BALM, Fla. — Florida might be known as the Sunshine State, but it doesn’t have enough rays to naturally produce hops -- one of the key ingredients for making craft beer.
Researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences figured out a way to successfully grow hops with supplemental lighting.
UF-IFAS’ team installed LED lights on top of the trellises throughout its 2-acre hops garden. To maximize hops growing potential, researchers installed V-shaped trellises made from twine, which ascends 18 feet into the air.
“We are trying to see how much we can increase the yield with v-shaped trellises,” said Shinsuke Agehara, Ph.D., who is the lead plant physiologist that runs the hops program at Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, Florida.
UF/IFAS tapped into growing hops in 2015 and although researchers already produced four harvests of crops, they still have a long way to go before they can produce enough to supply all of the craft breweries on a national level or through the state of Florida.
Commercially, hops are grown in the Pacific Northwest, where the climate is cooler and the amount of daylight is greater. As of 2019, Washington state is the top producer of hops in the U.S., followed by Idaho and Oregon, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
In 2018, the Brewers Association counted 285 craft breweries in the state of Florida. Throughout the Tampa Bay area, there are more than two dozen craft breweries.
A few of those breweries use UF/IFAS’ hops in their recipes. Agehara said the university shares batches of its hops with 3 Daughters Brewing, Cigar City Brewing Company and Copper Tale Co. “First Magnitude Brewing Company, in Gainesville, also uses our hops,” Agehara said.
Agehara pointed out that the fruit and vegetable industry is facing tough competition from international producers. He said places like Mexico are able to grow and harvest produce like tomatoes and strawberries cheaper than Florida.
“Some farmers are looking for new crops that can be more profitable. That’s why we looked into hops,” Agehara explained. “If you can grow hops, and provide hops to local breweries, they might be able to pay premium prices.”
Even though UF/IFAS researchers barely tapped into the commercial hops industry, they do have one advantage over growers in the Pacific Northwest. Turns out, Florida’s warmer climate works in their favor.
Agehara said that because of cooler temperatures, producers in Washington, Idaho and Oregon can only produce and harvest once a year.
“Their season typically starts in April, and then the harvest is done by September. The only time they can harvest hops is between August and October. Only one time.”
At UF/IFAS, Agehara said they can produce hops twice a year: in the spring and the fall.
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