At the International Herb Symposium this year, United Plant Savers took the opportunity to acknowledge Ed Smith, co-founder of Herb Pharm — in recognition of someone whose steady support has shaped the organization since its earliest days.
When Rosemary Gladstar took the stage, she carried the room back to the beginnings of UpS in 1994, a time when the very idea of an herbal industry reckoning with plant conservation made many companies nervous. “Most of the herb companies were very nervous about us,” she recalled. “They were looking at us like, ‘Oh no, these loud mouths are now going to rock this industry that we’ve just gotten going.’” But a few companies didn’t flinch. David Winston of Herbalist & Alchemist, Frontier, and Ed Smith and Sara Katz of Herb Pharm stepped forth immediately among others.
Rosemary spoke of the early educational work and Ed’s homemade display board comparing plants he was growing and harvesting himself with the dried, anonymous material that so much of the industry was sourcing through distribution channels. “We’re all like a bunch of UPS herbalists,” he would say. “We think the herbs arrive in the UPS truck and they’re good to ship out.” That kind of pointed, gentle teaching helped move an entire industry toward organic cultivation, toward local farmers, and eventually toward the harder conversation: the wellbeing of the wild and native plant communities themselves.
From that first year forward, Ed invested in United Plant Savers — not only with financial support, but with the voice of his company, the integrity of his products, and his willingness to stand publicly for plant conservation when it was not yet fashionable to do so. He was, as Rosemary noted, an early supporter of At-Risk botanical conservation as well, lending Herb Pharm’s credibility to the cause when that credibility mattered most.
Most recently, Ed rose to meet a critical moment. United Plant Savers was in the middle of building a new conservatory at the Sanctuary when a major federal grant was withdrawn mid-project. The funds were gone, and the work was only half complete. UpS reached out to Ed, and Ed answered. In recognition of his role in making this vision a reality, the building will be named the “Herbal Ed” Smith Medicinal Plant Conservatory.
In this profound moment Ed stood up and said. “I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world to do what I do,” he said. He recalled starting Herb Pharm with Sara in their kitchen, grossing $2,000 the first year. “We never really thought about becoming a big company or becoming successful, especially money-wise. We were just happy to make bread, put food on the table.” Today Herb Pharm employs nearly 200 people — a fact Ed seemed almost startled to mention as he reflected on a company that is cherished by so many.
Christopher Hobbs, who has known Ed and Sara since meeting them in Applegate in 1980, offered the evening’s closing words. “What Ed and Sara have contributed to the herb industry, he said, is quality — and quality is one of the most important aspects of working with herbs.”
It is fitting, then, that the work Ed has supported through United Plant Savers shares that same orientation: a commitment not to volume or convenience, but to the integrity of the plants themselves and the lands that hold them. The Herbal Ed Smith Medicinal Plant Conservatory will stand as one expression of that commitment. The acknowledgement at this year’s symposium honors all the others — three decades of showing up, investing, and lending his voice to the plants who cannot speak for themselves.
