A severe spring storm has heavily damaged Wisconsin’s ginseng crop–the major ginseng grower in the US.
Wisconsin’s valuable ginseng crop – a major export to China – took a devastating hit Mother’s Day weekend when deceptively mild spring weather reverted to winter before upstate growers could protect the ancient medicinal root worth $60,000 to $80,000 an acre.
“This was like the Hurricane Katrina of Wisconsin – it took out nearly all of our ginseng gardens,” said Joe Heil, president of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin produces 95% of the nation’s ginseng – an earthy, mildly bitter medicinal root prized in China for its health-enhancing properties. It’s by far the state’s most lucrative crop, per acre.
Heil on Thursday estimated his own loss at “$1 million-plus” for 80 acres of ginseng near Edgar, 15 miles west of Wausau.
“I’ve been growing ginseng for 20 years, and I don’t know that there’s been anything like this before,” he said. Heil does not have insurance coverage because “the policy isn’t desirable; it offers completely unrealistic coverage.”
Gov. Jim Doyle late Wednesday asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to declare a disaster in Marathon County, including the Wausau area, where most of Wisconsin’s 600,000 pounds of ginseng, valued at about $18 million, is grown. A disaster declaration would allow eligible farmers to receive emergency loans and secure crop insurance payments – assuming they have insurance.
Heil said most ginseng growers don’t carry insurance.
The loss is expected to ripple through the next three to four years, as ginseng takes several years to mature once planted, and plants at different stages of development were lost or damaged, said Butch Weege, executive director of the Ginseng Board.
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