Mint to Be

One of my favorite times of year here in the Treasure Valley is when all the mint farmers in the area harvest their crops. Talk about a breath of fresh air!

Mint Field

Idaho is one of the top three producers of mint in the United States, with about 13,000 acres of mint still grown by 100 farmers across the state. Mint has been grown here in Idaho since the early 1960's, and continues to be a valuable agricultural product for the state. Like alfalfa, mint is a perennial plant, and can be harvested multiple times before needing to be plown into the soil and reseeded.


Peppermint is the main mint plant grown in Idaho, and is harvested in late July and early August. After being cut, it dries in the field for a few days before being chopped up and shipped off to a distillery to extract the mint oils from the plant. Steam is pumped into the distilling barrels to vaporize the oil, and the resulting water and oil mixture is then sent into a separator where the pure mint oil is separated out. The water is then recycled back to create steam for the next batch of mint.

Farmer Profile - Drew Eggers

     We are please to introduce you to our friend, Drew Eggers of Meridian, Idaho.  Drew is a third generation farmer.  He and his wife, Debra have been farming for many years.

Drew "out standing" in his field

Your name:  
        Drew and Debra Eggers

Where do you live?  
        Meridian, Idaho, located in Southwestern Idaho

How long have you been farming?  
        Since 1978

Why did you become a farmer?  
        I was raised on a row-crop farm.  My grandfather had dairy cows and raised prunes.  I got a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Idaho, and worked for an irrigation district for two years as an engineer, but working the land kept calling to me.