The Agriculture of Beer

Who would believe that a relatively small farm production started 29 years ago at the tip of the Panhandle would today become one of the significant producers of a valuable crop in an industry utilized and loved by most of America?

That’s exactly what has occurred with Elk Mountain Farms, now a 1700-acre spread located just shy of the Canadian border at Port Hill in the wonderful silt loam of the Kootenai River Valley.

The crop is that of hops, which grow vertically on bines (not vines) as high as 11 feet on average. Though they look like little green pine cones clustered as thick as grapes, they are the flowers of this plant that are used to enhance or flavor the bitterness or the distinguishing taste of gourmet beers.

Hops from the Elk Mountain Farms are used by Anheuser-Busch (AB) in beer as common as Budweiser and Bud Lite and as unique as those crafted by breweries such as Goose Island Brewery and InBev, both of which are owned by AB.

The labor-intensive harvest of hops is a year-round process. Though the actual harvest takes place in a relatively short five-day window of time, the after-harvest processing and handling of silage (that part of the plant not utilized in beer making), the storage and chipping of hops, the grooming and care of the land for next year, fertilizing with composted silage from the current year for the following, all play into a never ending but critically important process necessary for the smooth taste, bitter taste, flowery or hoppy taste that distinguish one beer brand from another.

Elk Mountain also raises experimental varieties, and with the surge or trend in gourmet microbreweries across the country, distinguishing characteristics are an important commodity. Brewers are very particular about their hops.

Why So Labor Intensive?

Unlike the harvest of barley and other grains also used in brewing beer, hops require a lot of hands-on activity especially during the critically important five-day time of harvest. Where grains are harvested in bulk by highly specialized machinery using one or two people, the timely harvest and processing of hops requires many skilled hands through an important sequence of production.

The biggest challenge is weather. The short window of harvest time is there because the flowers have reached their maximum aromatic attribute, depending on the variety and ultimate use of that particular hop variety. That critical window determines the flavor and quality of the variety being harvested. If the farm fails to complete harvest in the right timing, it stands to lose a major portion of that year’s crop. Though extended periods of rain and mud may inhibit harvest, such inclement weather cannot be allowed to stop the process.

When the hop flowers are separated for processing, the leftover silage is composted for fertilizer. The compost is turned back into the soil to replenish and rebuild for next year’s crop. This organic return to the soil is in itself a technically important process to hop farming which utilizes land directly connected to the Kootenai River flow.

As I stated above, hops grow on a helix-shaped bine, which is a woody shoot or very strong stem that spiral vertically. That’s why it is not classified as a vine. To facilitate faster growth, hops farmers have learned to help support the plants with trellis construction that helps lift the long stems straight up into the sun and air. As the bine grows, however, it has to be manually encouraged to grow around the trellis.

The farm does every aspect of production from greenhouse production of female rhizomes on-site and planting to harvesting the flowers at the right time and then kiln drying them at the farm so that the hops survive shipment to the breweries. It’s of interest to some that hops harvested for beer are all from female rhizomes in that the males, which carry the pollen, in turn cause the females to produce seeds. That in turn inhibits the production of hops as a flower because the seeds must be separated from the flower before the whole batch enters the kiln for drying. So hops agriculturists have learned to “weed” out the male side to limit the production of seeds in the hops growing up the trellis plantation.

If you plan on growing your own hops, try to remember this last tidbit, because the pollen from your kept male versions of the plant not only will seed your own hops, but will likely and can certainly drift in air currents until they find a happy receiving female on the Elk Mountain Farm. Uh huh! That’s the nature of the birds and the bees in the botanical world.

At various periods of time each year, the farm employs upwards of a hundred plus migrant workers, some of whom have come every year for the last 27 years. These workers live in work barracks on the farm with their families and send their kids to school in Bonners Ferry.

Benefits to Bonners Ferry and the Kootenai Valley

Fourth generation Boundary County resident and cattle-rancher turned hops farmer, Ed Atkins, is the current manager of Elk Mountain Farms. He’s been with the production of hops in the Kootenai Valley for 29 years and knows it thoroughly.

At times they had to resort to wheat and canola to sustain the farm. Location was a factor that made Elk Farm hops a luxury rather than a strategically well-placed source. It was the full-on acquisition of Goose Island Brewery in Chicago, which needed a revamp and upgrade, which it received from the Anheuser-Busch buyout, that things turned around and sailed toward a productive horizon of profitable farming. The AB purchase of Goose Island was the kicker for Elk Mountain that escalated them into the number three producer of hops.

Elk Mountain produces 40 to 50 different varieties of hops every year including some that are experimental. For Boundary County and Bonners Ferry this success brings good revenue into the area, supports a number of families and adds to the scenic beauty and social awareness of North Idaho across any sector that brews and drinks American beer.

Though Elk Mountain manages only a percentage of the total acreage devoted to hops farming, the Brewer’s Association predicts craft beers to double their market shares by the year 2020. If that happens, the acreage now devoted to hops farming such as that so well managed at Elk Mountain will need to double to keep up with demand. That’s a bright future for the Panhandle, for those who work the land and especially Elk Mountain Farm.

It’s noteworthy to say that the hops and tree farms of Idaho’s Panhandle contribute in mighty ways not only to the local economies of the communities near them and to their respective counties, but also bring a great deal of positive media awareness to our area. Every one of these farmers has experienced the tight times; the struggles and the risks associated with agriculture and the seeming isolation from mainstream trucking.

But because they contribute to the scenic beauty and health of our part of the world, they all deserve the recognition and accolades of a job well-done and the hearty appreciation of those who are blessed enough to drive by or visit for touring these innovative practices that have brought a high degree of sustainability to North Idaho.

Dwayne Parsons is a Realtor with Century 21 Beutler and Associates in Coeur d’Alene. He can be reached by calling his mobile at 208.290.2300.

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