NW Hops Production Pt 2

NW Hops Production Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. The never-ending worldwide demand for all varieties of beer is driving the expanding production of hops here in the Pacific Northwest and around the country.

Jaki Brophy, with the Washington Hops Commission, says the U.S. produces about 40% or the world's hop supply, just edging, in recent years, the Germans ...

BROPHY ... "One of the major issues that German growers have is that the majority of them, except for a lucky few, don't have irrigation. So, that's a huge advantage that we have in the U.S. among a number of other advantages so with those things combined we've edged the Germans a little bit."

And that, Brophy says has allowed our growers to keep up with a rising demand ...

BROPHY ... "It's mostly expanding with our already expanding commercial growers. There are a few people that have been interested in doing that just because they see opportunity to work with local breweries. We did hear that there's somebody in Walla Walla growing a little bit of hops now. I think there's someone in Spokane and someone on the West Side as well."

But, Brophy says if you're considering hops ...

BROPHY ... "We do encourage people that if that is something they are interested in that they check out the cost study on USA Hops dot org. We put that together just because it tends to surprise people how expensive it actually can be to both establish a hop yard and continue doing that year after year."

Hops have been grown in the Yakima Valley for more than 80 years where nearly 75% of the nation's hops are now grown.

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