WAUSAU, WISCONSIN - In this upper Midwestern state known for dairy, beer and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, ginseng growers want to make sure that the bitter root also gets its due.
So they’ve organized the first . Set for Friday through Sunday in this mid-state river town, it will feature the root’s role in culinary, health and beauty products and local history. The event, just before the fall harvest, is expected to draw at least several hundred ginseng aficionados from Asia and from U.S. cities with large ethnic Asian populations.
Organizers hope the visitors’ appetite for Wisconsin ginseng will catch on with a broader consumer base. Even state residents, mostly of northern European descent, have limited experience with the plant beyond seeing vast "gardens" shaded with black fabric canopies.
With the festival, "we’re creating awareness," said Tom Hack, the international marketing director for several years ending last month.
The state produces about 700,000 pounds or 317,500 kilos a year of cultivated ginseng – roughly 95 percent of the entire U.S. crop, which still totals less than 10 percent of the global yield. The vast majority goes to China and Hong Kong, where it has been used for thousands of years as a tonic to reduce stress, boost energy, focus attention and even treat male sexual dysfunction. A found American ginseng eased fatigue among cancer patients.
American ginseng has alleged "cool" or restorative properties. The Wisconsin-grown root, considered especially potent, last year commanded a wholesale price ranging from the low $30s to $55 a pound – roughly double that of Chinese-grown root, Hack said. American wild ginseng root, the most prized, can command hundreds of dollars per pound.
But growers like Will Hsu worry that consumers may not be familiar enough with the root to differentiate.
"It’s global competition," said Hsu, whose family’s ginseng farm and sales operation near Wausau is among the country's largest. "If you do not educate consumers on the difference in taste and yield from Wisconsin, they’ll view it as a commodity that’s interchangeable."
The area’s long, cold winters and mineral-rich topsoil provide favorable conditions for ginseng, which takes at least three years to mature. It took off as a commercial crop in 1904 when four brothers – the Fromms – started cultivating the root as well as collecting it in the wild. Production peaked in the early 1990s, when 1,500 growers – mostly hobbyists with full-time jobs – produced over 2.2 million pounds or almost 100,000 kilos.
But some growers sold seed to Canada and China, setting up competition that flooded the market, depressed prices and drove out many Wisconsin growers. Their numbers have dwindled to fewer than 200 today. Their 317,500-kilos yield is dwarfed by output abroad, Hack said. "Canada is, like, 4.5 million pounds" or just over 2 million kilos. "China’s at least 5 million" pounds or 2.26 million kilos.
"Seeds that came from our industry came to really haunt us," added Hack, a hobbyist himself.
Growers face two related problems: product fraud and trademark infringement. Shady dealers misrepresent foreign-grown ginseng as American, Hack said. His board introduced a seal in 1991 to certify roots or products made entirely of Wisconsin ginseng, but "we’ve got companies using our logo that are not authorized to do that. Our industry has now started taking legal action" and alerting various regulatory agencies.
The commodity group also reviews international shipping records and has its handful of worldwide distributors look out for suspect products.
"We have a monitoring program in place in China," Hack said, "so we can address infringers there."
The more challenging task, Will Hsu argues, is cultivating discerning consumers of ginseng root, berries, and the resulting teas, powders, extracts and herbal supplements.
"The biggest problem for our industry, not only with labeling, is now you’re going to have some countries like Taiwan where [there’s] a whole generation of consumers who really only consume Canadian ginseng or Chinese-grown," he said.
"They don’t even Wisconsin ginseng," lamented his father, Paul Hsu.
The Hsus and Hack discussed that quandary last October at the headquarters of , where workers in the adjoining processing facility sorted and packaged freshly harvested roots. Paul Hsu, who emigrated from Taiwan, began the business in the 1970s. Now Will Hsu, in his early 40s, oversees daily operations.