Press release

from the The North Carolina Natural Products Association

INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN GINSENG EXPO

A TWO-DAY EVENT BRINGING TOGETHER GINSENG ENTHUSIASTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTY

WHEN: Friday, December 7, 10 AM – 8 PM; AND Saturday, Dec. 8, 8 AM – 2 PM

WHERE: Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, 455 Research Drive, Mills River, NC 28732

There are challenges to the Ginseng industry in North Carolina, involving over-collection, professional practices in the ginseng farming sector, and the economic ‘value-added’ domestic and international export market.

This first International American Ginseng Expo will bring together federal, state, and regional experts to discuss Ginseng’s expanding botanical, medicinal, and economic future.

Featured panelists on Saturday include W. Scott Persons, Jeanine Davis and Bob Beyfuss, American ginseng specialist for Cornell University Cooperative Extension (retired), who states, “Wild simulated production of American ginseng may prove to be the single most important conservation tool for this valuable, native wild plant so highly revered in Asia. Every root that is intentionally grown, dug and sold from the forested regions of Appalachia, parts of the Midwest and the Northeast, has the potential to protect the remaining wild populations on public land, which have been seriously reduced due to poaching and other pressures. We will explore challenges and opportunities that face existing as well as future growers.”

Ginseng is valuable in supplements and food products and many will be on display or available for sampling at the Expo. Go to ncnaturalproducts.org to view the full program, and register or sponsor. Sponsorships include discounted registrations. For more information, contact Caroline Edwards at 289-0122 or cjedwards234@gmail.com.

The North Carolina Natural Products Association was created over 10 years ago as a 501c (3) non-profit organization dedicated to conserving, cultivating, sustainably harvesting, and processing North Carolina grown medicinal plants.