Business Spotlight
Dirt in the Blood
Eric Sannerud never thought of farming as a career. But things change. By Gail Ivers
At A Glance Mighty Axe Hops Gilmanton Township (952) 201-4227 eric@mightyaxehops.com mightyaxehops.com Facebook.com/ MightyAxeHops
Business Central: Have you always been interested in farming? Sannerud: No. Absolutely not. I never thought about the family farm. It was just Grandma and Grandpa’s place. I never even thought of it as a farm. It wasn’t until I was in college that I figured all this out. My grandma calls it ‘dirt in the blood.’ Like farming is in my blood. My great grandpa bought it and farmed it. No one else farmed it until me. There’s very little land left, only three tillable acres. BC: Why hops? Sannerud: Ben and I both like the idea of farming and beer. Hops is a pretty natural place where they meet. Barley would be the other choice, but it’s much harder to grow brewing quality barley and it’s harder to sell. Hops are the most expensive ingredient. People most strongly identify with it, they like and care about it, and they’ll pay more for it. 54
BC: How do you harvest it? Sannerud: We pick, dry and pellet it. We separate the flowers off one end and then they go into a drying machine to get to storage moisture. The dried product runs through a pelleting machine. We sell the pellets to brewers who use the pelletized hops to make beer. BC: Is it hard to find buyers? Sannerud: No. I’ve never had enough hops to go around. I sold out of this year’s harvest as soon as I sent out the email. I think the breweries like the quality and freshness of
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the hops, but I also think they like supporting the farmer down the street, supporting the local economy. The craft brewing industry is similar, so they get it. They’re creating a local specialty product, people are happy to pay extra for a craft product, and brewers are happy to pay for high quality ingredients for that craft product. BC: What have you liked best so far? Sannerud: This is such a wonderful opportunity. I have the power to make it my own. I think a lot about what that means. As millennials we don’t want to be in a traditional office environment. We want to do something we’re passionate about. We do seasonal hiring so we often hire young people without any previous work experience. What a gift for me – to model what I think a good workplace should look like.
Business description: Mighty Axe Hops grows local hops for local beer. Number of employees: Two full time; about 15 additional seasonal employees Owners: Eric Sannerud, 25, CEO; and Ben Boo, 27, COO
Timeline 2009 Eric Sannerud graduates from Edina High School 2012 Sannerud and Ben Boo start Mighty Axe Hops on Sannerud’s family farm in Ham Lake 2013 Sannerud graduates from the University of Minnesota after studying sustainability, business, and social justice June 2016 Sannerud and Boo purchase 120 acres in Gilmanton Township to expand their hops production; they begin by immediately planting 40 acres with planned harvest in fall 2017
Photos courtesy of Mighty Axe Hops
Ben Boo (left) and Eric Sannerud, owners of Mighty Axe Hops
Eric Sannerud in front of the hops vines at Mighty Axe Hops farm.
Twitter.com/ MightyAxeHops