But competition and turmoil across the Pacific threaten farmers' success.
So they're retooling its image for the American market.
WAUSAU, Wis. --
Harold Schumacher installed an electronic ticker tape in his barn so he could keep close tabs on his favorite stocks. But a much greater gamble than playing the
market lies right outside the barn.
That's where the Schumacher family has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in an ugly brown root used for centuries in China to cure everything from high blood pressure to
flagging sexual desire.
Just a few years ago, the gamble was paying off. Farmers wired their barns with high-tech security systems and slept in their fields with shotguns to protect the bright red seeds that produce Wisconsin ginseng , a crop so valuable it is sold in Asia in packages carrying a special seal of authenticity.
But today, the same people who financed luxury homes and fishing boats off the ginseng harvest are fighting to stay afloat as root prices plunge to $10 a pound, the lowest level
in more than four decades.
Theirs is the story of a folksy, little-known corner of the farming world caught in a time warp--its ancient product poised to exploit the boom in Eastern medicine but its growers
suddenly beset by competition and powerful economic forces they are ill-equipped to counter.
Though long known as an Asian medicine, ginseng has been exported from America since the 18th century--nearly all of it cultivated in Wisconsin. The soil, weather and growing
techniques developed here produce a plant coveted in Asia for healing powers reputedly greater than those of roots from Korea and China.
Growers here could live with the fierce new competitors from Canada and the flood of counterfeit "Wisconsin" ginseng --some of it grown overseas with seeds sold by Wisconsin growers, an act of disloyalty akin to cheering against the Green Bay Packers.
But the 1,300 ginseng farmers in Wisconsin are no match forr the repeated waves of financial turmoil that have washed over Asia and infected much of world commerce.
"Ninety-seven percent of our market is the Orient," lamented Schumacher, who began growing ginseng as a hobby 40 years ago and now works his small farm full time with his three sons.
"It's just so far away. We feel so helpless."
Like most farmers here, the Schumachers are convinced the economies of Asia will eventually recover. But their woes are broader than that. Wisconsin's ginseng growers--a historically secretive and mutually suspicious lot--have decided they must reinvent themselves to survive.
So, after more than a century of depending on trade across the Pacific, they are looking closer to home--where, ironically, most ginseng is imported from Asia because it's cheaper. They are developing a U.S. mail-order business in the Chinese-language press and pushing sales to store owners in communities like Los Angeles' Chinatown and Monterey Park.
They also are coming up with products designed for Western taste buds: ginseng candy, ginseng soda pop.
To contemporize what ginseng image there is, the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin is sponsoring a bicycle team with a likeness of a giant ginseng root emblazoned on its skintight uniforms. And it has passed out recipes for ginseng and beef and "sex muffins."
Farmers Finally Talking to Each Other Wisconsin's once close-mouthed ginseng farmers also are finally starting to talk to each other. As growers of other crops have done for centuries, they are swapping tips on fungicides, sharing marketing advice and even considering setting up a cooperative to sell their crop.
"We acknowledge we are competitors," said Lyonel Wisnewski, a stockbroker-turned- ginseng farmer who recently traveled to Vancouver, Canada, to meet with growers there. "But we still
have to join together for the long-term survival of the industry."
Ginseng 's nutritional and medicinal values remain the subject of heated debate in
...
ather than sell at fire-sale prices--a risky strategy because disease or bad weather could ruin the crops. Others are harvesting and storing the roots while awaiting higher prices. And many have cut back on their plantings.
"We've alerted our growers to not sell on terms," Rambadt said. "Your buyer might be the nicest guy in the world, but if his bank closes, your product is gone. Then you've not only
sold at a low price, you've sold for no price."
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
The Spin on Ginseng
What: A perennial herb that contains substances known as ginsenosides as well as vitamins and minerals. For thousands of years, the root was revered in China, where wars were
fought over it. Wild ginseng , exceedingly rare, can fetch $20,000 an ounce in Asia.
Varieties:
Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng ). :
Widely cultivated in China and Korea. Comes in white, natural, or red processed varieties. The kind usually found in herbal medicines available in the United States.
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) :
Grown mainly in Wisconsin and Canada and sold chiefly in China. Contains a much higher concentration of ginsenosides than the Asian variety. This reputedly increases its potency and thus its price.
Use:
A root, it was traditionally consumed raw or by boiling slices in water or mixing it into food. Now it also is ground into powder and ingested in capsule form or mixed into drinks
or food as flavoring. There are ginseng drinks, candy, liquors and even body creams and shampoos.
Effects:
Scientific evidence is sketchy, but proponents believe ginseng is an "adaptogen" that helps the body react to different stresses and can control blood pressure, boost the immune system, reduce cholesterol, improve the nervous system and increase sexual energy.
Source: The Ginseng Research Institute of America
BY : Evelyn Iritani - Times Staff Writer
SOURCE : Los Angeles Times
1998. 03.
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