Elk Mountain cutting summer workforce

BONNERS FERRY — Operations at Elk Mountain Farms are being scaled back drastically due to mechanization and a world-wide glut of hops.

 At one time, Elk Mountain Farms employed as many as 400 seasonal workers.

    This business is owned and operated by Anheuser Busch, St. Louis.

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    No one employed at Elk Mountain Farms, including manager Ed Atkins, was able to talk on the record about the changes, and answers from corporate headquarters were terse.

    “Like all brewers, we are dealing with a world-wide surplus of hops,” Peter Kraemer, vice president of supply, wrote in an email.

    “Favorable crop yields and improved efficiencies at Elk Mountain Farm in particular have helped lead to our current high inventory of hops,”he wrote.

“In any given year, we buy and produce different hop varieties in response to market conditions, and consequently, make adjustments in our annual hops production. As a result, we are slowing production at the farm in the short-term to help balance our hop supplies. We fully expect to return to an increased production in the future.”

When asked how many employees work at Elk Mountain in a typical season and how many are anticipated to remain employed through this season, whether any hops will be grown this season, or is it a total cessation of planting, and, if any planting is planned, what difference in acreages are planned, the response from Kraemer was similarly terse.

    “There are no changes planned for the permanent staff at Elk Mountain Farm,” he wrote. “There will be, however, some reduction in the seasonal workforce this season. A sizable portion of the farm will continue to be dedicated to hops farming.”

The question, “is Anheuser-Busch making any arrangements to assist those employees who will be idled as a result of the adjustment?” went unanswered.

One person familiar with Elk Mountain Farm operations, who asked to remain anonymous, said as early as five years ago up to 400 seasonal workers were hired annually to raise and bring in the hops crop, but mechanization reduced the need for so many seasonal workers and the number dropped by about half for the past four years.

Alivia Body, regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor in Coeur d’ Alene, could not verify how many employees, seasonal and non-seasonal, are employed at Elk Mountain Farms.

In an e-mail Body wrote, “ in accordance with the US Bureau of Labor, we are no longer able to give out employee information — not even range of employees.”

“These were migrant workers,” the source said, “but they came back year after year, spent a considerable amount in businesses throughout the community and over the years many of them were able to buy homes here and become part of the community.

 “A lot of people who left last winter won’t be coming back, and we’re going to feel their loss,” the person said.