Growing medicinal herbs in Ireland

There are moments when several separate trends quietly converge and, between them, create an opportunity. The growing of medicinal herbs in Ireland is, I believe, one of them.

Demand for medicinal plants is rising across the world. At the same time, a warming climate is making it harder for many of the traditional herb-growing regions to produce plants of real quality. And Ireland, with its clean air, its mild and temperate weather, and its long absence of heavy industry, turns out to be unusually well suited to growing herbs of the highest quality. Set those three things side by side, and the case becomes difficult to ignore.

In the conversation above, I sat down with Heiko Klee, our head gardener, and Leonardo Piervitali, the Italian agronomist who helped to design our medicinal herb growing course, to talk through why Ireland is such a promising place to grow medicinal herbs and why this feels like the right moment to begin.

A clean country, well-suited to plants

Ireland's advantages begin with the land itself. As Heiko explains, "Ireland traditionally has a very low pollution rate because we're living at the edge of the western seaboard, and also you never had an industrial revolution that caused a lot of pollution all over the world. So Ireland is actually a very clean country."

That cleanliness matters a great deal when the end product is a medicine. Herbs grown in unpolluted soil and air, free of the contaminants that trouble more industrialised regions, are precisely what a discerning market is looking for. It is the foundation of what could become a distinctive Irish brand, herbs known for their purity as much as their quality.

The climate adds to the case. Ireland's mild winters and temperate summers suit an unexpectedly wide range of herbs, and they do so without the extremes that damage quality elsewhere.

A warming world is changing where herbs can grow

This is where the timing becomes interesting. The same temperate climate that some might once have regarded as a disadvantage is fast becoming an asset, because much of the rest of the world is growing too hot. As Heiko puts it, "it's almost getting too hot in a lot of countries now around the world, but it's getting really, really difficult to produce high-quality herbs."

Essential oils and other active compounds in medicinal plants suffer in extreme heat. As traditional growing regions in southern Europe and beyond become hotter and drier, the quality of their herbs declines. Ireland, cool and moist, finds itself increasingly well placed by comparison. The advantage is not standing still. It is growing.

A rising market, open to small growers

There is real and growing demand to be met. Leonardo, who works in the international herb trade from his base in Italy, describes a market that has been climbing for some time. Interest surged during the pandemic, settled for a period as stockpiles were used up, and has since risen again, with large companies actively seeking new sources of raw material.

What makes this encouraging for the individual grower is how accessible the first step is. The supply chain begins with drying. As Leonardo notes, "it's possible for anyone to cultivate and dry and have a raw material to sell." You do not need an elaborate operation to begin. You need to grow well, dry your crop properly, and you have something the market genuinely wants.

Growing well means growing thoughtfully

Quality, though, is everything, and quality comes from how the herbs are grown. Leonardo is clear that organic growing is not a single method but a family of approaches, and that one idea sits above the rest. "Always there's something on the top called agroecology," he says. "Agroecology means that you consider all the environment, soil air and the climate. And so it's everything."

Agroecology, in his description, reaches further even than regenerative growing. It treats the whole environment, soil, air, water, and climate, as a single connected system, and grows within it rather than against it. For medicinal herbs, whose value lies in their purity and potency, that thoroughness is not an indulgence. It is the difference between a herb that heals and one that merely fills a jar.

Why every herbalist gains from growing

There is a personal dimension to all of this, beyond the commercial one. Heiko believes that every herbalist should grow at least some of their own herbs, and not only for reasons of quality. "To me, they're like people," he says of the plants. "They're individual characters. They all have the different needs and desires, same as humans do." To grow a herb is to come to know it in a way that buying it dried can never quite teach.

And the herbs you grow yourself, tended in clean ground and gathered at the right moment, are very often of far better quality than anything that can be bought.

If these various trends really are converging, then the question is less whether Ireland is a good place to grow medicinal herbs, and more whether this is the moment to start. I believe it is. What remains is to learn how to do it well.

Learn more about the Diploma in Organic Medicinal Herb Growing →

This video is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice; always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your health routine, especially if you are taking medication. 

Related Herbal Stories