Development of hop cultivation in new growing areas: The state of the art and the way forward

Abstract

The recent exponential growth of craft beer sector led many brewers to seeking strategies to differentiate their beers from other similar products. For emerging hop-producing countries, one of these strategies relied on the use of local hops, thus taking advantage of the “terroir” effect. This market trend has increased the demand for raw materials from breweries, with positive effects on agricultural production, including hops. However, lack of knowledge along all the hop supply chain heavily hinders the development of a steady and efficient hop production. Particularly, growers urgently need information about the best agronomic practices, which should be adopted to achieve a sustainable hop production, under both conventional and organic farming. Unfortunately, studies on basic hop farming are scarce and often inadequate. The aim of this review is to analyze what agronomic research has done working on hops in the new growing areas (e.g., Brazil, Florida, France, Italy and Virginia) and what it has still to do to facilitate the hop growers in building and conducting their own hopyard. Through this analysis, we also aimed to provide directions for policymakers and scientific community that want to develop a hop supply chain starting from its basis. The review highlighted that while the screening of existing hop commercial cultivars was adequately referenced, the agronomic practices and growing technics suited for each new growing zone are still little studied or completely unknown. The use of artificial LED lighting is a key theme at the lowest latitudes of Florida and Brazil, organic management is pivotal in Italy and France, while alternative trellis design and hop breeding plans represent the shared research interest in all the emerging hop growing zones.