How Wisconsin Lost Its Big Advantage In the Ginseng Game
Foreign Competition, Fakery
And Mislabeling Abound;
Trading on State's Name
FLUSHING, N.Y. -- In a cramped shop filled with stale aromas of Chinese herbs, Keary Drath, a stout Wisconsin farmer and self-appointed ginseng sleuth, picked up a dry, wrinkly ginseng root, broke it in half and chewed it.
Clerks and customers of Ginseng City Trading Inc., stopped haggling in their rapid-fire Mandarin and stared. "From China," he declared. "Not Wisconsin."
"What's the difference?" asked a shocked customer, Max Chen, who has used ginseng for 20 years. "They all say it is Wisconsin ginseng. I know Wisconsin's is superior."
Mr. Drath, 42 years old, wishes he had an easy way for Mr. Chen and millions of other ginseng buyers in Asia and in Chinatowns all over the world to make the distinction. The future of Wisconsin's century-old ginseng farming business, now under attack by global rivals, depends on it.
The root has been worshiped as an energy-balancing folk medicine for 5,000 years. Ginseng -- or Ren Shen, meaning "Man Root," in Chinese -- has two types. American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) has a cooling effect. Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) provides a hot rush of energy.
With its rich loam, sunlight and cool summers, Wisconsin -- especially Marathon County in the central part of the state -- produces premium American ginseng. It is more potent and more bitter than American ginseng grown elsewhere.
To an untrained eye, dried Wisconsin roots look the same as those produced in great quantity in Canada and China. Mislabeling and product mixing abound.
And that is threatening the livelihood of Wisconsin's ginseng farmers, whose roots trace back to the early 1900s when the four Fromm brothers began cultivating ginseng in Marathon County. Ginseng isn't easy to cultivate: It takes four to five years to grow ginseng under wood or fabric canopies.
"Kids are easier to raise than ginseng," says Stephen Kaiser, 59, of Rozellville, Wis., who has been grown ginseng since 1977. "Kids only get colds, flu or pneumonia, but ginseng, it tends to die very easily."
Mr. Drath's family, of Ogdensburg, population 215, has been growing ginseng for 35 years. For most of that time, Wisconsin ginseng and American were synonymous, and Marathon County was the ginseng capital of the world. In 1992, Wisconsin produced 2.4 million pounds of it, more than half of all American ginseng sold world-wide. Without marketing, Wisconsin farmers had traders from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore clamoring for their ginseng, which is commonly used to balance energy, prolong youth and enhance virility.
Those days are gone. Wisconsin is now producing only 500,000 pounds a year, compared with Canada's five million and China's estimated three million. The ranks of Wisconsin ginseng farmers have shrunk to 200 from 1,600 in the early 1990s. Traders rarely visit. Most of the remaining ginseng farmers are losing money.
"There was ginseng next to the highway. There was ginseng in the hills there. There was ginseng everywhere." says Kelly Kieffer, 47, of Wausau, Wis., who is getting out of the growing business after 26 years. At one point, Mr. Kieffer employed seven full-time workers on his ginseng farm and at a retail store that sold canopies and other equipment for growing ginseng. He closed his store in 2001 and stopped planting ginseng last fall. "I think there's life after ginseng," Mr. Kieffer says. "I'm not sure what it's going to be."
What went wrong? It's a classic tale of a complacent American industry blindsided by aggressive foreign competition. In the early 1990s, Canada purchased Wisconsin seeds and converted tobacco farms to growing ginseng. American ginseng prices fell. Then Canada sold surplus seeds to China. It wasn't until 1994, when world ginseng prices had plummeted by 50% to about $15 per pound, where they have stayed, that Wisconsin farmers realized their livelihood was threatened.
"When the money was good, nobody cared," says Merle "Butch" Weege, executive director of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin, a nonprofit marketing agency. "It was the fat-cat days."
The state of Wisconsin hasn't been much help. It introduced wild turkeys in Marathon County in 1991, and sold licenses to hunt them. The birds scratch the herb and wreak havoc. "Once the bird gets the ... taste of the crop, it will not change," says Joe Heil, 33, an Edgar, Wis., farmer and current president of the Ginseng Board. With state aid, Mr. Heil put up fences, but the birds fly over them. The state reimburses each farmer up to $15,000 a year for turkey damage.
Some farmers complain turkeys have more rights than farmers. "If I see him, I shoot him. Hasn't been really successful, but it scares 'em," says Randall Ross, 51, one of the biggest ginseng growers in Marathon County. He says he is hoping for bird flu.
So, as American farmers often do, the ginseng growers turned to Washington, but unlike farmers of major crops such as corn and soybeans, ginseng farmers don't receive federal subsidies -- or much attention. Ginseng is often smuggled into the U.S., mislabeled as dried vegetables, spices or even bamboo. But the Food and Drug Administration -- which inspects only 2% of imported food -- has told the growers that the agency has higher priorities.
The ginseng growers have had one minor lobbying victory: a provision in the 2002 farm bill that bars the use of the word "ginseng" from products made from anything other than Asian and American ginseng. The target was a cheaper herb popularly known as Siberian ginseng, which isn't in the Panax family. Tea and other products made from this herb are now marketed as Eleuthero, the Latin name for Siberian ginseng.
Delegations of Wisconsin ginseng growers have gone to China three times in the past two years hoping to expand markets and search for potential partners among Chinese pharmaceutical makers. In elevators and taxis, the mention of "Wisconsin ginseng" made them instant celebrities. But it didn't help them thwart vendors who were slapping the "Wisconsin" name on Chinese-grown ginseng.
The Ginseng Board is also pressing Agriculture Department officials to set standards for grading ginseng. It got $100,000 from the USDA to fund trade missions to China and hire a marketing representative in Shanghai. It's now seeking venture capital to promote the brand and control the process from production to sales.
What brought Mr. Drath to Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens, is an effort to police the use of a seal, created 15 years ago by the Ginseng Board, to identify genuine Wisconsin-grown ginseng. The board is enlisting volunteers to visit shops from New York to San Francisco, buy samples and report stores displaying the seal on ginseng actually grown elsewhere.
Mr. Drath and another grower, Tom Hack, stood out among the Chinese clerks and customers in Queens's Chinatown. In one store they visited, clerks were putting ginseng grown elsewhere into boxes that displayed the Wisconsin seal.
Mr. Drath made only minor headway at Ginseng City Trading. After he declared that the store's bulk American ginseng is from China, sales clerk Peter Wang took down from the wall a Wisconsin Ginseng Board certificate that expired in 2002.
But Mr. Wang was hardly surrendering. "It's all Wisconsin ginseng," he insisted to his customers in Chinese, pointing to barrels of dry roots labeled, in English, "American Ginseng."
正宗西洋参深受假冒之苦
在纽约法拉盛一家满是中草药味道的狭小店铺里，威斯康星州农民德拉思(Keary Drath)拿起一根人参，掰成两半，然后放到嘴里咀嚼。
见此举动，参茸城海味中药行(Ginseng City Trading Inc.)的店员和顾客都停止了讨价还价，把目光投向德拉思。德拉思当著众人的面宣布，这些人参是产自中国的，并非出自威斯康星州。
一个目瞪口呆的顾客问道，“二者有何区别？他们都说这是产自威斯康星州的正宗人参。我听说威斯康星州的人参品质上乘。”这位顾客称他服用人参已经有20年了。
现年42岁的德拉思知道，要给这位顾客以及亚洲和全世界中国城的数百万人参购买者解释清楚肯定要大费一番口舌。
五千年来，人参作为一种能够强身治病的民间药物备受人们的推崇。人参其实有两种：一种是西洋参，也称花旗参，具有清热生津的功效。另一种是亚洲参，即俗称的人参，具有提气助火之功效。
凭借肥沃的土壤、充分的阳光和凉爽的夏日，威斯康星州、特别是位于该州中部马拉松县出品上好的西洋参。这里的西洋参比其他地方出产的西洋参功效更强、味道也更苦一些。
在外行看来，晾干后的威斯康星州西洋参看上去与加拿大和中国大量种植的人参没有什么区别。让德拉思和威斯康星州其他人参种植者更感头疼的是，加拿大和中国农民就是用威斯康星州的种子来种植人参，打上“西洋参”的牌子进行销售。张冠李戴和鱼龙混杂的现象比比皆是。
但这种现象危及到了威斯康星州人参种植商的生计。威斯康星州种植人参的历史可以追溯至20世纪初期，当时弗洛姆家族的兄弟四人开始在马拉松县种植人参。种植人参可不是件轻松的事，通常人参需要培育4-5年的时间才能成熟。
威斯康星州Rozellville的人参种植商凯瑟(Stephen Kaiser)表示，养孩子都比种植人参容易。孩子一般也就是偶感风寒，但人参要娇贵多了，很容易夭折。现年59岁的凯瑟从1977年起就一直种植人参。
德拉思的家族共有215人，过去35年来一直靠种植人参为生。此间的大部分时间里，威斯康星州的人参已经成了美国人参的代名词，马拉松县也成为了全球的人参之都。1992年，威斯康星州出产了100万公斤的人参，美国销向全世界的人参一半以上都产自该州。那时候，威斯康星州的种植商根本不用去做什么营销推广，香港、台湾和中国大陆的贸易商络绎不绝地找上门来，争相购买他们手中的人参。因为大中华地区的民众普遍相信人参具有补充能量、延缓衰老、甚至还有壮阳之功效。
可惜，好日子已经不再了。威斯康星州目前的年产量仅有22.5万公斤，而加拿大和中国的年产量分别为230万公斤和140万公斤。在威斯康星州从事人参种植的农民也从90年代初期的1,600人锐减至200人。贸易商现在也很少来了。现存的人参种植商大多是在亏损经营。
威斯康星州沃沙市农民现年47岁的基弗(Kelly Kieffer)表示，以前公路旁也有人参，山坡上也有人参，到处都能看到。基弗在种植人参26年之后，目前正决定退出这行。在最辉煌的时候，基弗的人参地里和一家零售店铺曾雇用了7个全职员工。他于2001年关闭了店铺，并于去年秋季停止种植人参。基弗说，除了种植人参之外，应该还有其他的谋生之路，但他对未来的生活心里没底。
威斯康星州人参种植业如今如此落魄，问题究竟出在哪里？这是一个反映美国产业因不思进取而难以抵挡外国竞争对手咄咄逼人进攻之势的典型事例。90年代初期，加拿大购买了威斯康星州的人参种子，把原先用于种植烟叶的农场改作种植人参。加拿大人参的出现导致西洋参的价格下跌。之后，加拿大又把多余的种子出售给了中国。到1994年时，全球人参价格暴跌了50%，至每公斤33美元。至此，威斯康星州的人参种植商才感受到了威胁。
威斯康辛州花旗参农业总会(Ginseng Board of Wisconsin)的执行董事威尔格(Merle 'Butch' Weege)表示，在轻松赚钱的那个年代里，没有人有忧患意识。当时，各个种植商都是富得流油。
威斯康星州州政府也没起到什么积极的作用。1991年，州政府在马拉松县引入了野火鸡，并出售打猎牌照。但火鸡会到种植人参的田地里觅食，给人参带来了灭顶之灾。现年33岁、威斯康辛州花旗参农业总会现任会长黑尔(Joe Heil)表示，一旦火鸡尝过了人参的味道，它们就会欲罢不能。在州政府的资助下，黑尔立起了篱笆，但这无济于事，因为火鸡可以飞过篱笆来觅食。州政府每年为火鸡造成的损失向每位农民提供15,000美元的补贴。
一些农民抱怨道，这些火鸡比他们享有更大的权利。马拉松县最大的人参种植商之一的洛斯(Randall Ross)咬牙切齿地说道，我看到一只就杀一只，虽然并不是很成功，但确实能起到威慑作用。他现在巴不得这些火鸡全都得上禽流感。
因此，像其他美国农民一样，人参种植商也把求助的目光投向了华盛顿。但与玉米、大豆等主要农作物的种植商不同，人参种植商没能获得联邦政府的补贴和关注。更糟糕的是，国外的人参经常以谎报为干货、香料甚至笋干的方式走私进入美国。只对2%的进口商品进行抽查的美国食品和药物管理局(Food and Drug Administration)告知人参种植商，他们对此有心无力，因为还有更重要的工作等待著他们去做。
人参种植商迄今只是取得了一个微不足道的胜利。2002年一项农业法案规定，禁止产自亚洲和美洲之外的人参使用“人参”这个名称。这条规定针对的是一种俗称为“西伯利亚参”的廉价草本植物，因为这种植物本就不能算是人参。
但在消费者看来这条规定没有多大的意义。美国草本产品协会(American Herbal Products Association, AHPA)会长麦克葛芬(Michael McGuffin)表示，如果把茶称作咖啡，那喝茶的人会改喝咖啡么？我想不会。
他建议威斯康星州的种植商集中精力做好营销工作，光怨天尤人是没有用的。
威斯康星州的种植商也的确正朝著这个方向做一些尝试。威斯康星州人参种植商在过去两年中曾先后三次派出代表团访问中国，希望藉此扩大市场，并找到愿意进行合作的中国制药厂家。无论是在电梯里还是在乘坐出租车时，威斯康星州正宗西洋参的名号让他们一下子成了名人。但经销商继续把威斯康星州人参的称呼用在中国产人参的身上。现年51岁的威斯康星州种植商翁蒂特(Corky Untiedt)称，中国消费者看到了威斯康星州的人参种植商，但却无法见到正宗的威斯康星州人参。
正在敦促美国农业部官员给人参等级划分标准的威斯康辛州花旗参农业总会获得了农业部10万美元的拨款用于资助代表团出访中国，还在上海聘请了一位营销代表。此外，该协会还在寻求获得风险投资的支持，以扩大品牌影响力并控制从种植到销售的整个流程。
德拉思来到纽约法拉盛就是为了监督正宗威斯康星州人参标识的使用。威斯康辛州花旗参农业总会正在征召志愿者考察店铺，购买样品，并向他们汇报有哪些店铺“挂羊头卖狗肉”。
带著这个使命的德拉思和另一位种植商哈克(Tom Hack)来到法拉盛，他们的出现显得格外引人注目。但店员依然肆无忌惮地把产自其他地区的人参放置在带有威斯康星州标识的箱子里。
德拉思只是在参茸城海味中药行取得了一些成果。在他宣布该店里面大部分西洋参都产自中国之后，店员赶忙把威斯康辛州花旗参农业总会颁发的但已于2002年过期了的证书从墙上摘了下来。
但这名店员并不觉得惭愧。他一边用手指著标有英文字样“西洋参”的桶一边大言不惭地用中文对中国顾客说，这都是正宗的威斯康辛州人参。
