Make Forested Land Pay Without Cutting a Tree

Landowners can grow high-value, nontimber crops, like ginseng, under existing trees.

- Lisa Foust Prater

Jacob Williams checks forest crops in his family's woodland with the help of daughter, Cora, and son, Owen.

Cutting down trees isn’t the only way to generate income from woodlands. Several crops can be cultivated beneath the canopy, including ginseng, goldenseal, blue and black cohosh, and certain types of mushrooms.

Jacob Williams, a forester with the University of Georgia Extension, said landowners can add value to their woodlands while protecting forest ecosystems.

Although he has long been curious about native plants, Williams said a New York Times article from the 1970s that appeared in an internet search piqued his interest. “It was written about the area that I live in. This reporter came down, and he wrote an article on ginseng and all these people growing it,” he recalled. “I talked to some people around the area where I live, and they remembered some of the old-timers mentioned in that article from 50 years ago. It made me wonder, ‘Can you still do that?’”

Williams began researching ginseng. Roots from the perennial herb are harvested by hand and used in food, herbal teas, and supplements. Although many health claims aren’t supported by clinical studies, he said ginseng has been used in traditional Asian medicine for thousands of years.

The crop has been marketed in North America since the 1700s, although Williams pointed out it was certainly used by indigenous people before then. “There are stories from the early 1800s of bundles of ginseng the size of hay bales being floated down the river to be sold at market,” he said. “Ginseng at that scale does not exist anymore.”