Earlier this month I was in Seattle, Washington. The occasion was the 4th Beeronomics Conference. This biennial event brings together academics and industry insiders to present research and exchange ideas on various aspects of the beer industry. It was a three day event. On the first day there was a field trip to the Yakima Valley to learn more about the state’s hops industry. The second and third day were devoted to scientific research presentations.

Hops are one of the four basic ingredients of beer. The other three are malted grain, yeast, and water. Hops are the female flowers of the hop plant and impart bitterness, flavor, and aroma to beer. The United States is the world’s second largest producer of hops. Only Germany produces more. Within the United States Washington produces more than any other state, accounting for almost 80% of the country’s output. Most of the remaining 20% are produced in Oregon and Idaho. So when we entered the Yakima Valley we were arriving at the heart of the American hop industry. Hops have been grown in the valley for more than 140 years, with many of the hop farms being third or fourth generation family operations. Hops area perennial  climbing plant that are trained to grow up trellises. They grow best between the 35th and 55th parallels on either side of the equator as it is at these latitudes that they receive the optimal amount of daylight.

As an economic geographer I have always been fascinated by how and where things are made. Back in the late-1980s and early-1990s I spent quite a bit of time researching the American automobile industry. As a result I toured a good number of automobile assembly plants as well as the plants that manufactured and supplied the assembly plants with component parts. More recently (2004-2012) I worked with the northwest Ohio greenhouse industry, helping the growers to identify ways in which they could collaborate to enhance their economic competitiveness. As part of that project I toured greenhouses not only in northwest Ohio but also in Ontario, Canada and Flanders, Belgium. Now that I am studying the American craft beer industry it seems appropriate that I tour both breweries and the facilities that provide the breweries with their ingredients. This is what we geographers fondly refer to as fieldwork.

It took us about two and a half hours to reach the Yakima Valley by bus from Seattle. Our first stop, after we arrived, was the Washington State University (WSU) Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC) which houses the Hop Research Facility. Here we met up with Doug Walsh, a WSU entomologist, who was going to be our tour guide for the day. Doug and his colleagues are conducting a wide range of research studies with respect to hops including experimenting with various level of both fertilizer and water. Research on pests and disease is also an important part of the work being done by scientists at the Hop Research Facility. For example, one research project is attempting to decode the genetics of spider mites. This will allow researchers to help hop farmers to choose the most effective miticide. In effect the Hop Research Facility functions as a bridge between the farmer and the brewer, helping the latter to provide the former with hops that have the desired qualities.

Following our tour of the Hop Research Facility we visited a hop farm. Thanks to the growth of the craft beer industry it is a good time to be a hop farmer. While there is considerable variation across beer styles, on average, craft beer uses four to five times more hops than the traditional mass produced beer. So as the number of craft brewers has increased so has demand for hops. In Washington the the amount of hops harvested increased from 44.3 million pounds in 2006 to 55.8 million pounds in 2014, while the acreage harvested increased from 21,532 acres to 28,858 acres. During the same period the market price for hops increased from $1.98 per pound to $3.98 per pound. All indications are that the demand for hops is not going to slow down anytime soon. Indeed as the number of craft breweries grows, as it is anticipated to do, demand for hops will increase. This will pose challenges for both growers and brewers.

Next stop was a hop processing faculty. The period from late August until early October is hop harvesting season so the facility was in full swing when we visited. During our short visit we saw numerous trucks arrive stacked with their precious cargo of freshly harvested hop vines. Upon arrival the vines were unloaded from the trucks. They were then hung upside down on hooks from where they entered a picking machine that separated the hop cones from the rest of the vine. Next the hop cones were transferred to hop kilns. Hop kilns can hold 15,000 pounds of hops. It takes approximately nine hours to dry the hops. The dried hops are then removed from the kiln and allowed to cool for 24 hours, after which they are packaged into 50-pound bales and then transported for additional processing.

Our final stop on the tour was Yakima Chief Inc., a grower-owned hop storage and hop processing facility. Here raw hop cones are shredded, compressed, and extruded to form pellets. The visual appearance of the pellets is something akin to rabbit food. Most of the pelletized hops are sold directly to breweries although some are further processed and are made into extract before being shipped to the breweries. Overall, the Yakima Chief’s facility was an impressive one. While we were there several trucks carrying the 50- pound bales of hops arrived. The bales were unloaded and we watched as a sample of hops was removed from each bale and examined for moisture content, temperature, and aroma. We were told that a sampling of hops from every tenth bale are sent to the laboratory for additional analysis. Such is the increasing importance of the craft brewing segment of the beer industry that Yakima Chief established a Microbrewery Division in 2010 – a sign perhaps that the craft brewing is going to continue to be an important market segment in the years to come.

It was a fascinating day. Whenever I tour a production facility, whether it is making auto parts or hop pellets, I am continually impressed with all that goes into the production process. As consumers we often only see and enjoy the end product and are oblivious to all the intricacies of making that product. The next time I drink a beer, particularly one that is more heavily hopped such as a pale ale or an IPA, I will think back to my visit to Washington’s Yakima Valley.