At 1700 acres, Elk Mountain Farm is the largest contiguous hop farm in the United States, having grown hops for Anheuser-Busch breweries for over 28 years. With spring underway, the hop planting season has just begun, and General Manager Ed Atkins already has his hands full fertilizing, pruning, and stringing plants throughout the vast property.
Of course, caring for hops is a yearlong endeavor – Atkins’s current duties are just the first stages of a long process that culminates with harvesting the bounty and preparing the land for the next annual batch. So what does it really take to grow 1700 acres of hops? We sat down with Atkins to learn more about the hop harvesting process and his experiences as a master of the industry.
Ed, what drew you to the hop farming industry?
I was raised on a cattle ranch in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. I’m fourth generation — my great grandparents homesteaded here. I come from a family of loggers and miners, so farming is in my blood. Of course, hops are unique: all of my experience with hops has been here at Elk Mountain over the last 28 years.
And now Elk Mountain Farm grows more than 50 different varieties of hops?
Yes, many of which are experimental. We also grow commercial hop varieties, some of which are landrace hops — meaning they go back as far as time.
So a landrace hop is a naturally occurring hop – it’s not man-made?
That’s correct. In fact, most current hop varieties trace their roots back to the Hallertau hop, one of the more famed hops from the Hallertau region in Germany. We also have some English hops, some Czech hops…
Does growing different types of hops from all over the world present a challenge? Or do all hops thrive in one general set of conditions?
All hops are unique. Historically, Elk Mountain Farm has focused primarily on European hops because we’re roughly on the 49th parallel, which puts us in line with Munich. So conditions here are similar to what you would find in the famed growing regions of Europe, in terms of temperature, precipitation, and day length.