USA, WA: Washington hop crop ‘in a good spot’ this year

Washington hop leaders say this year’s crop is “in a good spot” as harvest gets underway, Capital Press reported on August 29.

The Beer Institute, a national trade association for the brewing industry based in Washington D.C., hosted a panel of state hops industry leaders Aug. 28 in Yakima, Wash. Beer Institute President and CEO Brian Crawford led the panel.

Members were Ryan Hopkins, CEO of Yakima Chief Hops; Tom Davis, CEO of John I. Haas; Louis Gimbel, CEO of Hopsteiner and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. – “the only hops farmer in the entirety of the U.S. House and Senate.”

Harvest in the Yakima Valley began the week of Aug. 18, and will last through early October, Hopkins said, noting this year’s hops have strong quality.

“We’re excited about the next 30 days ahead of us,” he said.

Two years ago, the U.S. industry began a market correction to address oversupply.

“The crop is smaller than it was for the past few years,” Hopkins said. “There were a lot of acres that were reduced, a lot of volumes were changed. We’ve been more proactive than we have in the past to get things in balance.”

“It’s been a difficult period, to tell you the truth,” Newhouse said. “Farms are not producing at 100% capacity, costs are spread over lesser acres. It makes it very difficult. We’re hopeful that we can get past this point in our struggle to get back to profitability. I think we’ve made good progress there.”

Gimbel noted that the industry doesn’t rely on a spot price due to futures contracts with customers.

“Brewers have given us the opportunity to partner longer-term,” he said.

The crop draws a passionate crowd.

“The next couple of weeks, you’re going to have hundreds and hundreds of craft brewers coming here to rub and sniff the hops to see which one they like, they’ll pick their favorite,” Davis said.

”They’re going to have hop tattoos up their arms, they love hops — it’s the soul of the beer. It really is a magical industry and a magical ingredient for a wonderful product.”

“It is a global product,” Hopkins said. “This little valley is not easy to get to, it’s kind of remote.”

But he pointed to the connections local farmers have forged with other hop production regions in Bavaria, New Zealand and some in Argentina.

“That is a very small, niche industry of hop growers, merchants and sellers,” Hopkins said.

The panelists advocated for trade predictability in regulatory environments and the ability to deliver consistently to hops customers.

“The need for certainty is hugely important for businesses to plan,” Crawford said. “The challenge we’re facing in Washington (D.C.) right now is the unpredictable nature of ‘Tariffs are on, tariffs are off, tariffs are increased.’ President Trump in my opinion is trying to re-set the global trade market, and he is using trade deals as leverage.”

“We don’t live and die by the trade, but I think if we make in Yakima the best hops, they’re going to continue to be bought worldwide,” Davis said.

U.S. hop acreage strung for harvest in 2025 is forecast at more than 42,000 acres, down 6% from last year’s harvested total of nearly 45,000 acres, according to Hop Growers of America’s crop production report. Washington has the largest hop acreage. For 2025, nearly 32,000 acres were strung, down 5% from 33,000 acres.

Newhouse’s family has produced hops since the 1940s.

“Seventy-five percent of United States production, more or less depending on the year, is within 30 miles of my house,” Newhouse said. In Idaho, area strung for harvest was 5,100 acres, down 12% from 5,800 acres in 2024.

Oregon growers strung 5,400 acres, down 4% from 5,600 last year.

Washington’s beer industry represents more than 157,000 jobs, including about 3,000 retail jobs; 4,100 distributing jobs; 1,460 agriculture jobs; 2,000 manufacturing jobs and 21,000 retail jobs. That represents $3.7 billion in wages and benefits and $12.4 billion in total economic output, with $1.5 billion in taxes paid.

Nationwide, the beer industry represents 2.4 million jobs; $142.5 billion in wages and benefits; $471 billion in economic output and nearly $58 billion in total taxes paid.