Look over the shoulder of our Head of Agriculture, Andreas Ryser. Witness the harvesting and preparation of our fresh plants up close through his films.
In late summer, the Bioforce fields, resplendent with herbs such as the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), the main ingredient of the well known remedy, Echinaforce, are harvested.

?I am delighted to be able regularly to provide you with the latest images of the harvesting and preparation of the purple coneflower as well as other A.Vogel plants (at present only available to users of Microsoft Windows). Click on regularly so you don't miss this fascinating series of video images.?

Sincerely yours,


Andreas Ryser
Field Production Manager of A.Vogel / Bioforce AG
a.ryser@bioforce.ch

Propagation of Echinacea seed stock
For Bioforce, using our own seed stock provides the basis of consistent product quality.
In the early 1950s, Alfred Vogel received seeds from Sioux Medicine Man, Black Elk, in South Dakota. These he cultivated organically, growing his first crop of Echinacea purpurea which he used to create Echinaforce. Every year a section of the Echinacea plants is allowed to go to seed so that we can be assured that all our plants are descendants of the original seeds. In doing so, we guarantee that all A.Vogel Echinacea products are of consistently high quality.

Echinacea - Harvest
A.Vogel plant remedies are organically grown. They are cultivated according to the strict guidelines. The remedy, Echinaforce?, is produced from fresh Echinacea plants. It strengthens the body?s immune system and its effectiveness has been substantiated by various scientific studies. Echinacea plants are harvested at the optimal stage of development to ensure that they contain the highest level of natural ingredients.

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Echinacea - Preparation
Freshly harvested Echinacea plants, which are grown organically, are sent to be prepared immediately after the harvest. They are chopped finely and put into a large tank together with alcohol to macerate. After two days of extraction the product is pressed to obtain the liquid (tincture), the residue being composted. The tincture is stored in large tanks.

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Bottling the Tincture
Following extensive quality control tests, the echinacea tincture is bottled.

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A.Vogel Historic Videos



Alfred Vogel was many things: naturopath and nutritional therapist, a tireless researcher, a gifted communicator and a passionate explorer.

In these three videos we see Alfred Vogel in his seventies, sharing some of the knowledge he gained.

Back to Nature                    Skiing                           Climbing

Please note : These are wmv files. For a free player please go to: www.microsoft.com