The fresh Arnica story

Arnica is one of our most popular medicinal plants.

However, this popularity has one downside - in many areas, stocks of wild plants have drastically reduced over the years by excessive wild collection. As a result, Arnica has become a protected species in many parts of Europe. 

For A.Vogel, using Arnica in its products could only be justified if this plant could be cultivated sustainably using an organic protocol. Experts shook their heads in disbelief as the 'Mountain Arnica' (Arnica montana) had long resisted attempts at cultivation.

Professor Ulrich Bomme from the Bavarian Regional Institute of Agriculture in Freising (Germany) took up the challenge in 1983. 'We had to start with - nothing!' he recalls. 'All previous attempts to cultivate the much sought-after healing plant had failed miserably.'

Fifteen years later, his work bore fruit. In 1998, it became possible for the first time to cultivate a large crop of mountain Arnica.

During these years, A.Vogel worked closely with an organic farmer who, through his enthusiasm and his own development work, succeeded in achieving the same quality in his cultivated crop as could be found in wild Arnica.

And so it is today. In summer, when the Arnica flowers are in full bloom, the yellow flower heads are carefully hand-picked and rapidly dispatched to the factory at Roggwil.

Here, they are used, whilst still fresh, to make Atrogel Arnica Gel.

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