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Business Monthly
AGRICULTURE
Hopping to it
Hops production in the Flathead Valley continues paced, sustained growth as market niches open up
BY MOLLY PRIDDY
Jim Cummings loads harvested hop bines into a trailer at Scott Hop Farm in White sh.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
WHITEFISH – Just a few miles o U.S. Highway 93, Randy Scott’s hops farm sat in the mid-August sun, the plants climb- ing support strings suspended 18 feet in the air, and the avor-packed cones hung heavy and full.
Taking root just last year, the 4,100 plants had one last afternoon to sway in the summer breeze before Scott, his wife, sons, and friends took to the 4-acre plot to reap what they had spent a year building, sowing, watering, and fertilizing.
It took several days, but the little farm ended up pro- ducing more than 1,000 pounds of hops in three variet- ies – Cascade, Centennial, and Ahh-roma.
Tom Britz, who spearheaded the hops movement in the Flathead Valley with the creation of Glacier Hops Ranch four years ago, looked at the hops plants from under the brim of his cowboy hat, considering the entire plot carefully.
Everything pulled from those plants would end up at his processing facility, since the Scott farm is now an a liate grower of Glacier Hops Ranch. Some were sold immediately to Great Northern Brewing Company in White sh for its Fresh Hop Ale, and another bulk went to Kettlehouse Brewing in Missoula for a similar cre- ation. In all, the half-ton of hops exceeded expectations.
“The volume that we got and the quality that we got o of that rst-year eld was so much better than my rst year, which tells me that maybe we’ve gured out a few things over the last four years,” Britz said in an interview after the harvest was complete. “I would expect an exponentially greater eld next year.”
Hops is a relative newcomer to the agriculture scene in the Flathead Valley, with Britz’s farm scratching into the dirt four years ago with a research patch dedicated to more than 40 kinds of hops varieties, testing to see
what grows the best here.
For the most part, the bitter, green, conic owers are
used for avoring and stabilizing beer, but other appli- cations, such as value-added oil products or sleep-pro- moting hops pillows, are possible as well.
Since the hops movement started in earnest here, Montana-grown hops have found a piece of the market as microbreweries continue to ourish within the state and nationwide. According to the Brewers Association, there were 2,401 craft breweries nationwide in 2012. That number exploded to 4,225 in 2015, and the pace is such in 2016 that a new brewery opens in this country about every nine hours.
In Montana, the Montana Brewers Association reports 53 licensed brewers in the state, compared to 26 operating in 2009. Britz noted that the average bar- rel of beer from a large manufacturer uses about 0.15 pounds of hops, whereas craft brewers use about 1.46 pounds per barrel.
And last year, Britz was elected to the newly formed
Scott Hop Farm in White sh. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Small Grower Council of the Hop Growers of America, connecting the Flathead to the main growing regions in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
After determining that yes, hops do in fact grow well here, especially the varietals grown at the Scott farm, the next phase of the project was determining what to do with those hops.
“There’s not an unlimited demand for Mon- tana-grown hops,” Britz said. “It’s a process to build the market and be able to make sure that we can deliver quality hops that are processed.”
Processing hops is a major factor in production, Britz said, because once their bines are cut, a 24-hour count- down begins.
“Fresh hops have such a narrow window, you have to (process them) within 24 hours,” he said.
At the Scott farm, that meant driving about eight miles to Britz’s farm, where he has a processor that is running at about full capacity with the hops from Scott and another a liate grower in Bigfork with about 10 acres of production.
But there needs to be a more centralized processing facility if more farmers intend on putting product out there, Britz said. Distance is an issue, he said, because of the hops’ fragility. They’ve determined the Mission Valley is too far from his current processing plant, as is Eureka.
“I’ve had lots of inquiries from all over western Mon- tana; if you cut them and have to transport them here, you’ve got trucking time, diesel, wear and tear, it adds to the cost for the grower and the quality degrades,” Britz said. “Everything that we’re trying to get out of these hops relates to the very volatile oils and acids. These
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