(First published in the September 20, 2018 issue of City Pages)
Agreement expected to help promote exports of the locally grown root
Will Hsu, president of Hsu’s Ginseng, speaks about a partnership between Foxconn, Hsu’s, and the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin to increase ginseng distribution throughout the world. Also pictured (seated form left): Charlie Alvarez of Foxconn Health Technology, Gov. Scott Walker and Hsu’s Ginseng founder Paul Hsu.
Gov. Scott Walker was in Wausau Tuesday to witness the signing of an agreement between Foxconn Health Technology Business Group, Hsu’s Ginseng and the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin to help develop Foxconn’s new Wisconsin based American ginseng brand.
The new brand, called Hong Seng, is expected to help support hundreds of jobs across the supply chain in the ginseng industry, Walker says. The brand will help distribute and promote Wisconsin-based American Ginseng in China and throughout the world.
The signing comes on the heels of the second annual International Wisconsin Ginseng Festival. The event in and around Wausau Sept. 14-16 attracts visitors from China and all over the world to Marathon County, which is the largest producer of American ginseng. The festival was created last year to highlight Marathon County’s role in this crop, which is heavily exported to China. The move comes as China, in response to Donald Trump’s trade talk, announced a new round of tariffs on American products.
Foxconn Health is also working on partnerships with the University of Wisconsin’s Carbone Cancer Center to help study ginseng’s potential in cancer treatment.
