Mint Farmer Among Masters
Published: Friday, August 29, 2025
With only a handful of farmers raising mint crops, Randy Matthys stands out for his dedication and stick-to-itiveness. When he was notified earlier this year that he would be receiving the prestigious Master Farmer award, he was surprised.
"You do what you do, and the next thing you know, you're getting recognized for it," said the St. Joseph County (Ind.) farmer. "It's been a fun ride."
Matthys has been raising mint and grain crops for 53 years. After graduating from high school, he began farming with his grandfather and father. He has a framed photograph from the early 1920s showing the still in operation.
"The farm has always produced mint," he said.
Matthys' grandfather, who was a dairyman, farmed along what is now Sample Street in South Bend. That's where the mint still was located. In 1932, urban sprawl forced the family to move further west, and he eventually settled on 230 acres along Crumstown Highway.
Over the years, Matthys and his father grew the operation to several thousand acres. He took over from his parents in 1996. Now, he and son Doug run the farm, with help from several dedicated employees.
The Matthyses raise 1,000 acres of mint, 4,000 acres of corn and 200 acres of wheat. Soybeans were left out of the rotation this year, due to concerns about sudden death syndrome and white mold cutting into yields. They run irrigation on all the crop fields.
Northern Indiana has the right soil for growing mint. The perennial plant thrives on moist, well-drained, loamy soil that is rich in organic matter. In fact, Indiana ranks fourth in mint production, behind Idaho, Oregon and Washington. East of the Mississippi, no other state produces as much mint oil as the Hoosier state.
At one time, there were over 200 mint growers in all of Indiana, and as recently as 2008, there were 30. But Matthys said that number has dwindled to seven. He blames that on competition from less expensive foreign oil undercutting the U.S. market, along with new, more popular flavors being added to the chewing gum market.
Mint is an intense crop, requiring one or two cuttings every summer. Matthys said it's just like making hay. However, instead of baling the windrows, a forage chopper is used to blow the mint into a tub, or wagon. Once the tub is full and fully enclosed, steam is added to begin the distillation process.
Matthys grows both peppermint and spearmint.
In both plants, the oil comes from the leaves. The distillation process pulls vapors from the leaves and runs them into a condenser, which separates the mint from the water.
"The oil is our crop," he said.
Over the years, mint has paid many bills on the farm. But Matthys said mint production also requires a considerable investment of time, labor and equipment.
"I'd say it's not for everybody, because it consumes your summer," he said. "We started harvesting in July. We're still harvesting right now, and we'll be harvesting in September. With the second cutting, it'll overlap into the corn harvest."
With the average corn price hovering near $4 per bushel, Matthys said the bottom line for mint is looking "very good" compared to corn.
"Obviously mint has been good for the family and the operation because we're still in it," he said. "There have been years when we've questioned it, especially the years—and there's not been that many of them—when we were selling $6, $7 and maybe close to $8 corn. It's like, why are we raising mint? But we stayed with it.
"We've been fortunate to always have contracts to sell the peppermint oil and the spearmint oil. Maybe we didn't always like the price of the contract, but it was always a guaranteed sale."
Active in the industry, Matthys has served on the boards of the Indiana Mint Market Development Council and the Mint Industry Research Council. Doug also serves on a mint industry board.
Randy is also an associate supervisor with the St. Joseph County Soil and Water Conservation District and is a member of the county drainage board. He also served for about a decade on the area plan commission.
The South Bend farmer says he likes to be on the cutting edge of technology. He uses precision planting technology, late-model equipment, solar panels and soil probes. The solar panels provide power for the center pivots, grain dryer and mint still.
Also, Matthys was one of the first area farmers to apply fungicide at planting with an in-furrow 2-by-2 setup. He said this application method improves early plant health and root development.
"We strive to raise the best crop that we can," he said. "I guess I've been a bit of a risk-taker."
Matthys is one of five individuals who received the Master Farmer award at a ceremony on July 8 at the Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette. One other individual, Jim Mintert, a retired agricultural economics professor at Purdue University, was named an honorary Master Farmer. The award is sponsored by Indiana Prairie Farmer magazine.
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