Hope on the Hopvine

[admin]

More hop acreage being added in Washington State

Some Yakima Valley hop growers are pulling other crops to add new acreage to hops in response to a worldwide shortage that caught everyone - brewers, dealers and growers - by surprise.

A decade of oversupply and low prices that sent acreage plummeting by more than a third is over, at least for now.

Washington, Oregon and Idaho grew hops on 30,911 acres last year, according to industry figures. Growers are feverishly reconditioning yards and adding new land at an unheard-of pace. Growers are receiving multiple-year contracts with prices front-loaded to help them shoulder the estimated $6,000-per-acre cost to plant yards and also upgrade equipment.

Growers couldn't make investments like that when prices were depressed.

"It's basic economics," observed Ann George, administrator of the Moxee-based Washington Hop Commission. "When everyone started making orders, we found we had a shortage. The price went crazy. People are willing to spend large sums."

Northwest hop acreage, which expanded by about 2,000 acres last year as the lack of supply became apparent, could grow by another 5,000 acres this year.

Ralph Olson, general manager of grower-owned HopUnion of Yakima, a buyer who deals primarily with smaller craft brewers, thinks the figure may be closer to 8,000 acres by the time all is said and done. That would be a jump of nearly 25 percent in acreage in one year.

[twoodward15]

And then we'll have a surplus and they'll stop growing them and then we'll have a shortage and they'll start growing them and then we'll.......... well, you get the point. Adding that much land to grow hops is only going to get the farmer back into the same position they were in before which will in turn hurt the craft beer industry again. This is not going to be a healthy cycle unless some of the farmers get off the band wagon. It'll be great money for them for a few years but it will die down and the cycle will begin again. It's great for a few years for the micros. They can get cheap hops and get the products they WANT to brew out inot the hands of consumers that have been waiting for the one-off brews, but in the end this could hurt all of us again. There needs to be checks and balances in the system but there really isn't an easy way to do that in this situation. Let's all just hope this doesn't happen again. Hopefully the farmers make it big too!!!!! I always like to see the farmers doing well.

[MikeJordan]

According to the hop supply panel last week at CBC most of the acreage will be super high alpha. I think they mentioned about 1,000 acres designated for aroma varities. I think the groweres are taking a much more conservative step than they did in the mid '90's in hopes that there won't be an abundance and "low" pricing in 2-3 years.

[lhall]

And virtually none of the new acreage is Cascades. Only about 800-1000 new acres of aroma hops, the rest mostly CTZ.

[twoodward15]

CTZ? I didn't think there was much of a shortage of them. It seems like I can't find cascades at the time though. I guess there is more money in CTZ though.

[nwcw2001]

I don't think that it was a shortage issue when it comes to planting more CTZ's I think it is an Alpha issue. They are trying to make sure they have tons of the high alphas to keep up with the trend of blow the back of your head off IBU's.

[Moonlight]

Hop growers are farmers first of all. They want to get the most dollars per acre. Can't blame them can you? Alpha's are the biggest value part of the hop in the international hop market. CTZ's give the best alpha per acre, so the best dollar per acre. The only way you will get Cascades is if they pay higher price per acre than CTZs. How much will you pay for 'em?...We'll find out this year.