Caribou Farmer Scott Brown inducted into Eastern Idaho Ag Hall of Fame

Last Friday at the Shoshone-Bannock Event Center in Fort Hall, Caribou County farmer Scott Brown, accompanied by his wife Diane, was inducted into the East Idaho Agriculture Hall of Fame.  The Hall was established in 1972, and seeks to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the agriculture industry and way of life in Eastern Idaho.  

The other inductees included Richard Larsen, Marc Beitia, Mark and Stephanie Mickelson, and Rick Phillips.  The event was sponsored by Rave Communication, Simplot, Idaho Farm Bureau, and many others.  

Brown was nominated and inducted by Danna Beckman.  Brown's official induction speech reads as follows:

“Scott Brown is a fourth generation farmer and an Idaho Native, born and raised in Soda Springs to parents Clarke and Nina Brown along with his two sisters.  Scott’s father and mother were both raised on farms, his father in Caribou County, his mother in West Texas.  They bought their first farmland when Scott was five.  The kids were taught the value of hard work at a young age.  Scott quickly learned that he would rather pick rock than fix fence.  In high school, he participated in Debate and was involved in student government.  He was the student body vice president when he was a senior. 

After high school, Scott went to one semester of college at Rick’s College and then served an LDS mission in Guatemala/El Salvador.  After his mission, he attended BYU and graduated with a Masters of Accountancy, passed the CPA exam, and accepted a job with one of the Big 8 accounting firms in Salt Lake.  After 5 years, he accepted an offer from a dairy cooperative as their controller.  After several mergers, he became the CFO of Western Dairymen Cooperative.  He would frequently go to Soda on weekends during farming season to do what he really loved.  It was around this time that he purchased his first farmland from his parents. 

Scott and his wife Diane have been married for 34 years.  Scott has two children, Stacy and Matthew.  Diane has three sons, Nathan, Jeffrey, and Andrew.  While Scott worked for the dairy cooperative, he and Diane bought and built two Arctic Circle franchises in the Salt Lake Valley.  After seven years, they sold them in exchange for more farmland back in Soda.  Farming was always his true passion; he was continually looking for opportunities to expand and purchase more land, growing the farm to the over 10,000 acre farm it is today.

Today, Brown’s operation grows barley, winter and spring wheat, and occasionally mustard.  They farm at an average elevation of 6,000 feet and are 100% dry land.  Brown tells people that some years are dryer than others!  The farm is now a partnership with his son-in-law and nephew.  Additionally, Diane’s oldest son retired from a career in the U.S. Marine Corps and moved to Soda to farm with them.  The farm’s mission statement says “we will strive to make the opportunity to farm available to further generations and that if we take care of the land and the farming operation that it will take care of us."

Besides being a respected farmer, Brown has an extensive track record in industry advocacy, representing the interests of Idaho farmers on local, state, and national levels.  He first served as a board member on the Idaho Grain Producers Association board in the early 2000s.  He was elected to the 5-person executive board in 2006 and became the president of IGPA in 2010.  During that time, he served on the National Association of Wheat Growers Board and the National Barley Growers Association.  He also served as an audit/finance committee member with the NAWG board, and eventually as the vice and then president of the NBGA.  He was selected by Governor Otter to serve on the Idaho Barley Commission, where he served for six years.  As a commissioner, he sat on the NBGA board and was involved in the U.S. Grains Council.  Although he had thought about retiring, he was asked to serve on the National Wheat Foundation Board, and I sin his second year of serving as vice chair.

Brown has said, “I have served my industry not for recognition or awards but because I truly believed in the cause.”  Over his years of service to that cause, he has given testimony at a field hearing representing barley interests to the federal House Ag Committee, and later in DC to an Agricultural Subcommittee for General Farm Commodities and Risk Management for Farm Bills.  He has been involved in meetings with USDA in Washington DC to represent grower interests on trade aid payments.  In 2019, he was one of two Idaho Growers who traveled to Washington DC to meet with the USDA to make the case that barley should be included in the Market Facilitation Program Payments; barley was included in the second round of MFP payments in 2019.  The now trademarked slogan “No Barley No Beer” is credited to Scott himself.  

All of us throughout Idaho and the United Sates are better off due to Scott’s influence, guidance, leadership and love of agriculture.  Thank you Scott for all you have done for us—we are proud to have you as part of our Eastern Idaho Hall of Fame.”  

After the presentation of a plaque commemorating the induction, Brown spoke to the assembled audience.

“I’m humbled and honored to received this award tonight,” Brown said.  “Like you said in my introduction, I didn’t have my sights set on awards or recognition, but I do appreciate knowing that my efforts are appreciated and hopefully have done some good.

I think it started in maybe 2009 when I was moving up the chairs in executive committee at Idaho Grain.  I moved from vice chair to the president, and about that time I heard a lady named Jolene Brown talk about advocacy.  And she mentioned that in 1939 when the first farm bill was written, about twenty-five percent of Americans were involved in agriculture, but today less than two percent are.

As President of Idaho Grain you have to write a quarterly president’s message to be published in the Idaho Grain magazine, and I entitled my message ‘Becoming Part of the Heard.’  And I talked about that statistic and I added to it.  I said, ‘If you’re driving down the freeway to Disneyland with your family, in 1939 one out of every four cars you passed you could wave and know that you were waving at a fellow farmer.  Today, if you were to make that same trip, you’d have to pass more than fifty cars before you could wave to one.  That’s why we need to speak out; that’s why we need advocacy.  We need to tell our story and speak up and talk about what we want our farm policy to be.  If we don’t, we let our city cousins in New York and San Francisco make those decisions for us.  It’s imperative that we stay local, we stay active, and we stay involved.  

I couldn’t have done all of this without the support of the leaders in the Barley Commission, the Idaho Grain Organization, and the Wheat Commission.  But more than anyone I need to thank my family because they kept the wheels moving on the farm and kept thinks going while I was busy, and mostly I need to thank this lady here, my wife.  She supported me in my path wherever it lay, always pushing me and always very supportive. 

I appreciate the award and thank you for the honor.”

Speaking with the Enterprise, Brown continued by reiterating that “It’s so important that we speak up about our way of life, and what our values are, and what’s important to rural America, to Idaho, and to the Ag community.  There are fewer and fewer of us, like I said in my speech.  Less than two percent of people are involved in ag today.  That’s why we need to speak out.”

Asked specifically about Caribou County, Brown noted that it was special to him as his start in the industry and family, two things that are still very important to him.  “I started out in Caribou with my father and mother, and now it’s my children and other family members.  We indeed truly have a family farm,” Brown said.

“We’re lucky in Idaho because we have all the irrigated land.  Idaho’s the largest barley growing state in the nation—we raise about 34% of the nation’s barley.  And we’re lucky because we have different malt houses in Idaho, and a lot of end users of barley here in the state.”

Brown lives in Idaho and Utah (though he’s officially a resident of Idaho), and the two have a home north of Soda Springs.

Brown acknowledged that the ag industry was facing some challenges at the moment.  “We’re facing price issues now.  The tariffs aren’t going to help in the short term, I don’t know about the long term.  For example, 50% of Idaho wheat is exported and if those exports stop, we’ve got a lot of wheat to deal with.  The same with barley.” 

Still, throughout the evening and to multiple audiences, Brown stressed his belief in the importance of the ag industry and the special environment of Eastern Idaho, as well as the special people who choose to live here.

“It’s a great home,” he said.