Most Idaho farmers are at the mercy of weather in their crop production, but mink breeder Bill Hobbs and his two brothers are at the mercy of fashion whims and European markets.
They are factors that seem to be as unpredictable as the weather.While drought devastated farmers' crop production last summer in the region, the European market was their bane.
At Hobbs' mink ranch, the sun glares off the tin roofs of low buildings that stretch hundreds of feet and house mink. The musky scent of mink and fox fill the air in some areas of Franklin County, known as one of the largest mink producing areas per capita in the nation.
Franklin County in the '60s had 40 mink ranches, Hobbs said. Today he estimates there are 25 mink ranch-ers.
Last year was a disaster for U.S. mink farmers, and this year will be as well because of overproduction in the European market, said Hobbs. He sells pelts to Seattle Fur Co. and Hudson Bay Fur Co., New York City.
Four million pelts were produced in the United States, out of a world production of 48 million.