Hop Propagation Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. Washington hops are estimated to be a little bit off last year’s production, in spite of the fact that hop acreage is up.Even so, Washington Hop Commission’s Jaki Brophy says growers are pretty pleased with this year’s crop …
BROPHY … “We’re going to be just a little bit less, production wise, this year than we were last year. In the grand scheme of things, we’re going to be basically about even going down just 1% based on the projections from USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service, but overall we’re going be just about the same as last year.”
But, Brophy says in the long run, that’s not necessarily a bad thing …
BROPHY … “You know, we’re going to be basically the same as last year, just a little bit less, but the reason for that is, two different reasons, but mainly a new propagation kind of technique that people are using now has lowered the yields this year. We’re actually, I think it’s going to be estimated down 37 pounds, on average, per acre lower than last year.”
That, Brophy says is why next year should be very different …
BROPHY … “Next year, we will see a bump back up in production again. And, acreage did increase this year, but it’s more kind of the overall condition, meaning that we’re going to be about flat this year to what we were last year.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the subtle changes in Washington hop production.