At the legislature today, the vote tally board in the house turns bright red as lawmakers vote against eliminating West Virginia’s Courtesy Patrol roadside assistance program. Forest-grown ginseng is said to be as valuable as the wild grown roots and it could be a valuable industry for West Virginia as well. And we’ll talk with U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin about the benefits of the Opioid Antagonist Act to treat drug overdoses on The Legislature Today.
Tag: Ginseng
House Passes Raw Milk Bill
At the legislature today, the pros and cons of consuming raw milk is debated in the House. Senate Bill 30 passed overwhelmingly and heads back to the Senate to consider House changes to the bill. In the Senate there’s more discussion about funding for state roads and another agreement for more study about that issue. And we begin a two part series about ginseng. Could it become a leading cash crop? These stories and more coming up on The Legislature Today.
Can Ginseng Help Diversify W.Va.'s Economy? Part II
When you hear the word “ginseng” you might think about a wild plant that grows in the hills of Appalachia … and you would be right, that’s the good stuff. But there’s another way ginseng grows that’s a little less wild. Basically, we’re talking about ginseng farming in the forest, which can yield roots as valuable as the wild stuff. So is it a viable business for West Virginians? Well, there are some rules and regulations that might be hindering growth, but experts say there are ways to promote the industry.
Ginseng Regulation Reform: Enforcement Woes
Here in Appalachia, we have some major enforcement issues which it comes to ginseng. Not only is it a daunting challenge to police all the remote forest hillsides where seng grows, it’s also hard to ensure wild harvesters, growers, and dealers are abiding by the rules.
“Right now states are making regulations about plants needing to have three leaves, plants needing to have ripe fruits,” said Ginseng researcher and Eberly Professor of Biology at West Virginia University, Jim McGraw. “Once you make unenforceable rules people know that, they’re smart. You need to implement regulations that are going to be enforceable.”
Ginseng Regulation Reform: Wild v. Forest-Grown
Another conundrum is that the same rules that exist for wild ginseng plants, are often applied to forest-grown plants. McGraw explains that these regulations were conceived with the best intentions – to try to ensure wild plants would be able to mature and reproduce. But even for wild populations, McGraw says, the current regulations sometimes miss the mark.
Take for example one of the main ginseng rules: plants must be at least five years old to harvest…
“We know from our long-term monitoring of wild populations,” McGraw said, “that over 90 percent of the plants at age 5-years have never produced a single seed. And so that 5-year age limit does nothing to assure us that that plant has replaced itself.”
So that means, five years may not be long enough to help preserve wild populations. But for farmed ginseng, experts say, an age limit may not be necessary at all.
That’s why farmer’s pushed back a decade ago when federal regulators tried to say ginseng should be ten years old instead of five to legally harvest and export.
Robin Black at the Division of Forestry remembers how forest-growers threw down. 10 years was too long to wait for a return on investment, farmers said. And what if, in that time, ginseng was deemed illegal to export altogether (which is exactly what happened in Canada)?
West Virginia Ginseng Growing Program
“We started the ginseng grower program in 2006 out the request from a group called the Ginseng Growers Association,” Black remembers. “Ginseng growers came to us wanting to be able to grow ginseng on their own property so that if and when, if it ever happens that the ginseng season would ever be closed in the state of West Virginia those people that are legally growing it and registered with the state would be able to export ginseng out of the country and out of the state.”
To date, there are about 70 registered growers. But they struggle because of market insecurities, regulations, poaching and enforcement woes. Jim McGraw says research today is shedding new light on how to effectively build up the ginseng industry – especially regarding this forest-grown farming method.
McGraw believes reworking regulations while thinking about forest-grown crops, could allow residents to take advantage of this valuable commodity, AND conserve wild populations.
A Native Seed Bank
And there are other steps we could take. McGraw says West Virginia could benefit enormously, for example, with a native ginseng seed bank.
“Right now, forest-plot-growers are mainly having to buy seed from Wisconsin and other cultivated sources, but we’d really rather have them using local sources.” McGraw said.
He pointed to stocking programs for fish as an example of effective programs that bolster natural resources. Current regulations prohibit collecting wild seed as a way to protect those populations, but McGraw thinks a better way to protect what exists might be to invest in it. McGraw says creating a permit program would be a simple way to make that possible.
“By whatever mechanism, whether it’s private enterprise or a government entity, we need local seed sources,” McGraw said. “I actually think there’s an opportunity for branding this whole thing, too. We could imagine a ‘West Virginia Ginseng’ that gets branded just like Vermont Maple Syrup gets branded and sold in a way that really economically benefits our residents of our state.”
ACTION IS NECESSARY
A seed bank, and permit program are just a couple of McGraw’s suggestions. But other ideas to bolster the industry exist. A group out of Pennsylvania, for example just launched a certification program that establishes growing standards for the plant from seed to harvest.
But, while good ideas and some movement is encouraging for industry stakeholders, the stakes remain high. McGraw and many experts agree that in West Virginia with habitat loss, deer browsing, and increases in illegal harvesting techniques, the commodity could just as easily be altogether lost… if we do nothing to change current trends.
Can Ginseng Help Diversify W.Va.'s Economy? Part I
The War on Coal, pressures from natural gas development, crumbling infrastructure, whatever you want to blame it on – jobs are becoming more and more scarce these days in communities dependent on coal. As a result, some folks are reaching back to their roots, literally and figuratively, to make ends meet – just as they have for generations. And there’s some big money there. Especially harvesting ginseng. But can plants like ginseng play a significant role in our economy today? Enquiring minds would like to know…
“The top five counties [producing ginseng] last year were Mingo, Wyoming, Logan, Randolph, and Mcdowell,” said West Virginia Division of Forestry’s Ginseng Coordinator, Robin Black.
For over 25 years, her role has been to monitor the industry. She says last year over 7,000 pounds were harvested. At last year’s average price of $750/pound, $5.5 million came into the state.
“The miners use that ginseng to pay bills, give them a Christmas, and that kind of stuff,” Black said. “So in southern coalfields, that’s big extra money that they can get during a small time period.”
But can ginseng play a more significant role in our economy? To answer that question, we have to understand some of the driving economic factors – the most important being that the most valuable ginseng roots are those that grow in Appalachian forests.
There are BASICALLY, three types of root:
1. Wild
Wild seng is the good stuff. It’s the root that Asian markets will pay TOP dollar for (just as it has for the past 300 years).
“Wild plants tend to grow really slowly, their whole life history is very slow so it takes a long time for them to even get big enough to produce a single seed,” said ginseng researcher, ecologist at the Eberly School of Biology at WVU, Jim McGraw.
2. Cultivated
“In the opposite extreme,” McGraw explained, “with extreme cultivation like happens in Wisconsin and Ontario, plants grow very quickly to adult size two to three years you can have plants producing seeds and be quite large…
Cultivated root is sold for a fraction of the price of wild ginseng. You can really tell when seng has been cultivated. The root is all swollen, fat, smooth, and white compared to wild seng which is scrawny, tortured, and dark.
3. Forest-Grown
Some mountain-folk have found that planting ginseng seeds in a more natural or wild setting produces a root that will fetch a more competitive price.
“These forest grown plants where people are actually planting seeds in the woods,” McGraw said, “they tend to be a little more like wild, but it depends what they do to them…”
So depending on the growing techniques, this forest-grown ginseng crop could be a game-changer, according to industry experts, academics, and others involved with ginseng.
Harding’s Ginseng
Larry Harding is one example of someone who has made a comfortable career forest-growing.
Credit Glynis Board
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“There’s not a person on this earth that could say that that’s not wild ginseng,” Harding said holding up a root he grew, “But that’s not wild ginseng. We planted that ginseng here on the farm.”
Harding’s father started his ginseng farm fifty years ago, just outside of Friendsville, Maryland. That’s just over the West Virginia border. The laws are a little different in Maryland, but Harding says each year he harvests 500 – 2,000 pounds of dry ginseng from over 80 acres of steep, forested land. It’s enough to provide Harding’s main source of income. And the price he can get for his forest-grown root compared to wild root?
“The difference in price when you’re talking about root like this? Little to none,” Harding said standing over a pile of roots.
Harding markets his product as having “wild characteristics, taste, color, and texture.” He says it’s the quality of this forest-grown sang that fetches funds comparable to that of wild sang.
Wild Ginseng, Wood Thrushes, and Climate Change: A Survival Story
Some researchers at West Virginia University have discovered that wild ginseng—a native and valuable medicinal plant—could be using specific birds to catch a ride into climates for which it’s better suited.
Eberly Professor of Biology at WVU, Jim McGraw, has been studying ginseng from every angle for 18 years. A simple question lead McGraw and researchers Amy Hruska and Sara Souther to ask other questions, which is lead them to discover an ecological survival story.
STUDY 1: Fruit
Why does ginseng bear bright red berries?
“When a plant evolves fleshy fruit like that, it usually means there’s some kind of animal interaction going on, but we had no idea what that was,” said McGraw.
So all around wild fruiting ginseng cameras were set, and for three years tripped by the occasional raccoon, opossum, mouse, or turkey. But there was one pretty regular visitor: the Wood Thrush, (a cousin of the Robin, actually, but with superior vocal abilities on account of a double-set of vocal chords).
Credit Jim B. McGraw / WVU
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WVU
McGraw says after analyzing some 900 photos, they discovered the thrushes were in fact seduced by the bright red ginseng berries.
STUDY 2: A Seed Study
How do seeds survive the thrushes, or do they?
McGraw and researcher Amy Hruska found out there were captive thrushes living at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, and convinced the good folks there to let them feed ginseng berries to the birds.
Video actually shows regurgitation of seed.
The researchers observed that the birds would eat the whole berry but 5 to 30 minutes later…
“They would actually sit on a branch and start flipping their bills together and a seed would pop out,” McGraw said, “And they were completely viable seeds.”
So the research team found ginseng’s wild seed dispensers!
STUDY 3: Thrush Tracking
Where and how far do the thrushes wander?
…This study is underway…
Understanding thrush activity is the latest query commanding attention in the larger effort to study a threatened and valuable plant. Wild populations are increasingly rare. We know overharvesting, deer browsing, and loss of habitat are major reasons for declines. But McGraw thinks this thrush research might shed light on another threat to wild ginseng populations.
“Wood thrushes, as common as they are, have actually declined by 50 percent over the last fifty years,” McGraw said. “They’re one of the poster children for major songbird decline in the Eastern deciduous forest.”
Losing so many birds is very troubling because ginseng populations may well rely on thrushes not only to help disperse their seeds, but also to help them adapt to a changing climate.
Wild ginseng’s range stretches from eastern Canada south through the eastern United States. But genetically, those ginseng populations vary and over ages have adapted to their specific regions. McGaw suspect thrushes will play an important role in helping ginseng survive by helping it migrate from their warming regions into cooler climates. If the birds themselves can survive.
Ginseng Reality TV: Cultivating Conservation or Encouraging Extinction?
A new reality TV show that features ginseng hunting premiered this week. Smoky Mountain Gold pits four teams against each other to see who can collect the most wild-ginseng. It comes in the wake of another reality show that aired in January this year, Appalachian Outlaws. Dried ginseng root sells for 400-900 dollars a pound, and these reality shows are generating a lot of new interest in the plant. That might be a good thing for the ginseng industry… or it might not be.
Poaching Up-tick
Larry Harding is a ginseng farmer in Maryland. He cultivates the plant across 300 forest land acres; he sells seed, root, and even ginseng wine. He’s been in the ginseng business for decades. He says he gets hit by poachers every year, hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and losses. Just a few weeks ago while he was patrolling his fields in the middle of the night he spotted a few head lamps in his crop…
“I called the law,” Harding said. Catching a poacher red-handed, with a law enforcement officer, is one of the only ways to be able to successfully prosecute a poacher. That’s exactly what Harding did. He aided officers in the arrest and learned in the process that the men traveled some 400 miles from Kentucky to steal his ginseng.
It might sound like a scene from a reality show, but this is real life. Harding says everyone he knows in the industry is seeing more interest and more theft this year since ginseng has been in the TV spotlight.
“Since Appalachian Outlaws, I’ve talked to several different people who’ve been hit,” Harding said. “I’ve been hit three times this year.”
This year: West Virginia’s Division of Forestry reports a 300 percent increase in calls from people who want to know where to dig for ginseng and when; the Monongahela National Forest has issued twice the number of permits to dig; and the state’s Department of Natural Resources—which is in charge of enforcing the state’s ginseng regulations—reports increases in criminal activity.
The Slippery Slope to Extinction
“I know there’s no way we can continue down this path and still have something years down the road for my grandchildren,” said Lieutenant Woodrow Brogan, a law enforcement officer with the state DNR.
He’s been involved in a separate, year-long investigation that recently lead to a $180,000 ginseng bust and the arrest of 11 people in just one region of southern West Virginia. They were charged with illegally harvesting wild ginseng, or illegally buying and selling it.
Lt. Brogan has been with the DNR for 20 years. He also takes part in the nearly 300-year-old Appalachian tradition of harvesting wild ginseng.
“My father taught me that you don’t dig the smaller plants,” Brogan said. “You always leave some crops for next year. That was the tradition that we had; and most ginsengers I knew growing up, they had the same type of mentality, of conserving the resource. What we’re getting into now-a-days, is there’s folks going out and the only thing that they’re seeing is dollar bills.”
Boom or Bust?
The main markets for ginseng are in Asia. It’s an extremely popular medicinal herb there, and has been for over 2,000 years. Asian demand is increasing with booming populations and a growing middle class. That’s driving prices along with illegal harvesting in this country. Lt. Brogan thinks West Virginia has reached a crisis point where action is needed.
Current regulations vary from state to state, but in West Virginia: you can only pick wild ginseng for three months in the fall, only plants that are older than 5 years, only in certain locations with permits or permission from landowners, and you must have root certified with a dealer licensed by the state These laws are designed to protect and preserve wild populations. But problems persist.
Program director of plant science at Shavers Creek Environmental Center at Penn State University, Eric Burkhart, thinks if the industry doesn’t get a handle on illegal activity, wild harvesting in the U.S. could soon go the way of Canada where it’s completely prohibited. He worries that would have unintended consequences.
“The concern there,” Burkhart said, “is that it would likely only drive out the good people who are involved in this industry—that is, the people who do have been following the rules, the people who do care about the plant, the people who do every late summer and fall and look for the berries and seeds and replant them.”
But all the new enthusiasm for ginseng could have a silver lining. Researchers and enthusiasts are excited more people are growing the native plant. They say a healthy, properly regulated ginseng industry could bring all kind of benefits to Appalachia, from economic diversity, to ecosystem protection, to preservation of the region’s unique natural and cultural history.