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Research at Factors Farms

Our farms allow us to learn as much as we can to improve and develop products that have a meaningful impact on your health.

Jan Slama
Man walking in a farm

We have always believed that you cannot have a vitamin company without a farm, and we are proud to be one of very few companies in our industry around the globe that is able to do our own farming. Not only do we source our ingredients from Factors Farms®, but we also engage in cutting-edge botanical research to find the best varietals of plants, fruits, and vegetables ensuring our products contain the absolute best the earth has to offer. Our farms are a tangible demonstration of the values we hold so closely.

Since 1997 we have been conducting research in areas related to farming, botany, phytomedicine, apiculture, API pharmacology, pharmacognosy, and much more. This research is done in two main areas, field research and botanical research in our gardens and arboretum. 

We are proud to have invested a lot of time and resources in developing and maintaining our own botanical gardens and arboretum. This allows us to perform dedicated research and cultivation studies, such as botanical research on hundreds of medicinal plant species, vegetables, heirloom fruit cultivars, and many tree species.

We have also been able to conduct phytopharmacological research to evaluate the pharmacognostic potential of certain plant kingdoms for use in future biomedical products and supplements. Our gardens are also a source of living, raw materials for phytoactive research, which uses living plant tissues for laboratory research of individual phytoactives, alkaloids, minerals, and vitamins. 

Natural factors garden

Lastly, we are able to propagate species and cultivars, not only to source our own seeds for crops, but to also add to our seed bank, which includes endangered (and even extinct) species of medicinal plants from around the globe. We take pride in being able to preserve seeds of these species for future generations.

We also conduct extensive research on the fields and farms themselves. One area of focus is the soil. Those who are familiar with gardening and farming will know that one of the most important factors in the success of a crop is the soil. At Factors Farms, we are lucky to have some of the best soil in the world, thanks in part to our location in an alluvial valley between Otter and Okanagan Lake. 

Over millennia the lakes have flooded overland annually, depositing a tremendous amount of organic matter onto the land, resulting in extremely fertile soil made up of unique, dry, brown sandy loam mixed with spongy, black topsoil and light brown silt saturated with dense, gritty, blue clay. We conduct research on long-term soil sustainability, the soil biome and biosphere, as well as on soil protection and enhancement. We also conduct research under the International Bee Research Association (IBRA) dedicated to honeybee protection, health, and survival. 

Echinacea flower with bumblebee

The earth has so much to teach us. At Factors Farms, we work with our little corner of the globe to learn as much as we can to improve and develop products that have a meaningful impact on your health. We are constantly digging deeper to improve our understanding of organic and biogenic farming to preserve the earth for those who come after us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jan Slama
Jan Slama is a gifted research scientist with degrees in biochemistry and microbiology.
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