Idaho Hops

At Central Cove Hop Farm in Canyon County, vines are cut and hauled away. According to National ag stats, Idaho's hop crop is the biggest in history, with another thousand acres planted in 2020. "We started Central Cove in 2016 with 60 acres and now we have 585 acres with six different varieties. Crews have worked sunup to sundown to get the crop in. J.C. Watts and company out of Parma runs the operation and the crop will end up in craft beer. And it's a money maker. "Yes, we started the hop operation to try to diversify from row crops. And it's just another side of the business." Idaho's hop production totaled more than one point seven million pounds and is ranked second in the nation, climbing for the ninth straight year. Process. "We're trying to dry this out right here in the middle total hops of nine and a half percent." The new drying sorting and packing facility is state of the art making Central Cove, a player in one of Idaho's promising new power crops. Idaho hop acreage totaled a record 8400 acres last year. That's up another thousand acres in 2020, while yields last year averaged 2034 pounds per acre. That's up another 50 pounds per acre this year.