Ginseng: exploring field-cultivated ginseng planting with BWN

In October 2018, the BWN investigation team visited the demonstration of field-cultivated ginseng planting at the invitation of the suppliers in Baishan City, Jilin Province, China. The traditional planting method of Changbai Mountain’s ginseng is planting ginseng in the woodland by selecting undeveloped virgin forests and cutting down the forested areas for ginseng planting. After completing a 4-5-year ginseng planting cycle, new forests area must be chosen. The long-term predatory exploitation of wild resources by farmers has resulted in the destruction of many woodlands. This planting method is obviously environmentally unfriendly and unsustainable. In recent years, with the promulgation of the ban on felling in China, the ginseng planting industry is facing the results of deforestation and lack of land to harvest ginseng.

Planting ginseng in the field is not a simple reform of planting management, but also involves soil improvement and ginseng breeding techniques. Since 2000, our suppliers have begun to tackle these technical problems in public relations. For soil improvement, our suppliers have introduced some Korean’s field ginseng planting technology. Our suppliers have developed field soils (related technologies related to soil fertility, pH and soil structure) suitable for Changbai Mountain ginseng growth. They were developed according to local conditions and propose cultivation techniques suitable for field characteristics. Together with the national agricultural departments and universities, they have developed high-yield, stable-yield and high-quality ginseng varieties suitable for the soil environment of Changbai Mountain.

The BWN investigation team visited ginseng planting in the farmland. According to the Good Agricultural Practice for Chinese Crude Drugs standard, ginseng in farmland planting and ginseng in woodland planting are almost the same in terms of appearance, skin color and morphology. The third-party test results also show that the ginseng sample from farmland has the active ingredient ginsenoside content in line with relevant standards.