In 1925 American Bee Journal published a two-part article about Emil and The Hofmann Apiaries that featured comprehensive coverage of the honey house. Among other things the article included photographs and floor plans for two of the levels. In 1928 they published another article that stated the following: “It seems impossible for me to describe the Hofmann extracting plant. It is one of the most extensive and perfectly arranged that I have ever seen among the hundreds of such plants visited. Any beekeeper who contemplates building a honey house for the output of two hundred or more colonies will find it money well spent to drive several hundred miles to see how this one is arranged.” Clearly, Emil was an innovating pioneer in the practice and business of keeping bees, and though it is impossible to know for certain, at some point in these years The Hofmann Apiaries was almost certainly the largest producer of honey in Minnesota. One 1928 newspaper item described an upcoming meeting of beekeepers to be held at The Hofmann Apiaries. It detailed the speakers who included the editor of American Bee Journal, a former beekeeping specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, two University of Minnesota department heads, the state apiary inspector, and Emil. Of Emil the newspaper article stated: “E.L. Hofmann is one of the best, most successful and extensive beekeepers in the United States. His equipment is the best money can buy for efficient honey production. A visit to the home apiary of Mr. Hofmann alone will well repay anyone interested in honey production.”

Things proceeded as intended until misfortune set in beginning with the stock market crash in 1929. Emil had joined a successful Idaho-based honey producer’s coop whose membership had spread to the Dakotas and Minnesota. Six weeks before the crash he had shipped 50,000 pounds of honey to a warehouse in Minneapolis, which was the local collection point for the area. Now, all was in turmoil. Along with everything else the market for honey plummeted and prices dropped precipitously. The co-op managers tried but couldn’t find enough buyers for their honey. Warehouse and storage fees ate away at what remained of a dwindling profit. Then the dust bowl years of 1930–1934 set in. Honey and farm crops suffered severely. On December 30, 1930, in an effort to survive, Emil mortgaged everything he had with the Janesville State Bank, including the 50,000 pounds of honey at the Minneapolis warehouse. The Hofmanns managed to hang on for a time because during the next couple of years, despite the
drought, the bees managed to find enough nectar to produce just enough honey to allow the family to survive.

The spring of 1933 was a repeat of 1931 and 1932: drought, wind and dust. Emil had been renting his land to a neighbor who wasn’t doing a satisfactory job; he decided to again work the land himself and turned the responsibility of the bees over to his son, Charles. By this time mortgage payments were in default and likely had been for quite some time. Consequently, on July 17, 1933, the bank issued a foreclosure notice stating that all would be sold at auction at the end of the month. One can only speculate as to why, but no one showed up for the sale. At that point and with no other options, the bank simply declared ownership of everything. Emil was devastated. He had suffered bouts of depression in the past, and he now was experiencing the worst set-back imaginable. Everything he had worked for was lost. His only recourse was to throw himself into and at any kind of work he could find or invent. It seemed he was unable to relax, and only exhaustion would force him to rest. Family, relatives and friends pleaded with him to take care of himself but to no avail. After months of this, his normally good health weakened, he suffered a serious nervous and physical breakdown and was hospitalized. He developed pneumonia and severe jaundice and died on July 13, 1934, at age 59.