Sisters Keep the Family Farm Going

Sisters Keep the Family Farm Going

Rick Worthington
Rick Worthington
Farming in often handed down from father to son, generation after generation...and sometimes it's passed down from father to daughter, as is the case in Gooding, Idaho, where the Gooding sisters -- Michelle and Diane run Gooding farms.

"I think it's something we take a lot of pride in," says Diane Gooding, Vice President of Gooding Farms.

"It's pretty exciting especially we are the first generation in our family of female farmers," says Michelle Gooding, "We have three sisters and that's pretty unique."

"Our great great great grandfather and his son started the farm, it was a good market then," Diane says.

"We had two generations growing hops in Oregon, then in 1945 our great grandfather moved the farm from St. Paul, Oregon to the Parma, Wilder area. When they first started out, I think they started out with about 20-40 acres," says Diane.

And Michelle explains, Gooding farms now spans 863 acres and grows over 15 different varieties of hops.

"The varieties, we've seen a little bit of a transformation from mostly alpha producing hops to more of the flavor types or aroma varieties is what we call them in the industry and that shift has really occurred and was motivated by craft brewing,"

And the Gooding sisters say, they have big plans for the future.

"We're really looking toward sustainability and the future," says Michelle, "This next generation and getting it ready for the potential 7th or 8th hopefully, generations to come."

Their next goal is sustainability, now Gooding Farms plans to be completely solar offset by harvest of 2019.

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