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Thinking about
Growing Hops? Consider this Field Day
As the craft brew market continues to grow in Ohio, this could be prime
time to tour a field of hops and learn what it takes to start one.
This July 20 Hops Field Day will offer attendees guidelines on hops
production, including how to market the crop to breweries, control
pests, irrigate and fertilize the soil.
Ohio has over 300 craft breweries open or awaiting permit approval, and
most of the current ones buy their hops from growers outside Ohio, so
there’s potential for Ohio growers to supply those breweries, said Brad
Bergefurd, a horticulturist with OSU South Centers in Piketon.
“Beer is made out of water, hops and barley. We have them all here in
Ohio,” said Bergefurd, who directs Ohio State University Extension’s
research into hops production. The field day is being hosted by
Mercer County OSU Extension. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of
the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
Hops grow on bines and their flowers/seed cones are used to make beer,
adding bitterness, aroma and antibacterial qualities.
Getting into hops production can be costly, but the potential for
profit is high, Bergefurd said. Planting one acre of hops costs a
farmer about $20,000 compared to an acre of corn or soybeans, which are
well under $1,000 an acre, he said.
“It doesn’t take a lot of acres to make a decent living growing hops,
and the income potential is great if you do everything right,” he said.
The field day is intended to help attendees do exactly that.
“There are great opportunities for land owners and farmers to adopt
some of the hops production technologies that we’re researching,”
Bergefurd said.
Producing hops requires a lot of labor. Though they are perennials and
don’t have to be replanted, they have to be trained on a trellis,
constantly pruned and hand harvested in a timely fashion.
The Hops Field Day will include a chance to see a hops trellis system
and a hops harvester machine and to learn the basics of selecting hop
plants, pest management, determining production costs and constructing
a hop yard.
The event will start at 10 a.m. at the Ft. Recovery High School Ag Room
at 400 Butler St. in Ft. Recovery. After a short presentation by
Brad Bergefurd, participants will travel to the hop yard of Andy Pax to
view and discuss his hops production practices.
Pre-registration is required. Lunch will be provided to those who
pre-register. To register, contact Mercer County OSU Extension at
419-586-2179 or email Denny Riethman at Riethman.24@osu.edu. The
deadline to register is July 17.
The Ohio State University, The United States Department of Agriculture,
and County Commissioners Cooperating
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