MADISON, Wis. (WTAQ) - Wisconsin’s ginseng crop is being hit hard by bad weather for the second time this year.
A snowstorm in early May ruined up to 40 percent of the 3-year crop. Now, state ginseng board president Joe Heil says the heavy rains this summer have saturated the many of the plants.
Heil, who grows the ginseng root near Edgar, says the plants have been hit with blight and other fungal diseases. He says farmers won’t know the extent of the damage until they try to harvest the crop in October.
Wisconsin’s annual ginseng crop is worth $15 to $20 million. But because it takes 3 years for the crop to mature, officials have said the losses might be more than that.
Heil says it’s the first time ginseng farmers were hit with a double-whammy by the weather in the same year. Wisconsin grows 95 percent of the nation’s ginseng, and most of it is sold to China.
