100 Congressional Members Send Support Letter for Hop Research

100 Congressional Members Send Support Letter for Hop Research

Did you know that the U.S. now leads the world in hop acres? Taking that title away from Germany, 42 percent of the world's hops are now produced in the U.S. — most of it centered in the pacific Northwest — however, in Colorado total planted hop acres have increased 166 percent from 2014 to 2016.

More than 100 members of Congress have written a letter urging USDA's Agricultural Research Service to increase its commitment to hop-related research to reflect the growing cultural and economic importance of this crop. Central Washington's Congressman Dan Newhouse is one of supporters and he explains why additional focus into research is important for this crop.

Newhouse: "Now interestingly enough it's not just the Pacific Northwest that Hops are an important crop to. Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have historically been the center of the hop growing activity. It still is but now hops are being raised in a couple dozen states across the country. So improving the kinds of hop varieties — whether it relates to the characteristics that brewers find important and consumers or the economic issues that growers have in raising hops as it relates to resistance to diseases and pests and productivity. All of those kinds of things improve the viability of the industry. I was happy to be able to encourage USDA to look into focusing more into research so this industry can continue to be successful."

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