BONNERS FERRY — The Boundary Soil Conservation District hosted its annual Farmer of the Year Breakfast on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Ed Atkins, John Kellogg and John Solt, who were representing Elk Mountain Farms, were the guests of honor as the local hop farm received the coveted “Farmer of the Year” award.

The breakfast began around 8 a.m. when Chairman Tom Daniel called a regular board meeting to order, during which board members discussed finances and future plans for the district.

Then, an NRCS representative by the name of Tony Sunseri gave an update on the district conservationist position that is currently held by Ree Brannon. According to Sunseri, Brannon has been attempting to transfer to the NRCS offices down in Plummer, but the current federal hiring freeze that was enacted by the Trump administration at the end of January has made this transition difficult. Sunseri assured everyone present that Brannon will continue to serve in her role as district conservationist for Boundary County for the time being, and that the NRCS is “confident we can continue to provide a good service to local landowners.”

Kate Painter from the University of Idaho Extension Office followed with an update on all the exciting programs that are currently in the works. Painter said the cereal school was a huge hit, and that the Master Gardener program is as popular as ever — the program is currently underway and the building soil class is already full.

Next came the central event of the morning, which was the awarding of the “Farmer of the Year” plaques to Ed Atkins, John Kellogg and John Solt from Elk Mountain Farms.

According to Daniel, Elk Mountain Farms, which has a contract selling hops to Anheuser Busch, was chosen because of its continued devotion to water conservation. By using drip hoses to irrigate instead of sprinklers, the 1,700 acre operation is able to significantly limit its water usage while also mitigating the excessive soil erosion that can be a side effect of more intensive watering practices.

Atkins, who is the general manager of Elk Mountain, says the local hop farm is committed to water conservation practices and sustainable farming methods: “Protecting our environment has always been our goal.” After all, beer is roughly 95 percent water.

Kellogg also brought up a statistic that everyone in the room was proud of: Elk Mountain Farms has now worked 1,489 consecutive days without an accident, which is a new all-time safety record for the local farm. That is an impressive number, especially when considering the amount of people employed by Elk Mountain — 19 full-time along with approximately 220 seasonal workers.

The casual breakfast then took an even more laid-back tone as people around the table asked Atkins, Kellogg and Solt, who have worked at Elk Mountain Farms for 30 years now, about all things hops.

The farmers talked about the huge variety of hops being grown around the country today — including the Amarillo hops that they specialize in — and about how the current boom in craft beer production has helped revitalize the industry.

Atkins brought up the fact that, overall, beer sales have continued to decline in recent years while wine and spirit sales are both rising. He says that without the demand for modern craft beers, which use significantly more hops than a traditional Bud-style light lager, Elk Mountain Farms might be growing an entirely different crop today.