Summary: The slow-growing root, once harvested in the Northwest, is seeing a renewal of interest and a rapidly growing market in the United States.
Four years ago, retired university professor John Dahlberg planted $9,000 into a second career. The Salem resident started growing ginseng , a slow-growing root credited by Asian cultures as an aphrodisiac and a cure for everything from fatigue to lack of concentration.
Dahlberg doesn't expect to harvest the plants on his two-thirds of an acre until next year. But the payoff can reap him as much as several hundreds dollars a pound.
Many decades ago, the Northwest was one of the primary producers of ginseng . But since the 1930s, Wisconsin has had the ginseng - growing stronghold in the United States. The Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario are also heavy producers.
But Oregon farmers say they are ready to jump back into the rapidly growing ginseng market.
China is the world's largest consumer of North American ginseng . But the product's popularity is increasing in the United States and can be purchased in powered, liquid and pill form at health food and drug stores and even gas stations. It can also be found in teas, tonics, chewing gum, tobacco, shampoos and lotion.
About eight years ago, former Wisconsin grower Don Hoogesteger, who is now considered the father of the Northwest ginseng revival, moved here to re-establish the crop. Today, there are about 130 ginseng growers in Oregon and Washington farming about 200 acres. Many of the growers are in the Willamette Valley, and more than a few --such as Dahlberg -- have never farmed before.
Given the right market conditions, it's possible for growers to gross well over $100,000 an acre on a mature, 4-year-old crop. But the high cost of establishing the crop, the susceptibility to disease and the long maturing period turn some people off.
Grower Letha Prichard of Eugene and her husband, Charles, are digging two acres of 5- and 6-year-old ginseng this year, their first harvest. They expect to bring about 5,000 pounds of dried product onto the market.
The Prichards work through a Seattle-area broker who has connections in Hong Kong, where ginseng is sorted, graded and sold to wholesalers and retailers, or through auctions. The
couple will also have their crop represented at a product showroom in Vancouver, Wash., opened recently by the Northwest Ginseng Growers Association. The showroom allows growers to avoid a broker and deal directly with importers and exporters.
Prices for the roots can fluctuate wildly, depending on size, shape and age, whether it's fresh or dried, whether it was grown under a canopy or in the woods and the business climate in Pacific Rim countries.
Right now, wholesale dried root brings $17 to $25 a pound. But organically raised, wild ginseng can sell for as much as $300 a pound.
One of the big advantages of growing ginseng , Dahlberg said, is that if market conditions are bad, the root can be left in the ground another year or more. Dried root can also be stored until prices improve.
Hoogesteger, who harvested one-half acre of his four-acre plot this year and got 1,800 pounds of dried root, also sells ginseng in powdered form. He regularly uses the herb for more energy.
"I don't leave home without it," he said.
- BY : John Schmitz - Special Writer, The Oregonian
- SOURCE : Portland Oregonian
1998.12.04
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