The Herb Farm Revisited
The set-up and establishment of the Palmerston North-based skin care company, The Herb Farm, is profiled in an early Techlink technological practice case study The Herb Farm. This new case study revisits The Herb Farm to find out about the developments in the company since.
The Herb Farm concept grew out of Lynn Kirkland's passionate belief in the value of botanical simplicity and the benefits gained from using active herbal ingredients to make natural skincare and healthcare products. This belief led her to complete a herbal diploma and to begin to produce hand-made batches of natural herbal remedies for her family and friends. Demand for her products steadily increased and in 1993, when Lynn decided to manufacture her products commercially, The Herb Farm was born.
The three-hectare Herb Farm gardens were established on the family's rural property just outside Palmerston North, to serve not only as a source for some of the company's raw materials but also as an interactive and educational space for visitors to the complex. One-hundred percent New Zealand natural products were developed and produced to be sold in the custom-built shop on site. As the product range expanded and demand steadily grew, opportunities for further expansion opened up. Lynn was now faced with a range of new challenges if she was to take the business to the next level.
This case study looks at the response to those challenges and how, from 2005-2009, the company went through a consolidation and capacity-building phase.
