I think you could pull it off and someone saying not so is not being very cool (just thinking he is by thinking it is impossible).
A good bit of the worship for me with drugs is no longer worshiping or holding as an idol those that can provide for me what I can not, so even pharmi companies are something I'd rather not rely on.
Sure, you could isolate and keep pure Ergot for growth; any fungus can be contained and controlled in an environment.
Having the ergot tartrate pre made cuts down your work a great deal, since growing the fungus and seperating the alkaloid that you want (I do think there are several as nature travels with pals).
Ergot isn't that dangerous if you aren't putting the solution that you are growing it in into squirt guns and playing I'm on fire tripping till someone becomes toxic, or eating the stuff.
Not that it's good lab procedure to spill anything on yourself, but even a drop wouldn't be the end of your life (just a little uneasy for awhile). Anyone who knows good lab safety can have a good result, sadly I would never try (a good thing, only sad since it cost a lot of money) to provide the very costly equipment to varify results (just having crystals emit light when shaken in the dark is a fine and dandy test but uncertian on the way to that point if you are no pro learning the ropes).
A mass spec and what it takes to isolate the alkaloid from the ergot you desire (some form of chromatographer I am not sure whitch) are hard to come by if you aren't in college or don't have lab access with freedom to preform such an illegal operation.
they aren't illegal to obtain although a bit sketchy to have at a "in the dark" lab but nobody is really watching those and really are costly but not impossible to invest in.
The ammount of chemicals you could make with those two forms of equipment is simply huge right now and not getting smaller.
Don't get me wrong, having some of this stuff is way cool and not to show off so it's not like showing a pot plant to a "friend"....more like a life investment for small personal batches of what ever...hell, you could by a nice car or a down payment on a house for what it cost to own these fancy toys (well, not a toy but as we grow older they are; just not for kids to tinker with and break).
Face it, an ergot tartrate maker in the US underground has a good start; nothing to get caught with crossing the border (that is a doulbe no no). Basically mafia type things moved most of that in the past and not everyone wants to rely on such motives....more interested in the fundamentals than simply production and making money (which some did quite good with apparently before getting caught).