By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

SAN PIERRE, Ind. — Michigan and northern Indiana were once thriving mint-growing regions, and up until the late 1980s the United States mint oil industry was booming. Mint oil is used commercially to give bursts of flavor to candies, toothpaste and other products – and many farms cashed in.

To this day the industry is trying to stay afloat after a chaotic time in which cheap foreign oil flooded the market, prices dropped and the U.S. lost its global dominance in mint oil.

Foreign competition has profoundly changed the industry. The U.S. share of mint oil production has shrunk from 70 to 40 percent ever since China, India and a few South American countries boosted their production of the oils.

One thriving mint farm is the farm of Larry and Debbie Wappel of San Pierre, Ind. Corn and soybeans were always their chief crops, but one day they decided to give mint a try. They continue to raise all three, to this day.

“I’m a second-generation mint farmer,” Larry said. “We raise corn and soybeans and just felt we needed another crop, so we went with the mint. There could be a time when you have a bad year for corn and soybeans, so having mint will help us through. We feel it’s a good idea to be diversified.”

The Wappels tend 6,000 acres. Of that total, 1,200 contain mint. Wappel calls mint a high maintenance crop, requiring expensive planting and harvesting equipment. He plants in March and harvests near the end of June each season. The harvesting period requires many 20-hour days.

“Mint farms are vanishing,” Wappel said. “There are no mint farms in Ohio. Hasn’t been one in that state in 10 years.”

Decades ago, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin were the top mint producers in the nation. Today, Washington, Oregon and Idaho are the top three producers of mint. Indiana and Wisconsin rank fourth and fifth, respectively.

Mint growers like Wappel are holding steady. But the future in mint farming is uncertain. According to USDA figures, between 1997-2007, the number of U.S. mint farms fell from 964 to 341, while combined production of peppermint and spearmint fell from about 12.5 million to 8.7 million pounds.

But facts and figures don’t scare the Wappels, who continue to help pay tribute to mint at the annual mint festival in nearby North Judson, Ind.

“Mint is a perennial grown from roots that need more care than most crops,” Wappel said. “The mint must be steam-distilled in machines that consume diesel or natural gas, thus requiring high fuel costs.”

The Wappels will likely continue growing mint along with their “backup crops” of corn and soybeans. More than a year ago Wappel signed a four- and five-year contract that requires buyers to pay him more for his mint oil if fuel or fertilizer costs rise. Buyers pay less if production costs drop.