GINSENG IN THE SPOTLIGHT Ohio’s green gold is threatened even as it grows more popular than ever Story by Wynne Everett
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or generations, American ginseng was a fairly well-kept secret of Appalachia.
Locals in rural portions of Ohio knew where to find the desirable botanical in the woods, tended to it and took pride in guarding their knowledge before passing it on to children and grandchildren. Ginseng had a mystique and a special, respected place in culture. But then came the internet age, attention of the wider world and skyrocketing prices overseas for America’s ginseng. Suddenly ginseng has become “green gold,” easy money and the subject of overhyped television shows. Prices shot up in recent years from $350 a pound to more than $1,000 a pound for dried ginseng, mostly exported to Asia. As a result, Ohio’s ginseng caretakers have seen dramatic and threatening changes. “When people hear those numbers, of course they want to do a TV show about it or look for easy money,” said Chip Carroll, a long-time ginseng grower, dealer and evangelist in Meigs County. “It’s been a bit heartbreaking.” Ginseng, which happily grows wild in the forests of southeast, central and portions of northeast Ohio, is highly desired in China where it is used in herbal medicine to promote stamina, among other uses. The plant, which can live to be up to 100 years old, is incredibly slow growing, which makes it particularly vulnerable to various pressures, including habitat loss, climate change and poaching. Its precarious nature means that ginseng cultivation is highly regulated by state, federal and
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international law. The season for digging ginseng in Ohio runs from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 each year. Diggers do not need a license, but they do need written permission from landowners to collect the valuable plant. And they must follow detailed rules, including only digging mature plants, recording where they harvest their roots and immediately replanting the dug plant’s seeds in the same place. Ginseng dealers, who can buy the roots with a permit, must submit detailed records and obtain ginseng certification documents before they can export the dried roots. Unfortunately, ginseng’s value and the toll of the opioid epidemic on Appalachia have combined to fuel an increase in poaching as people who are desperate for cash see illegal harvesting as a way to get quick cash. That’s why Carroll and other long-time ginseng community members are working on a variety of initiatives to conserve slow-growing ginseng and preserve its special place in the culture and economy of Appalachia.
A strategy for conservation
Carroll is a Youngstown native who discovered ginseng as a Hocking College student in the late 1990s. He has worked
