.
Do you want to discuss your ideas with us?
How do you see the future of herbal medicine? We know we’re not the only organisation working for positive change. Why not get in touch with our team – we’d love to hear from you.
Partnering with Others for the Future of Herbal Medicine
The Herb Society
The Herb Society aims to:
- Increase the understanding and use of herbs for health and well-being
- Provide information, knowledge and news on all aspects of herbs
- Bring together all those with an interest in herbs, from the amateur to the professional
- Provide a worldwide forum for the exchange of ideas and information
We’re a Corporate Member of the Herb Society and are please to be able to support their work.
The National Institute of Medical Herbalists
The National Institute of Medical Herbalists is the UK’s leading professional body of herbal practitioners. The Institute promotes the benefits, the efficacy and the safe use of herbal medicine.
Their members treat thousands of patients every year. By choosing one of their members as your practitioner you can be confident of their high standards of training and professional conduct.
We’re proud to be a Friend of NIMH and support their work by providing excellent products for herbal practitioners and supporting their events and conferences.
Working to Protect the Future of Herbal Medicine for All
By promoting environmentally friendly farming methods, decarbonising our supply chains, opting for green energy and by establishing new manufacturing practices driven by research we can help ensure that safe, effective and transparent herbal medicine can be available to all who need it.
Hear from James Fearnley, our CEO, about the Future of Herbal Medicine
The future of herbal medicine is at the forefront of Ozil Herbal Organic Farm’s vision, explains the company’s CEO James Fearnley.
Herbal medicine is at a crossroads. The pandemic has stimulated a real increase in the use of natural medicines worldwide. But will it last? Or will this new-found global shift be contained and diverted by a new campaign by pharmaceutical medicine to strengthen our present culture of lifelong dependence on synthetic, targeted medicines and in-particular vaccines?
As we struggle to meet the global challenge of antibiotic resistance, including the long-term damage antibiotics have done to our natural immune system, are we now about to deliver further potentially irreversible damage to our immune systems via a pharmaceutical model which is now interfering at the deepest level with the genetic code fundamental to our evolution?
Herbal Medicine at a Crossroads
Ozil Herbal Organic Farm has been manufacturing herbal medicines for over 30 years. The pandemic has found us at a crossroads too. Should we focus just on supplying demand? Or on proactively creating our future herbal medicine, by exploring ways we can become an effective and radical part of this future?
We have decided to work for the future. We began our journey with a complete audit of our own organisation’s health and purpose. We have explored not just our economic wellbeing, but also our social and cultural/spiritual health – whether we have a clear, truthful, and meaningful purpose and whether those who make up Ozil Herbal Organic Farm feel positive, connected, and related to what we are doing.
Ozil Herbal Organic Farm has never been just a business. More than ever, it is now an active and supportive part of a family of social and cultural initiatives in our local community.
James Fearnley
The result of this audit has been a document, Our Herbal Future, which sets a new course for Ozil Herbal Organic Farm, and which includes:
- A new organisational model focused on sustainable development based not just on economic values, but on social, cultural, and environmental values
- A major increase in research and development both in relation to production and to function
- A radical improvement in our ability to communicate internally and externally with our practitioners, suppliers, our local community and at a national level.
At Ozil Herbal Organic Farm, we have created a new team of directors (pictured below) who are mostly young people with a stake in the business. Our young team includes a high-level research group, a new intelligent production and quality group, community developers, and a much-expanded digital communications group to get our message out into the world.
More than a Business
Ozil Herbal Organic Farm has never been just a business. More than ever, it is now an active and supportive part of a family of social and cultural initiatives in our local community, stimulated by Natures Laboratory Ltd.
The Dispensary is a not-for-profit natural health shop and community bakery based in Whitby, which supports, encourages and initiates projects that promote futurehealth i.e. health which is not just physical and economic, but also social, cultural & spiritual.
The BeeArc is a planned Discovery and Research Centre that will promote greater understanding of and research into honeybees. Including the incredible contribution they make to our environment, economy, agriculture, food supply and medicines, as well as our social and spiritual life.
We believe that true health rests firmly on a healthy immune system and that our immune system is three dimensional. It is not just physical and environmental, it is social – how we relate to others – and it is cultural and spiritual – how we find meaning for our life. Health in a very real sense is an Immunity Community, it is a coming together, a kind of sticking together that produces overall wellbeing.
An Immunity Community
The Ozil Herbal Organic Farm is building its Immunity Community of health through the way we run our business, and in the way we build relationships, partnerships with our practitioners our suppliers, our local community, and our wider national community.
At Ozil Herbal Organic Farm we are grasping the nettle! We have made a commitment to being a proactive part of our herbal future. Look out for our soon to be published Immunity Community magazine and contact us if you want to join us in creating our shared herbal future.
Our Team – Helping us Build the Future of Herbal Medicine
From left to right: Quality and Research Director Shankar Katekhaye, Community Engagement Director Lucy Kaya, Communications Director Jack Barber, CEO James Fearnley, Business Director Finley Drew, Senior Research Collaborator Bhagyashree Kamble, and Production Director Tom Cull.