Twenty-three years after it sold its first ginseng roots, Tainter Summit Ridge Ginseng Farm near Norwalk is cutting back on ginseng acreage and preparing to diversify into other herbs.
The reason: Low ginseng prices, a result of world production increasing faster than demand.
Kevin Tainter, who runs the business with his wife, Peggy, and his brother Al's family, said it had about 40 acres of ginseng from 1995 to 1998. But this year, the Tainters are growing only 29 acres of ginseng. "And next year we'll be at about 20 acres," Kevin said.
The Tainters usually harvest when the plants are 3 years old. They only planted 6 acres of ginseng last fall. Of the dozen ginseng growers Kevin knows of in the Westby, Dell, Ontario and Elroy areas, he knows of only five who planted any last year.
Kevin and his brother, Nathan, began the family business by planting a quarteracre of ginseng in 1973. Kevin recalled being paid about $40 per dried pound for their first ginseng root crop in 1976. The highest price he ever received was $53 per pound in 1991. Prices have steadily dropped since then, to about $12 per pound today, he said.
"They say the break-even point is between $10 and $20 a pound," Kevin said.
Wisconsin ginseng farmers are being paid anywhere from $5 to $18 per pound of dried root, said Robert Romang of Athens, president of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin. The board administers a ginseng marketing order that assesses each grower 20 cents per pound of dried ginseng root and $3 per pound of seed sold. The money is used to fund root quality and production research and grower educational programs.
Romang said it has been four or five years since Wisconsin growers have been able to get the $30 a pound price that is necessary to be economically viable.
"Consumption has been growing by leaps and bounds," Romang said, but not as fast as production. He said Wisconsin farmers, who grow about 95 percent of the nation's ginseng, were increasing productionn unntil about three years ago. And ginseng production has jumped in British Columbia, Canada, and to a lesser extent in Ontario, Canada, he said.
Much of Wisconsin's ginseng is exported to Hong Kong for distribution in the Far East, where it is revered for its health benefits. China has become an increasing problem, Romang said, because of extremely high tariffs on ginseng, "There is a large amount of American ginseng grown in China, and they prefer to keep the dollars at home," he said. He also said Wisconsin growers face competition from Chinese and Korean growers, who can use certain pesticides and fungicides that are not approved for use in this country.
"I'm seeing a lot of small growers (quit growing ginseng) mainly for economic reasons," Romang said. "And I'm seeing some medium-sized growers do the same thing." As for the larger growers, "Some of them are cutting back. Some are maintaining the way they are. Some are not planting this year but plan on planting this year."
There are about 1,300 ginseng growers in the state, Romang estimated, down from about 1,500 several years ago. Most of them are in Marathon County.
Romang predicts Wisconsin ginseng production will continue decreasing for a few years.
About 1.9 million pounds of dried ginseng root were sold by Wisconsin growers in 1997, down from a record 2.2 million pounds in 1996, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Ginseng farming was more profitable when Kevin Tainter started in 1973. At the time, he also was a lineman for a cable television company. He's been a full-time ginseng farmer for the past 20 years.
"At $10 or $15 a pound, there's a lot of stress in this job," Tainter said. "If you don't have a good snow cover in the winter to protect the plants. If you get too much rain, the roots rot. Everything that happens with Mother Nature can affect you." Blight and slugs also are threats to ginseng plants, he said.
The Taintters and other Wisconsin ginseng farmers grow their crop in rows beneath tent-like tarps that provide shade for the plants, which have three to five leaves on top and a long, fleshy root. Tainter estimated it costs $8,000 per acre to install fabric, wooden posts, cables and other hardware to provide this cover. The fabric has a life span of 12 to 15 years, he said.
The Tainters have been harvesting about 12 acres of ginseng a year in the last few years. The harvest usually begins about Oct. 1 and takes two to four weeks. The roots are washed, then dried in kilns for two weeks. The Tainters' harvest has ranged from 700 to 3,000 pounds of dried root per acre.
Tainter is proud of what his family's business produces. "I know what I'm raising, what I'm washing and what I'm drying," he said.
"We grow our own," Peggy Tainter agreed. "We can guarantee what went into it."
The Tainters also have been selling their own ginseng capsules for the past three years. The capsules, made with powdered ginseng are sold in a half-dozen stores in the Sparta, Tomah, Ontario and Norwalk areas, and by mail order. The Tainters hope to get their capsules in more stores in the future. "Having more herb products should help that," Peggy said.
But low ginseng prices are the main reason the Tainters plan to diversify into other herbs. Kevin said he hopes to plant some goldenseal and echinacea this year. "And we may plant St. Johnswort and other herbs down the road," he said.
- BY : Cahalan, Steve
- SOURCE : La Crosse Tribune1999.07.05
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