Farmer Establishing The Roots Of Ginseng Revival In Northwest

RIDGEFIELD, Clark County - Don and Joy Hoogesteger's five-acre lot across Interstate 5 from Ridgefield has everything they could want for a small farm. The soil is good and there is plenty of rain and sun.

So they put up posts and every spring raise the shades to keep the sun off.

Too much sun in Clark County? There is if you own Clark County's only commercial ginseng farm.

Ginseng is either of two related herbs that have been prized for centuries in Asia as a stimulating tea or a spice. In China, the ginseng root is considered an aphrodisiac and a cure for most illnesses.

"I don't go into that because the stories that were told about it were a lot of fairy tales," Don Hoogesteger says. According to Russian and Japanese research, some of the herb's supposed curative powers may be linked to a ginseng-induced reduction of stress-released hormones that in turn may reduce stress-related illnesses, he says.

But whether you take ginseng for long life and potency or just use it as an herb, the market is spreading from Asia to America and Europe.

That has created a lucrative market for the herb for enterprising farmers in the Hoogesteger's home state of Wisconsin. Each acre grown there yields about 2,000 pounds of root that sell for $60 a pound, and up to 500 pounds of seeds that sell for $70 a pound. About 1,000 farmers near Stevens Point earn about $70 million a year, Hoogesteger says.

"It's been grown in the United States for 100 years, at least," he says. "But nobody has heard much about it. Most of it has been shipped to the Orient."

Hoogesteger was a home builder in Wisconsin and dabbled in the feed lot business. He did grow a little ginseng, but not nearly enough, he says in retrospect.

The Hoogestegers moved to Ridgefield 2 1/2 years ago when Joy Hoogesteger's employer transferred her. Don decided not to go back into the home-building business because he felt he would be at a competitive disadvantage with established builders.

Ginseng seemed to be the answer.

Farmers in British Columbia's Kamloops region started growing it in 1983 and now produce half of Canada's $30 million-a-year crop, he says.

According to the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, a farmer of five acres of ground can expect to turn a profit at the first harvest of 4-year-old ginseng roots. After an initial investment of about $35,000 - the biggest expense is $10,000 for 100 pounds of seed - the farmer can sell seeds and root for a $155,110 profit in the fourth year, the ministry says.

The plant is native to rich, cool, hardwood forests of eastern North America, but Hoogesteger believes he can make a go of it in Clark County. In addition to the success of the Canadians, Hoogesteger has found documentation of a ginseng industry that thrived in Oregon and Washington during the first half of the 20th century but failed to survive the U.S. trade embargo of Communist-controlled China.

Hoogesteger wants to lead the Northwest ginseng revival.

"Most things in agriculture, the producer gets just enough to stay alive," Hoogesteger says. "I wouldn't touch anything now except ginseng."

It's easy work. Hoogesteger weeds the beds and, with mulch, hasn't had to irrigate.

Ginseng can be harvested any time. If the market is not good enough, he'll just leave the roots in the ground.

Harvested ginseng also can be stored away until the price comes up. In Wisconsin, the old timers controlled the crop and wouldn't let information about how to grow it escape from their tight network, Hoogesteger says. In Washington, he hopes the word will spread so buyers will make the region a regular stop.

Until then, Hoogesteger knows he can take his crop - the first is due in the fall of 1993 - back to Wisconsin to sell.