WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an expanded Coronavirus Food Assistance Program that will provide up to $14 billion to farmers and ranchers. Last week that included ginseng farmers.
“It’s encouraging that the federal government cares about ginseng farmers even though we’re a small, very small industry,” said Will Hsu of Hsu’s Ginseng.
Back in January, when Coronavirus was just touching down at major U.S. airports, Hsu was already expressing concerns about an impact to his market. And the pandemic hit after an increase of tariffs during the trade war. “I think it’s as bad as we expected. It some situations it’s worse. It’s made worse by the lack of air travel,” Hsu said.
Although he doesn’t know if he’ll qualify yet, Hsu said he does plan on applying for aid. There are several restrictions for qualifying for aid, including an income based restriction.
Ginseng famrers have until December 11 to apply for aid.
