American ginseng farmers on brink as US-China trade war drags

Wisconsin industry left with unusually large inventory of highly prized herb

20250626N Ginseng roots

Ginseng root in warehouse in Wausau, Wisconsin. (Photo by Pak Yiu)

PAK YIU

WAUSAU, Wisconsin -- Hundreds of cardboard boxes filled with ginseng root crowded Will Hsu's warehouse on a humid June day. The morning before, a shipment of 30,000 pounds (13,608 kilograms) of ginseng left for China, but the more than 150,000 pounds that remain in warehouses across Marathon county is an abnormally large amount for Wisconsin's ginseng industry at this time of year.

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