Ginseng stays as the “consistent crop” at Malecki Farms
- Diane Baltaz
- Apr 9
- 4 min read
By Diane Baltaz
“With farming you have to be resilient, but you must be more so with ginseng,” says Blaine Malecki. “That’s because anything can happen with it.”
Blaine, 27, and his brother, Brent, 31, grew up with ginseng, the primary crop on Malecki Farms, located on Pleasant Ridge Road near Brantford. Together they tend 85-100 acres “under shade annually”—as ginseng growers say – planting 20 to 25 acres each year while harvesting a similar amount.
While sitting in their office with their father, Richard, the Malecki brothers shared their experiences of growing panax quinquefoilus to sell to China; valued for North American ginseng’s high quality and its sweeter taste, China buys the bulk of Ontario’s ginseng.
“It’s neat to work in there (under the shade),” said Brent, about the crop’s fulfilling aspect. “I enjoy the harvesting of the berries in their third and fourth years (as future seed), and then harvesting the plant.”
Like many cash crops, ginseng prices depend upon factors such as supply and demand, weather and even international politics. Unlike those crops, ginseng stays in the field for at least four years from planting to harvest, meaning that more unexpected situations can happen.
It is why both brothers and their father emphasized their need for “consistency” in keeping the annual acreage within the same range.
“You must stay consistent with this crop – you must forecast the market demand four years ahead,” said Blaine.
“Ginseng is a long-term matter,” agreed Brent. “You have a consistent acreage that stays there over the high and low (price) times. So far, our highs outweigh the lows, although there have been more profitable years.”
Like many Canadians of Polish descent in Brant-Norfolk, the Maleckis’ farming history began with the brothers’ great-grandfather, John Malecki. He emigrated from Poland, settling initially in Saskatchewan where son Teofil was born. The family relocated to Norfolk County to share grow tobacco before purchasing their own farm. A photo of these two ancestors posing with a hand-tied stick of tobacco in a pack barn hangs prominently in the farm’s office.
Teofil moved to the family’s current farm in Brant County in 1950 to grow tobacco and raise his five children. Two of his sons, Richard and Joe, expanded the crop to 250 acres by the late 1980s.
The ginseng began with a trial planting of several acres in 1992, with that crop selling in 1995. Malecki Farms gradually expanded the ginseng plantings and decreased tobacco acreages by the early 2000s, with Richard and Joe participating in the tobacco buy-outs. They built a new ginseng cooler in 2008.
Brent retains some childhood memories of the tobacco harvest and its attendant culture, while his younger brother’s memories remain vague.
“By the early 2000s we were just ginseng,” said Blaine.
Other crops grown on Malecki Farms include corn, soybeans, wheat and rye, with the straw going to the ginseng fields as bedding. In an attempt to diversify away from cash crops, the brothers obtained quota a year ago and built a one-floor poultry barn where they currently raise 20,000 Cobb broiler hens.
Malecki Farms brings in five experienced Mexican workers from April to November, two of whom have worked there for 20 years. Each autumn, they hire an additional five workers from another farm to deal with the labour-intensive harvest and processing.
That job description involves removing the shading, straw, running the harvester, storing the roots in the cooler for two weeks, then washing and grading the crop before drying and re-grading them prior to packaging the product for sale.
Richard primarily assists his sons by coordinating and overseeing the labour, “although I’m trying to step back!” he said laughing. The brothers credit their mother, Peggy, for being “the glue of the family” especially during the growing season’s more hectic moments. Also involved is Brent’s wife, Brooke, who is currently expecting a second baby in addition to their daughter, Eva.
When asked about ginseng’s main drawback, the Malecki brothers replied, “It’s the commuting as there is still replant disease,” – which prevents the crop from being replanted in any previously-grown location. Researchers have not yet found a successful solution to eliminate replant disease.
The Malecki family thus scours Brant and Norfolk Counties in search of ginseng-free land to rent, with their crews commuting to Oakland, Oak Hill, and as far as Silver Hill and Princeton to plant crops.
But commuting to their work informs their necessary resiliency, along with a sense of humour. Blaine recalled a Mother’s Day snowfall, the weight of which collapsed 35 acres of shading, thus sending the family, workers and friends scrambling across the acres to restore it and save the crop.
Another time the family expected poor yields yield from a crop planted near the Brantford Airport because, said Richard, “Every rainfall that year hit the Brantford Airport and ginseng doesn’t like being too wet. But that was one of our best crops ever – it’s really weird.”
“Ginseng is a very humbling crop – anything can happen with it,” said Richard. “It’s like a Crackerjack box: you don’t know what’s in it until you open it and then you see the surprise.”
Does anyone on the farm consume it? Brent does not. Blaine confessed, “I consume it when we’re harvesting it because it’s there, but that’s it. I guess you can call me a minor user.”
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