SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Douglas Matthys is a fourth-generation mint grower in western St. Joseph County, Ind. Dan Gumz, also a fourth-generation grower, farms in North Judson in Starke County, Ind.

Matthys’ great-grandfather began growing mint at the same location as the family’s current farm in the 1930s. Over the years, what started as a few acres devoted to mint has grown to nearly 1,000.

The Gumz family’s involvement with mint started about 100 years ago when Gumz’s great-grandfather was looking to diversify his operation. At the time, all the hard work – including planting and harvesting – was done by hand. Today, Gumz grows mint on about 500 acres.

Matthys and Gumz are two of a shrinking number of mint farmers in the state. Currently, there are 10 growers in Indiana, said Gumz, who serves as the president of the Indiana Mint Market Development & Research Council. That number has gone down considerably over the last 20 years, he said.

Matthys said at one time, there were about 60-70 growers in the state.

“A lot of growers are older, they’ve got mint oil going through their veins,” he explained. “My dad embraces the fact that he’s a mint farmer. It’s a lot of work, it’s hot. You’re doing the work in the hot months of the summer. At the end of the day, you ask yourself why are you doing it. But then you think you’re one of about 100 people in the country who do it. This is a lifestyle. I take pride in it and my dad takes pride in it. We’re still battling.”

Indiana ranks second nationwide in the production of spearmint and fourth in peppermint, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). In 2021, Hoosier farmers harvested 5,500 acres of peppermint and 3,100 of spearmint. Those acres produced 286,000 pounds of peppermint oil and 223,000 pounds of spearmint oil. The value of the state’s peppermint oil was $6.5 million. NASS didn’t report the value of the state’s spearmint oil.

Washington is the nation’s leading producer of spearmint, followed by Indiana, Oregon and Idaho, according to NASS. Idaho ranks first in peppermint, followed by Washington, Oregon and Indiana.

Hoosier mint farmers grow peppermint and two types of spearmint – native and Scotch, Gumz said.

Essential oils taken from spearmint and peppermint plants are used in a variety of products, including chewing gum, tooth paste, pharmaceuticals, food flavoring, ice cream and some chocolates.

Mint production in Indiana is concentrated in six counties in the north central and northwestern parts of the state – Jasper, LaPorte, Porter, Pulaski, St. Joseph and Starke – said Petrus Langenhoven, horticulture and hydroponic crop specialist in Purdue University’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.

“Mint is grown in that part of the state thanks to great muck soil and black sand (in the area),” he noted. “We have ample rain so we don’t have to irrigate. That’s something the Pacific Northwest doesn’t have – they have to irrigate. Our soil and climate really help us to produce good quality mint.”

The market for U.S. mint is changing, Langenhoven said, thanks in part to competition from other countries. Nationwide, peppermint oil production dropped from 6.58 million pounds in 2012 to 4.57 million in 2021, according to NASS.

“The trend you see there is because of an increase in production in a country like India,” he explained. “There’s a lot more cheaper oil that these flavor houses can get their hands on. If they can get their hands on cheaper oil, that’s where they will go. That’s one reason why production hasn’t gone up and why prices haven’t gone up.”

Matthys said his family hasn’t had a contract for native spearmint oil the last couple of years. He said there are about five or six companies that buy mint oil.

“We grow good quality oil, we deliver on our contract, we’re multi-generational, we do things that keep us relevant,” Matthys said. “We installed a solar array to become more sustainable. For a company like Colgate or Mars Wrigley, it’s a feather in their cap to say this is grown sustainably. To end companies, that looks really good. Companies seem to want to push that narrative these days.”

Matthys said in 17 or 18 of the last 20 years, mint was the family’s most profitable entity. “Mint production kept our operation afloat. We were able to grow a crop that was profitable. I don’t want to make it sound like mint is all gloom and doom. It’s been very good to our family. But we question if we’re in a blip or is this how the industry is going.

“It is hard when we have the ethanol plant nearby (in South Bend). We could plant corn and deliver it there instead. Farmers are going to grow a commodity the market wants.”

Gumz agreed foreign competition has led to lower demand for U.S. mint oil, which has in turn led to fewer farmers willing to grow it.

“There’s an abundance of mint oil overseas,” he said. “It’s a lot less expensive of a product (in other countries). Foreign growers don’t have to follow the same regulations U.S. growers do.”

Matthys said consumers may not think about the origins of the mint found in products they use daily.

“It’s hard to get the message out to consumers,” he said. “When you put your toothbrush in your mouth to brush your teeth, do you even think about where that mint comes from? It’s no secret that what we produce in America is a higher quality product, with the regulations we work under. I’m not sure you can say that about what comes from other countries.”

Gumz said it’s difficult to predict the future for mint production in Indiana and the rest of the country. “Based on the trend, you see it continuing to decline unless something changes,” he noted. “Something has to change to make that go back up. Each spring, it’s always a struggle, being a perennial. When it comes back in the spring, we have to ask should we keep that field or tear it out?

“We plan to keep growing it, but it’s a matter of whether end users have a need for it. There’s the economics of it. The end user is always going to try to get the price down to as cheap as they can get.”