Rightsizing the Hops Market

McLovin was right the whole time

 

Yeah, the Hop market has always suffered from price and supply volatility. After Repeal (and, so during the New Deal) into the post-War era, hop growers' organization co-operated with the Dept. of Agriculture to set up Marketing Agreements.

E. Clemens Horst, a large California hop grower (in the pre-Pro era, he was said to own the most hop acreage in the world), who was for such an agreement in 1938 noted in a letter to fellow growers:

 

Interesting article. Demonstrates the complexities of the farming market and all of the various factors that cause price and supply fluctuations. No real black and white causes with many things even offsetting each other.

 

Wasn't there a complaints thread last year about how the hop yield was bad and this was an issue...?

Found it. Replace some excess US hop varieties with European hop varieties? Is it that simple?

 

Growing hops has always been feast and famine.

Several years back many were putting in hop fields here in Michigan. The reality of the market reduced the acreage from the 800+ acres down to 400 in 2022. Farmers found it wasn't the get rich scheme they incisions.

 

Not that simple. European aroma varieties don't do well in the US environment. Differences in the climate, soils, molds and mildews all make it a challenge to grow them here. Terroir is a real thing for hops, the aroma hops varieties don't have the same character here.

 

I wonder if it’s like the cannabis market. Over saturated with mediocre quality from people who went for size of farm v quality.

 

Usual supply/demand discussion missing from daily life these days found here. Cool cool cool. Transition.

I'm on the fence about ordering some Vista hop rhizomes this week. Lows still in the teens for the next 10 day forecast, waiting for that to bump up to the 30s before I order.

Apricot tree hasn't produced fruit in a few harvests. Prolly top that off and let the hops hopefully grow up a 10-12 foot "stump". (Left side of the ladder in the pic).

Any Vista hop insight up in here (up in here)?



(L to R) Chinook, Centennial, Nugget, Cascade during harvest.

Not pictured: CTZ (in backyard)


Summer Sunrise

 

In the Yakima Valley they claim that they can get 80% of the full yield in the first year. That is right from YCH Hop and Brew School. That’s hop Citra and Mosaic could be ramped up so quickly.

 

Nothing is that simple. Hops are perennials and need time to reach maturity. Also hop cultivation is fairly specialized and that, along with market volatility, might discourage farmers. Euro hop varieties should do well in western OR and WA. Hops there were a major crop once, but have since been displaced. There remains the hop development efforts at OR State U.

 

Monocracy is also a quick producer of hops. From the article you linked in the other thread (with emphasis in bold by me):

“Monocacy is super productive. The researchers say it was producing approximately two pounds per plant in the first year, dry weight. In fact, it was so robust that the group had a hard time feeding it into the processing machine.”

I have a mature hop plant (about 10 years old) and that plant produces less than two pounds of hops.

Cheers!

 

The plant gets fertilized.

Maybe the yield would increase with trellising but regardless Monocracy produces high yields very quickly, not need for multiple years to obtain productivity.

Cheers!

 

It is about 3 years just about everywhere else. The fertile volcanic soil, drip irrigation, loads of sun and desert climate all result in the perfect environment fo hops.

 

At a hop farm in WA we walked the experimental field looking at new hops and doing hop rubs. One plant that has a nice aroma wasn't going any farther due to anlarge ball of cones at the top. The guide said that would jam the picking machine. They like a uniform distribution of cones along the plant.

Monocacy sounds so intriguing, hop that jaming the pickers isn't the. Achilles heal.

 

Jeff, we just have to get those Mechanical Engineers to do a better job here!?!

Cheers!