Interview with Chris Swersey: The success of hop crop in US

Global beer industry suffers a continued decline in recent years, however, led by US, the world hop acreage and production is increasing, in this exclusive interview with AgroPages, Chris Swersey, Supply Chain Specialist of The Brewers Association (BA), has explained its success and BA’s cooperating with USDA to support hop breeding. He also introduces the hop market, challenge and target for hop cultivar breeding in US.

1. Could you please briefly introduce hop market in US?

Considering the 2016 crop: Farm gate value was $US 498 million. Production was 89.0 million pounds: 87.1 million pounds from the Pacific Northwest states of WA, OR and ID, and 1.9 million pounds from ~25 other states. Total acres were 53,000. Total cultivars produced included 36 named by USDA-ARS, as well as several dozen grouped in “experimental” and “other” categories. Import and Export data is difficult to access; we estimate that net exports have doubled over the four-year period from 2013 to 2016, from 5.7 MM pounds to 11.4 MM pounds.

2. What’s the challenge for hop cultivars in US? What are the main breeding targets?

Challenges for US hop cultivars include:

1. increased disease and pest pressure, which lowers yields and profitability;
2. climate change, drought and increasingly variable weather;
3. the relative age of the most popular public aroma cultivars

The main breeding targets for the BA-funded USDA program include:

1. Sensory requirements as determined by the Brewers Association;
2. Improved downy mildew resistance;
3. Improved powdery mildew resistance;
4. Agronomic performance that is similar to or improved compared to existing aroma cultivars

3. What kind of breeding techniques is applied in hop breeding? How do you see the new breeding technology, especially for genome editing?

This program will use traditional breeding, guided by marker assisted selection and genomics data. The program will not use GMO or gene editing. As of today, there are no GMO or gene edited hops in commercial production in the US or anywhere on earth.

4. We see a continued decline in global beer production in recent years, however, led by US, the world hop acreage and production is increasing. How do you achieve this?

The US beer market has evolved over the past 30 years into the most diverse and highest quality, anywhere. The US beer drinker has access to over 150 different beer styles from nearly 6,000 US breweries. In 2016, craft brewers produced roughly 12% of the beer consumed in the US, but consumed ~35% of the US hop crop. Craft brewers consume hops at a much higher rate per barrel (~1.52 pounds per US barrel) than adjunct lager brewers (which account for the majority of volume). So as craft beer production volume has grown in recent years, so has aroma hop consumption. In addition, consumer preference has shifted towards more hop-forward beer styles such as India Pale Ale (IPA), which has amplified the hop consumption rate. So the hop acreage increase over recent years has been directly caused by craft brewer volume growth, and shifting consumer preference.

5. The Brewers Association just signed an agreement with USDA-ARS to fund public hop breeding, is it the first time for BA supporting hop breeding?

This program represents the first BA support of public hop breeding, and we are very proud to work with USDA to increase long-term strategic access to high quality ingredients for all bewers. BA has supported the hop industry over the past 4 years through our system of competitive research grants and with sponsorships with hop grower stakeholder groups. For example, we have supported the study of disease types and disease management in the Cascade, which remains the single most popular variety used by craft brewers. We are supporting studies of the chemistry of aroma hop varieties to better understand the drivers which influence sensory outcomes in finished beer. We are supporting a study to understand the influence of drought and climate change in hops, and to identify genetic markers for drought tolerance that will provide for better plant stability in the future.