New England Hop Farms

[rhody red]

Does anyone know of any commercial hop farms in New England? From what I can tell, Paris View in Maine is the only one I could find (http://www.parisviewfarm.com/index.html).

I started a hop farm in southern Rhode Island last year. I'm waiting for the crops to mature and to use some of the harvests myself before selling commerically and was wondering if there are any other local growers in the area.

[wortchillergoal]

Perhaps this group can help with your search.

http://www.northeasthopalliance.com

[rhody red]

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that group. I sent them an email to see what they had to say. I'll post their reply here when I get it.

Also, if anyone else is interested in visiting the website, it's a .org site (http://www.northeasthopalliance.org/). The .com link didn't work, but a quick google search solved the problem!

[wortchillergoal]

Sorry about that. Hope they can help.

[ratman03]

Originally posted by rhody red
I started a hop farm in southern Rhode Island last year. I have about 10 acres planted so far with a lot of room to expand (we own close to 70 acres total). I'm waiting for the crops to mature and to use some of the harvests myself before selling commerically and was wondering if there are any other local growers in the area.

That's great. Which varieties do you grow?

[rhody red]

I wanted to start out relatively simple and see what works best in terms of conditions, trellis set-up, harvesting, etc. so I only planted a few varieties last year (Cascade, Fuggles, Centennial, and Northern Brewer). I plan on ordering a bunch of new varieties this year, possibly up to 12 total and add a few more every couple of years. My brother-in-law, who I am starting the business with, has been doing some propagating also.

I had been thinking about doing this for a while and with the hop shortage, it seems like a great time to be able to supply my own hops and also sell hops to local microbreweries, brew pubs, and homebrew shops. We have plenty of room and the irrigation is all set up. My brother-in-law has a horticulture degree and I have a soil science degree, so we have the background for it and we both have worked on farms for years. Our main concern is downy mildew, but we have worked out a management plan for that (these will not be grown organically due to the abundance of pest and disease problems in the northeast).

I would love to see local hops grown in New England and I think there would be interest (and price incentives!) for purchasing local hops.

[BrewDog]

Rhody- check your private messages.

[ratman03]

Originally posted by rhody red
...(these will not be grown organically due to the abundance of pest and disease problems in the northeast).


Good stuff, please keep us posted on your progress. Too bad you can't go organic though, because I believe that could be a selling point for you.
Is it that you cannot grow certain varieties in New England organically?
The reason I ask is that hops were grown abundantly in New York state in the 19th century, and I assume that those were cultivated organically.

[rhody red]

Ratman,

Once I get everything running smoothly, I will probably look into growing organically, but I want to minimize problems at the start and fighting pests and diseases will take a lot of effort. New England used to be the "epicenter" of hop production, but the moisture in this part of the country caused problems, most notably downy mildew. As a result, hop production started to move west until it reached where it is now in the Pacific Northwest where there is low moisture and ideal conditions.

That's not to say they can't be grown commercially here still, it just takes a little more effort. I think it's well worth it though!

[ratman03]

Great stuff, rhody red. I am interested in your progress, as I'm sure others here are. Have you spoken to any local breweries about supplying them? I'd think that there might be an opportunity for a smaller brewery to make a "New England Hop Ale" type of thing. I know I would try it!

[thatguy314]

Well let me say that if you're leftover with a pound or two, I'd love to support the local NE hop grower and buy some off you to do a harvest ale.