Promotion of in situ Forest Farmed American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) as a Sustainable Use Strategy: Opportunities and Challenges

The cultivation of wild-harvested plant species is one strategy to achieve conservation while meeting continued demand. A limitation this approach for used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, however, that products produced under ex situ artificial agricultural conditions are often not a perfect replacement their wild-collected counterparts, so demand materials persists. This situation applies American ginseng, an internationally protected by the Convention on International Trade Endangered Species Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1975. In paper, we trace trade history need ginseng North America, including summary development evolution methods. We report results from preliminary survey product labeling sold online China adjacent regions provide recommendations promoting forest farmed consumers as sustainable use strategy. suggest CITES’s new “human assisted” production category amongst partners, coupled with “green” certification e-commerce platforms, provides opportunity encourage consumption wild-cultivated rather than wild east Asia, farming supply transparency mechanisms eastern United States.