27 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

I was fortunate to start brewing right after the hop crisis. Since then the demand for hops has increased quite a bit with over 3000 craft breweries and home brewing exploding all over the US. Seems like every state north of North Carolina is starting to get small hop farmers growing again. Personally I think hops have been saved. The craving for new and more flavorful hops is bigger than ever and I don't think it will ever abate.

 

What about malt? Malt seems like a less romantic but equally important crop to me. Barley production has been dropping all over the US in favor of more lucrative crops like corn, beets, and beans. Now there seems to be a barley crisis on the horizon with much of the crops in Montana and Idaho facing disaster due to rains germinating the crops before they could be harvested and malted. Will it take a crisis like this to create a demand for more smaller barley farms and maltsters that can help pick up the pieces when large farms face disaster? I'd hate to think what will happen to beer and small breweries when bulk pricing for malt reaches $1/lb. 

 

What do you all think?

[BarelyBrews]

I do remember the hop "Crisis" , it was a lot of price gouging .

 

I have worried also about the malt prices/ demand etc,,, every small town has a micro-brewery around here. The demand for malt must be higher. I had the offer from my dad to grow some barley on his farm .Not sure how i would process it without equipment of some kind. Would be a lot of work.

[denny]

If you really look into the "hop crisis", it wasn't merely price gouging.  I would expect to see hop prices going up somewhat and a lot of the older varieties (Northern Brewer, for one) going away.  There is also a huge amount of resources being dedicated to bringing new varieties to market.  When we went to the Perrault farm at Hop & Brew school, we saw one field with 50K different varieties in it.  Less than 1% of those will make it to market.  It costs on average $5M to bring a new variety to market.

 

Worldwide malt production is down.  There will definitely be price increases there.  The weather is largely to blame.

[Deerslyr]

If you really look into the "hop crisis", it wasn't merely price gouging.  I would expect to see hop prices going up somewhat and a lot of the older varieties (Northern Brewer, for one) going away.  There is also a huge amount of resources being dedicated to bringing new varieties to market.  When we went to the Perrault farm at Hop & Brew school, we saw one field with 50K different varieties in it.  Less than 1% of those will make it to market.  It costs on average $5M to bring a new variety to market.

 

Worldwide malt production is down.  There will definitely be price increases there.  The weather is largely to blame.

I remember hearing the same thing.  Buying base grain in bulk is likely to help ease the suffering of homebrewers.  

 

Yeah, the price gouging wasn't the "cause" of the crisis, but rather the result.  IIRC, there was some disease over in Europe and a fire that destroyed a warehouse over here... or I've got it backwards.  Either way, prices went up, but some big breweries were making sure that their smaller "brethren" were not out of production.  Again... IIRC, Sam Adams loaned some of their stores of hops.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Do you think more boutique barley growers will pop up as demand rises from brewers? Most barley ends up as cattle feed as of now. A huge chunk of this years crop will be cattle feed because it's unmaltable. 

[Deerslyr]

No I don't think that will happen. I had another response tapped out to send, but decided I didnt like my own tone. Suffice it to say, having small farming operations on my wife's side of the family that most small farmers would deem it too risky. And for those that would, I don't think and small breweries would be willing to pay the price they would be asking to sustain their own operations.

[HVB]

Do you think more boutique barley growers will pop up as demand rises from brewers? Most barley ends up as cattle feed as of now. A huge chunk of this years crop will be cattle feed because it's unmaltable. 

We have a few popping up around me.  I also believe I just read of a new maltster staring in NY.

[Deerslyr]

Then again... there might be a different mindset in other regions.  I'm coming from a Midwest mentality.  Maybe its something that is happening in the Northeast, but I'm not hearing anything about this in the Midwest.

[HVB]

Then again... there might be a different mindset in other regions.  I'm coming from a Midwest mentality.  Maybe its something that is happening in the Northeast, but I'm not hearing anything about this in the Midwest.

Just talking out loud but it may stem from the amount of small breweries we have here that want or claim to want to use local ingredients and they have a fan base that will pay the premium for that beer.  I see on Valley Malts webpage they have 10 farmers including them that are growing malting barley.  Maybe in the grand scheme of things that is a small amount and I know New England puts out nothing compared to the grain in the Midwest or Canada.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I did read a nice thread on HBT about a guy that was growing 2 row for a brewery as an experiment. All the barley and hops were from within 20 miles of the brewery. It took a while to grow and get ready, then harvesting was a bitch. They did it by hand. Then they had to dry it and remove the chaff. Took like 1/2 acre of barley to get 50 lb of seed IIRC. I don't know if they malted it themselves or if they sent it to be malted. I'll have to find it and check.

 

My fiances uncle has 200 acres in minnesota. We talked with him about growing hops, and he's interested in converting to a hop farm from corn, potentially 6X as luctrative. But I'd really like to grow both on an acre up there. Maybe 1/2 acre of barley and 1/4 acre of hops. That would be awesome to have a self sourced beer and collab with one of the small breweries to do a 1bbl special batch.

[Hines]

If you live in Western NC and can produce several pounds of hops, local brewers will line up at your door.

 

I know that NC State was teaming up with some folks to get a hop variety that would grow well in the western NC climate.

 

I don't think that will happen with grains.

[Deerslyr]

I did read a nice thread on HBT about a guy that was growing 2 row for a brewery as an experiment. All the barley and hops were from within 20 miles of the brewery. It took a while to grow and get ready, then harvesting was a bitch. They did it by hand. Then they had to dry it and remove the chaff. Took like 1/2 acre of barley to get 50 lb of seed IIRC. I don't know if they malted it themselves or if they sent it to be malted. I'll have to find it and check.

 

My fiances uncle has 200 acres in minnesota. We talked with him about growing hops, and he's interested in converting to a hop farm from corn, potentially 6X as luctrative. But I'd really like to grow both on an acre up there. Maybe 1/2 acre of barley and 1/4 acre of hops. That would be awesome to have a self sourced beer and collab with one of the small breweries to do a 1bbl special batch.

Rich, you are actually the guy that I'd see doing something like this (I was thinking of this earlier honestly).  I would think farming hops is a different story as the purpose of the crop is pretty much limited to one segment.  Barley can be used for many products, but AFIK, hops is primarily for beer (Yeah, I know that there are holistic folks out there that use it for other purposes).  I'm sure the startup is a long process as it can take a couple of years to get the plants to produce, but if you can make a go of it.  Only question is if in his area if there was ever any blight that affected hops crops.  It's amazing to find out how many places once had hops farms, but no longer due to disease, etc.  I've lived near two areas that had long ago produced hops, but no more because of those issues.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Rich, you are actually the guy that I'd see doing something like this (I was thinking of this earlier honestly).  I would think farming hops is a different story as the purpose of the crop is pretty much limited to one segment.  Barley can be used for many products, but AFIK, hops is primarily for beer (Yeah, I know that there are holistic folks out there that use it for other purposes).  I'm sure the startup is a long process as it can take a couple of years to get the plants to produce, but if you can make a go of it.  Only question is if in his area if there was ever any blight that affected hops crops.  It's amazing to find out how many places once had hops farms, but no longer due to disease, etc.  I've lived near two areas that had long ago produced hops, but no more because of those issues.

 

My FIL and his uncle (Gary) actually went to the university near there (I forget where) and talked to the guy that is in charge of their hop program. This guy was a typical academic and convinced Gary that it wasn't economical on a larger scale, mainly because of harvesting. It's bullshit though. The academic guy isn't tuned in to the commercial side of things, he's been working on strains and grow methods, not harvesting. He told Gary that it had to be harvested by hand, which isn't true anymore. Lots of farms share resources and it is economical. Especially when an acre of land can produce 700lb of hops at $6 - $15/lb dried vs about 1/12th the revenue from a yield of corn. So we're trying to get him to let us go up there in the spring and set up a small 1/4 acre plot to see how it does. I don't think there's much in the way of pest/fungus problems that he doesn't already deal with. I personally don't want to be a hop farmer, but it would be awesome to go up there for a few days and harvest the crop and bring back uber fresh hops.

[denny]

Do you think more boutique barley growers will pop up as demand rises from brewers? Most barley ends up as cattle feed as of now. A huge chunk of this years crop will be cattle feed because it's unmaltable. 

 

Maybe, but don't hold your breath.  it's kinda like nano breweries...it sounds cool, but once you start doing it you realize there isn't enough money in it to justify the effort.

[denny]

We have a few popping up around me.  I also believe I just read of a new maltster staring in NY.

 

But how long will they last?  I'd love to have them succeed, but I just don't know if economics are in their favor.

[denny]

My FIL and his uncle (Gary) actually went to the university near there (I forget where) and talked to the guy that is in charge of their hop program. This guy was a typical academic and convinced Gary that it wasn't economical on a larger scale, mainly because of harvesting. It's bullshit though. The academic guy isn't tuned in to the commercial side of things, he's been working on strains and grow methods, not harvesting. He told Gary that it had to be harvested by hand, which isn't true anymore. Lots of farms share resources and it is economical. Especially when an acre of land can produce 700lb of hops at $6 - $15/lb dried vs about 1/12th the revenue from a yield of corn. So we're trying to get him to let us go up there in the spring and set up a small 1/4 acre plot to see how it does. I don't think there's much in the way of pest/fungus problems that he doesn't already deal with. I personally don't want to be a hop farmer, but it would be awesome to go up there for a few days and harvest the crop and bring back uber fresh hops.

 

Here's a reality check...I have a friend a couple miles down the road who grows a couple acres of organic hops.  That means premium prices. Last year, after expenses, he made $6k.  If he didn't also own a brewery he can use the hops in, it wouldn't be worth it for him to continue.  As to sharing resources, are there other hop growers around to share with?

[Deerslyr]

Here's a reality check...I have a friend a couple miles down the road who grows a couple acres of organic hops.  That means premium prices. Last year, after expenses, he made $6k.  If he didn't also own a brewery he can use the hops in, it wouldn't be worth it for him to continue.  As to sharing resources, are there other hop growers around to share with?

Just out of curiosity, what was his yield like?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dang... we are starting to sound like a bunch of old farmers gathering at the local cafe...

[denny]

Just out of curiosity, what was his yield like?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dang... we are starting to sound like a bunch of old farmers gathering at the local cafe...

 

I'd have to ask him.  Not huge, but it was mainly expenses (hiring workers and harvesters) that killed him.  Also, downy mildew and other diseases are a huge issue.  I mentioned a while back that I'm gonna participate in brewing trials of some new organic varieties  The big deal about them is that they're downy mildew resistant.

[positiveContact]

I'd have to ask him.  Not huge, but it was mainly expenses (hiring workers and harvesters) that killed him.  Also, downy mildew and other diseases are a huge issue.  I mentioned a while back that I'm gonna participate in brewing trials of some new organic varieties  The big deal about them is that they're downy mildew resistant.

 

what does downy mildew do to the crops?  reduce yield or completely destroy?

[denny]

what does downy mildew do to the crops?  reduce yield or completely destroy?

Pretty much wipes them out.