Marketers are adding ginseng or its extract to such items as tea, cold beverages and dietary supplements as a medicinal aid or flavorant. This new research is an effort to learn more about wild American ginseng's micronutrient needs, how to increase its resistance to fungal attack and to find out more about whether the conditions in which it is grown affect its content of active ingredients, known as ginsenocides. This gnarly, human-appearing root will not get you rich quick. It takes many years to cultivate. Poachers and disease to the plant are two of the biggest threats to ginseng growers.
Growers have to grow ginseng in total secrecy.
Those who are successful are adding a high-value understory component to a managed forest system. Essentially, it's forest farming. Buck said that the main factor in selling ginseng is its looks. The gnarlier the better, and New York's climate is suited for some of the best ginseng in North America, she said. Cornell's venture into studying New York-grown wild American ginseng is rooted in history.