Family Raises Crop Near Zimmerman for Export to China
(From the Elk River Star News dated Wednesday, November 19, 1997 by Herb Murphy)
Charlie Peterson knows of only one other ginseng grower in Minnesota. “He’s somewhere south of the Twin Cities,” Charlie mused, while chewing on a piece of ‘sang’, but I couldn’t find him.”
Charlie has chewed on a ginseng root daily for the past seven years. “Would you believe that I haven’t had one cold in those years? It must be of some good,” he claimed.
Ginseng is their business.
Charlie and his wife, Ruth moved to a farm east of Zimmerman seven years ago. Their son, Jamie followed two years later. They came from the Medford, Wis., area where more than 1,500 growers produce 80 percent of the ginseng grown in America. The soil and climate conditions make it very suitable.
The Petersons came as workers for another grower but after one year became managers and bought into the business. Jamie is now one of the owners along with his parents.
Many ginseng growers just plant an acre or two, but the Petersons harvested 16 acres of root this fall. From one of their leased fields, of nine acres, they harvested 44,000 pounds (wet weight) of ginseng roots. Another seven-acre field yielded an outstanding 43,000 pounds.
“Before the ginseng roots can be sold, they must be washed, dried and placed in 100-pound plastic-lined wooden barrels,” Charlie said.
They had to truck the roots back to Medford where they have facilities for drying and packing. It took 28 days to complete that project. After drying they had 21,840 pounds of root to sell. The entire crop, which was sold immediately, will go to Hong Kong, then to Korea and eventually to China.
“It is selling for $20 to $25 a pound (dry weight) this year,” Ruth said. “We also picked the seed back in August and have that to sell as well. But the market is low. Some years seed sells for $120 a pound but this year it is only selling for $12. It appears that fewer people are growing it. We still have 1,000 pounds of it for sale.”
The root that is bringing top dollar is called the “bullet”. Dried, it is the size of a man’s thumb. The traditionally prized root is the one shaped like a human figure.
Since ginseng has been so widely sought and grown in China, available soil has been depleted. Thus, the demand has been good for American ginseng. By the time the root gets to the consumer the price increased many times. For some seasoned users, the search for a unique root becomes a passion and that also drives the price up.
“Growing ginseng is expensive,” Charlie commented. “You need good credit or some spare cash.”
The cost for putting in an acre of ginseng can range from $20,000 to $25,000, not counting the equipment. It is a three-year crop which grows best on well-drained soil which is slightly hilly. The soil is plowed and disked and then rototilled into seedbeds 4 feet wide by 10 inches deep. After the seed is planted, 4 inches of straw is blown over the beds.
Because, like wild ginseng, it must have 70 to 90 percent shade, 9-foot posts are put in at intervals all around the field and black mesh tarps are tied on cables about 7 feet high over the entire field. Occasionally the wind will take some of the tarp off and it has to be quickly replaced to prevent sun damage to the plants. The crop is sprayed periodically throughout the three years to protect it against leaf blight and root rot. The weeding is done by hand.
Harvest time requires much hand work. In August, field workers hand pick the ginseng seed. Then, as the root harvest approached, all the tarps and wires must be taken down and the poles extracted and set aside. After the ginseng beds are mowed to remove the top growth, a modified potato digger brings the roots to the surface. The field workers follow behind, putting the roots into 5-gallon buckets. As they are filled, they are dumped into larger containers which are then emptied into a large truck.
A person from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has to inspect and approve the load of roots before it can be processed or moved out of state. “I don’t understand why the crop isn’t managed by the Department of Ag,” Charlie remarked while shaking his head. One DNR officer told him he had never seen a ginseng root before.
Ginseng can only be planted in a field one time because the plant takes a lot from the soil and up to 10 fungi seek it out. “To plant a second crop spells disaster,” Jamie indicated. The Petersons plant clover after the ginseng is harvested.
The Chinese have used ginseng as an energy booster, stress releaser and tonic for general good health for thousands of years. There is an increasing body of research from medical labs that shows ginseng to have an inhibiting effect on cancer cells. It has also been shown to increase alertness and stamina, protect from radiation damage and it has useful pharmacological effects on depression, ulcers, diabetes and heart disease.
In central Minnesota counties, including Sherburne and especially Wright, wild ginseng can be found. It usually grows on the north and east sides of hilly country in dense hardwood forests. This year, some finders have gotten up to $280 a pound (dried weight) for the wild root. In Wright County back in the 1860’s, the wild ginseng crop saved many farmers from poverty. More than 120 tons were shipped from Minnesota to China.
Three years ago, Charlie and Ruth thought that this would be their last year in the ginseng business. “But, then what would we do?” he wondered. So, this week, they are loading posts and tarps as they prepare to leave Minnesota and move back home to the Medford area, where they will continue growing “sang”.
(Note – In 1997 the Petersons raised an abundant crop of ginseng in Section 35 of Baldwin Township. Seven acres produced 43,000 pounds.)