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Host Jeffrey Burke chats with famed Ethnobotanist, herbalist, author, and industry icon Kerry Hughes to discuss the evolving landscape of the natural products industry, the importance of regenerative agriculture, and the critical role of biodiversity in health. They explore the decline in nutritional value of food, the need for sustainable farming practices, and the significance of connecting with plants. 

Ethnobotanist, Herbalist and Author, Kerry Hughes – with a 20-year record-of-success in natural product development & sustainable strategies works at the nexus of added-value market opportunity identification, innovative product formulation & development, and global biodiversity conservation. Through her work in both the public and private sectors, Kerry is driven by a tenacious fascination with the potential health enhancing role plants can play and bringing about products and solutions that not only heal people but also protect our threatened global biodiversity.

Products formulated by Kerry Hughes of EthnoPharm have been featured in top popular media such as Vogue, Forbes, Inc., Popsugar, Chalkboard, Entrepreneur, Cool Hunting, Cheddar, Byrdie, with reviews such as “it’s the real deal,” “…pioneering a new category of natural health products”, “..flowing all day, yet at night was able to fall asleep without the usual jittery extended caffeine release”, “..my new favorite thing”. She has contributed to award-winning brands such as De Soi Non-Alcoholic Apéritifs and Noot Drinks, which have won Gold for Best Functional Beverage and Best Design.

Kerry has acted as a consultant to the United Nations through the International Trade Centre (ITC) for international development projects involving botanicals and authored essential oil and organic reports for the Market News Service (MNS).  
She also played a key role in developing two of the market’s most disruptive sustainability certification solutions: the Fair for Life Fair Trade Programme and Certified Regenerative by AGW. These programs create robust frameworks for fair, transparent, and regenerative supply chains—raising the bar for what ethical sourcing can look like. Today, Kerry has turned her focus to what lies at the very heart of the natural products industry: biodiversity. 

Her writing includes the recently published Botanicals With Benefits: Establish a New Relationship with your garden (2021), as well as these in-depth text books: Understanding Socio-Ecological Systems through Decoloniality: Convergence of Indigenous and Western Knowledge (Springer, 2023); The Incense Bible, Taylor & Francis (2007), one of the first scientific reviews & examinations of incense; The Health Professionals Guide to Dietary Supplements, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins (2006), a peer-reviewed guide to herbs and nutritional supplements; and Botanical Medicines: The Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements, Haworth Press (2002) an in-depth text-book on the medical aspects of many of our top herbs. Additionally, she has authored over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals on various natural product topics. 
Kerry has a background in Ethnobotany and Biochemistry, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry, and a Master of Science degree in Agriculture with an emphasis in Ethnobotany and Soil Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California.  She is also a Registered Herbalist (AHG), Australian Bush Flower Essence Advanced Practitioner and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner.

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