Arkansas ginseng crop also a tariff target

A map showing Arkansas counties that collected wild ginseng
A map showing Arkansas counties that collected wild ginseng

China has slapped a 15 percent tariff on American ginseng, causing some in the hills and hollers of Arkansas to predict a price drop.

Trevor Mills, owner of Mills Ginseng Roots and Herbs in Harrison, said he figures the price for dry root will go down $50 to $100 a pound from its high of about $450 last season.

"Because there is such a demand for wild American ginseng, I think it's going to hurt the prices, but I don't think it's going to substantially hurt them," Mills said. "A good year in Arkansas sees prices reach $600 a dry pound. An exceptional year is $1,000 a dry pound."

The wild ginseng harvest season in Arkansas is from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. The buying and selling season is from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

[LIST: See all products targeted by U.S.]

Ginseng has been claimed to cure everything from impotence to fatigue.

American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, is native to deciduous forests of the United States from the Midwest to Maine, primarily in the Appalachian and Ozark regions, and in eastern Canada, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's harvested in 19 states.

Besides the Ozark Mountains, wild American ginseng grows in the Ouachita Mountains and in some spots along Crowley's Ridge in east Arkansas.

But more wild ginseng is being harvested in Appalachia, while Wisconsin does a booming business in cultivated ginseng.

Arkansas accounted for less that 1 percent of the 42,241-pound harvest of wild American ginseng in 2016, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wild ginseng likes a dense canopy, rich soil and the north face of hills. The roots take five years to grow to maturity.

Mills said Arkansas ginseng is the "bottom of the bucket." The rocky soil of the Ozarks produces roots that look more like pencils than the bulbous protuberances preferred by the Chinese, he said.

But still, they buy it.

In 2016, 376 pounds of wild American ginseng was harvested in Arkansas, and about 95 percent of it went to China, said Paul Shell, plant inspection and quarantine manager for the state Plant Board. Newton County harvested the most, with 77 pounds.

Shell said the Chinese prize wild American ginseng above all others.

"There's really no other market," he said. "China has wiped out all their ginseng and they like ours. They want the wild ginseng, not cultivated ginseng. They want twisted, gnarly roots that have struggled. They think that has more of the components that they are looking for."

Shell said the amount of dried ginseng root harvested in Arkansas generally ranges between 350 and 1,500 pounds per year, depending on a variety of factors, including weather, the number of diggers and the market for ginseng.

"During dry years, ginseng will just go dormant and not be available during harvest season," he said. "Also, during times of economic stress, there may be more people unemployed and out collecting roots."

Based on Fish and Wildlife Service data, Arkansas' wild ginseng harvest fluctuates wildly -- from 238 pounds in 2012 to 1,407 pounds in 2013 to 1,668 pounds in 2014 to 747 pounds in 2015.

Meanwhile, Kentucky set the record over the past five years, harvesting 21,242 pounds of wild American ginseng in 2014. Kentucky accounted for about 20 percent of the U.S. harvest in 2016, the latest year for which numbers are available.

In Arkansas, harvesting ginseng is allowed only on private land with permission of the landowner.

Any wild ginseng plants that are harvested must be at least 5 years old, have three or more prongs (leaf stems) and have red berries that are replanted on site, Shell said.

"The regulations are in place so that the plant is not overharvested, and therefore sustainable," he said.

On Monday, China implemented tariffs on $3 billion of U.S. goods, including a 25 percent tariff on pork and a 15 percent tariff on fruit, nuts and ginseng. The Chinese tariffs were in retaliation for tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

[DOCUMENT: Read full proposal from U.S. trade representative]

On Wednesday, China proposed tariffs on another $50 billion of American goods, including a 25 percent tariff on soybeans, Arkansas' largest agricultural export, valued at more than $1.5 billion a year.

While Arkansas' ginseng market may be minuscule by comparison, it had its heyday.

David Davenport, a mechanic at Top of the Mountain Grocery in Deer in Newton County, said ginseng paid for his first apartment and his first vehicle back in the 1980s, when digging for the roots was permitted on U.S. Forest Service land.

"I used to dig it all the time," Davenport said. "They banned us from digging it on government land. That's where your biggest roots were. I've dug them eight or nine inches long, three-fourths to one inch around, five prong, six prongs."

Tracy Farley, a spokesman for the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, said digging for ginseng on U.S. Forest Service land in Arkansas was made illegal in the late 1990s. At first, a five-year moratorium was implemented, but it didn't deter the digging, so the moratorium was never lifted, Farley said.

Arkansas Act 774 of 1985 established rules for the harvesting of ginseng.

Wild ginseng is also protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

"It is not endangered, but could be threatened if overharvested," Shell said.

Robert Still, chief ranger at the Buffalo National River, said the harvesting of ginseng was banned there before it was on Forest Service land.

"National Park Service lands are in some ways the most heavily regulated lands in the United States because of our mission," he said.

Still, he said he encounters someone digging for ginseng on Buffalo National River land three or four times a year. He said they are cited for removing plants from the park under the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, Section 2.1.

Shell said ginseng poaching is a serious problem. He said cable television shows like Appalachian Outlaws on the History Channel have made matters worse.

"The shows have glorified stealing and overharvesting of the plant from public and private lands with the false premise that the digger can get rich quick," Shell said. "The prices for roots was greatly exaggerated on the show."

But many people who have ginseng growing on their land have helped sustain the wild population, Shell said.

"They have a culture that is passed down through generations," he said.

Shell said the population of wild ginseng in Arkansas appears to be "sustainable, or slightly lessening."

He said some people have been planting ginseng seeds on their property and raising "wild simulated" ginseng.

"Basically, the seeds are planted in a location favorable to growing ginseng and left alone just like wild ginseng," he said.

"The roots are harvested after at least five years and, depending on the quality, they should get the same price as wild ginseng."

But the practice has caused some concern among wildlife service experts because the seeds may be genetically different from native ginseng, said Shell, noting that 99 percent of the ginseng certified in Arkansas is wild or simulated.

He said harvesting ginseng has been an Arkansas tradition for more than 100 years. But Davenport said he believes the tradition may be dying because of all the regulations.

He thinks his generation may be the last of the Arkansas ginseng diggers.

"The younger generation ain't going to know what it looks like. Ain't going to dig it," he said. "We're just all older. Can't get down in the hollers anymore."

SundayMonday on 04/08/2018

Upcoming Events