APPALACHIAN GINSENG FOUNDATION

                   A project of Appalachia -- Science in the Public Interest       
            #10 Winter, 2001                      AGF Newsletter

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New Marketing Techniques Sought

     Most of us are aware that the U.S. botanical market has been booming in
the late 1990s to over $4 billion/year sales.  The International Research
Institute reported an annualized growth rate of over 100% by mid-1998 with
American ginseng ranked among the medicinal herbs of higher volume.
However, to the terrible disappointment of wildcrafters and virtually wild
ginseng growers, the 2001 market prices has been quite disappointing, with
prices hovered between $95 and edging up to $200/lb instead of the expected
$400/lb.  Market experts tell us that the Asian market is key and that the
blame rests with weak Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian economies
during the past three years.  "People appear to be thinking more about food
and a roof over their heads than about ginseng purchases" says one source.
Maybe the Attack on America and lower American stock prices have had an
extra depressing effect on an already weak ginseng market.  However,
optimists expect a rebounding ginseng market by the end of this season to
about $250/lb.  

   Public Interest Efforts.  As reported in past newsletters, the
Appalachian Ginseng Foundation supports a ginseng marketing card  to combat
current severe poaching problems in Appalachia.  Governmental regulation
through the issuing of these cards similar to those used by tobacco growers
would help verify the legitimate operations.  Ginseng growers and
legitimate sangers (with permission to harvest in traditional public and
private lands) would then feel free to identify themselves and work through
an open market.  The AGF also supports a ginseng grading system which would
determine the quality of the product for the grower and the buyer.  Efforts
are now being undertaken to see that these regulations are included in
future federal agricultural legislation which will be acted upon this year.

   Ideal Time to Plant.  Ginseng enthusiasts say that growers should hang
on to their saleable roots and store them in an airtight container with
cedar chips.  With care, ginseng roots will keep until the prices go back
to normal.  Now is also the best time to expand production by buying
ginseng seed, especially since prices are now about $45-$50/lb or half of
what they were a year or so ago.

   Private Marketing.  Efforts are also being made to include ginseng
among medicinal herbs being marketed in cooperative ventures in central and
southern Appalachia.  Some growers seeking high poundage prices are
approaching Asian-American food markets as possible new customer sources.
Some are reported to be offering finders fees to specific marketers for
identifying persons desiring higher volumes of the wild or virtually wild
ginseng.  This practice is promising in larger towns and academic centers.
                                         
   Green Root.  For centuries slower modes of transportation and the need
for preserving the dried product have made the drying of the root in the
late summer as the normal manner of preparing ginseng root for market.  Now
it is possible to dig the root and immediately prepare it for market.  The
use of refrigerators or ice chests, along with more rapid means of
transporting it from field to sale place, makes this possible.  The grower
has far less risk from damage from improper drying, and a far better
possibility of receiving a comparably higher price due to heavier weight of
the product still containing moisture

             Possibilities for Ginseng Leaf

    Most ginseng growers are aware that the Chinese and other Asian
ginseng markets prefer root for use in making ginseng tea.  It is not that
the leaf lacks potency.  Of course, part of the popularity of root is that
it resembles a human figure and thus the part of the body section which
approximates the location of the ginseng drinker's ailment is the desirable
portion of the root.  Leaves obviously do not satisfy such consumer demand,
but the ginseng leaf does contain the same ginsenosides.  It must be noted
that we do not yet have evidence that the chemicals in leaf and root are in
the same proportions or have the same synergistic effects.  Roots are more
dense than leaves so the volume needed in transportation is far less -- and
when root was brought from great distances this is an important
consideration.  An added advantage is that root may be stored quite well in
cedar boxes and dry places.  More attention has been required to keep a
comparable quality in ginseng leaf.

    However, today ginseng leaf is used for making tea both in Asia and,
in increasing amounts, in North America and Europe.  While being quite
mindful of sales potential, we still would like to emphasize several
emerging facts.   Professor Laura Murphy (see previous newsletters) is
finding the leaf extracts are also active in her cancer research, though
comparisons with root has not yet been complete.  Americans are discovering
ginseng leaf for tea in ever increasing amounts and we do hope they will
select organic tea.  Virtually wild ginseng growers are hoping that the
leaf can be harvested during the optimal summer conditions, that appears to
be most preferable closer to first frost, when the leaves can be dried and
sold with good medicinal results.  Our ASPI research efforts during the
year 2002 will be directed to finding the optimum time for such ginseng
leaf harvesting, so as not to retard seed production or render damage to
the ginseng plant and root.  

   Browsing deer may retard but not harm the productivity of the ginseng
plant over a period of maturation.  Our hope is that harvesting leaf
following seed formation and immediately before frost may allow for a
product that is medicinally active and provide a partial cash crop for
small farmers during the long dry period between planting time and the
harvesting of the mature virtually wild root some eight to ten years later.
                     
              Appalachian Medicinal Herb Corporation

    After considerable consultation among a wide variety of growers and
other ginseng specialists, it was decided to postpone any state or region-
wide marketing cooperative until better regulations are in place for
protection of the ginseng crop as well as the grower.                    
                                                                         
    In the interim, an new organization has been incorporated in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky as a non-profit organization, entitled the
Appalachian Medicinal Herb Corporation, which is not an agricultural
growers or marketing cooperative but rather an experimental marketing
brokering group on the Internet.  Had this been a cooperative this
organization would have been in direct competition with the existing
Kentucky  "Boone-Sang Cooperative," which is struggling to come on its own.
The first two incorporators of this Corporation are Ben Perry, the
registered agent, and Dan Bond who will operate the web site.  Ben can be
reached at the ASPI Office 50 Lair Street, Mt. Vernon, KY 40456, but would
prefer postal mail contact in the beginning months.  

   Note:  We were deeply hurt that one of the first board members, Jerry
Waddle, of Livingston, Kentucky died suddenly on December 31st.  His
passing was a serious blow to the fledgling AMHC organization and a severe
blow to the total environmental community of the Commonwealth.  

              AGF Public Service Announcements

   About a quarter of a century ago while this editor was directing the
Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC, we found that
Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on radio were excellent low-cost ways
of getting the message out.  Still other activities made us refrain from
using a device that is written into the Federal communications legislation.
The public interest is entitled to such PSAs and radio and other electronic
media must provide them.  It is ironic that we have refrained from using
PSA's here in Appalachia.  That is no longer the case.  As part of our
grant from the Educational Foundation of America, Ben Perry, the ASPI
development director, brought together editors, narrators and producers and
developed a one-minute announcement about the AGF and the need for people
to become interested in ginseng.  This was sent to a sampling of fifteen
radio stations in eastern Kentucky since the announcement was geared to the
Bluegrass State.  These PSAs have been running now for over a month and
have generated several radio talk show interviews with this editor in
Letcher County and over the National Public Radio station at Morehead.
Responses from listeners have been quite gratifying and we would like to
help develop other state focused or targeted PSAs.  If you wish more
details and a sample of our text, please visit our Web Site at