8-12 FB Mint. Up or Down

 Maybe there’s not such a mint to be made in mint farming or maybe there is. Depends on who you talk to I’m David Sparks and I’ll return in a minute. According to Magic Valley.com, an on-line newspaper, the value of Idaho’s mint crop declined for the first time in a decade as cheap foreign oil flooded the market, prices dropped and the U.S. lost its global dominance in mint oil. That would be bad news for Idaho given that we are the third largest producer of mint in the nation. I asked Rod Christianson, Executive Director of the Washington Mint Commission for an explanation for why Magic Valley.com reported a decline: “The explanation is that imports have displaced our markets. Canada, China and India all produce competing oil.” OK! Understood. Makes sense. But then I talked to Roger Batt, Executive Director of the Idaho Mint Commission and here’s his take: “To be honest, I’m not sure where they got their information because mint production is actually going to be up a little bit this year.