SIMPLES (Syndicat Inter-Massifs pour la Production et L’Economie des Simples)

Rural topic(s): Herbs and health in rural areas

City: Millau

Country: France

Web site: http://www.syndicat-simples.org

Over a hundred of small French herbalist-producers organized themselves in a union specialized in order to exchange, share their knowledge, and also eventually defend their cause.

This union called SIMPLES is speciallised in picking, growing and processing of medicinal and aromatic plants. It concerns the sector of non modified medicinal plants used without processing according to the popular tradition. “One must hereby understand the Economy of the Union SIMPLES as a management which is respectful of the natural habitat. Earth is considered not as a production tool but as a living partner.

Scale of intervention : National

Keywords: medicinal and aromatic plants, local food processing, safeguard of knowledge, traditional knowledge, ecosystem friendly methods

Places: France

Actors: farmer, farm, farmer-harvester

Methods: meeting, seminar and conference organisation, advocacy, networking, training/capacity-building, experience exchange, exchange of good practices