Farm History

Our mushroom farm was built in 1974 in Fillmore, Utah, and it began operation in November of the same year. It was called Mountain Mushrooms. The founders were Don Smith, Gordon Griffin, and Ken Sanderson. Mr. Smith originally wanted a meatpacking facility and a rendering plant to make dog food. When the farm started, the economy in East Millard County was in a depression. The farm helped reverse this course by offering about 50 new jobs when it began operation.

In 1978, Dole Foods, a division of Castle & Cooke, purchased the farm. Dole is known for pineapple, but it still exists in the mushroom industry today. As Dole Mushrooms, the farm grew to over 140 employees.

In April of 1985, the farm was purchased by Mushroom King, Inc. The owners of Mushroom King were Vaughn Paul and Duncan Soldner. Unfortunately, due to several factors, including the softening price of fresh mushrooms and their high leverage, Citigroup Industrial Credit, their lender, foreclosed on Mushroom King.

These were dark days in the farm's history. The facility was shut down on January 18, 1987, and all employees were fired. The bank assumed ownership and, shortly after, rehired most of the employees, resuming production until the farm was sold at auction in October 1987.

In October 1987, United Foods, Inc. purchased the farm through an auction. They would do business under the Pictsweet division. Along with the Fillmore operation, they bought two other mushroom farms in Ventura, California, and Salem, Oregon. Pictsweet would go on to operate the mushroom farm for almost 15 years. During this time, they became more efficient by producing more pounds of mushrooms with fewer employees. They were working with about 125 employees.

Loyal Adams became the farm's General Manager in April of 1989, under Pictsweet's ownership. During his 14-year tenure, he had expressed interest in Pictsweet purchasing the farm if they ever chose to divest from the mushroom industry. In May 2003, Loyal and his business partner, James Mantle, bought the farm under the name Mountainview Mushrooms, LLC. At this time, the farm employed 96 employees.

After the purchase, Loyal offered his son, Bart, the job of Operations Manager. Bart worked in this capacity for over nine years before purchasing the membership interest of Mountainview Mushrooms, LLC, and buying out Mr. Adams and Mr. Mantle. Bart continues to own and operate the farm today.

In summary, the farm has been owned by six different owners and operated as five different business entities. Based on the records, we estimate that we have employed over a thousand Millard County residents during this time. We continue to be one of the largest private employers in the county, with over 100 employees. We thank the residents for supporting our farm; it has been and continues to be a pleasure operating in this community.