Self-starting hops farmers sell to local breweries

Posted by IronPlanet on Mar 6, 2012 4:45:00 AM

Although not nearly as common as some other crops in the country, growing hops can be a profitable business for some farms, especially with the rise of so many craft breweries in the United States. The country's appreciation for a well-crafted beer will likely never wane, and those who have begun hop farming are reaping the benefits, reports NewsWorks.

Marylu Hansen and Beau Byrtus began as homebrewers, people who make their own beer as a hobby. While the duo enjoyed experimenting with different flavors, they ran into a problem in 2007 when the country went through a hops shortage.

Rising production costs caused many farmers to abandon the crop, and bad weather contributed to a much lower yield than normal. This wasn't an issue for the Anheuser-Busches of the world, which were able to simply buy up the remaining hops from the larger farms. However, the smaller breweries and do-it-yourself enthusiasts were out of luck.

"If you were a homebrewer and you wanted hops," Hansen told the news source, "you either found a substitute or you figured out how to grow them."

Hansen and Byrtus opted for the latter route. The duo started by growing their own hops in their backyard, but the idea soon grew from there. Hansen's parents owned a farm in North Hanover, New Jersey, that had some unused land that the duo could use. Together with her cousin, the brewers cleared away some trees and formed the Oast House Hop Farm.

After bartering with some local farmers for used agricultural equipment, the farm quickly carved out a niche for itself. Craft breweries are popping up all over the country, and many brewers want to be able to say that they use local hops in making the beer. Not only is this cheaper than shipping the hops cross country, but it gives the brewers more flexibility. Certain types of beer, like wet hop ales, require that the hops are harvested the same day they are brewed - something that's simply impossible unless the hops are grown locally.

Soon, Hansen and Byrtus found themselves in an elite group of East Coast hops farmers. Breweries reached out to them to buy their crop, as it's tough to find hops growers away from the West Coast. That's because hops are very labor intensive to harvest, and without heavy machinery to do so, it requires a lot of work. Most farmers would rather leave that to the massive farms in California, Oregon and Washington, which have the capacity to do so on a large scale.

"I can't imagine there are even a hundred acres on the East Coast," said Steve Miller, a hops enthusiast at Cornell University.

That being said, there's a certain reward for those who do put the time and energy into the crop. Since East Coast breweries don't have too many options for local ingredients, the hops are easy to sell. Mike Visgil, co-owner of Isaac Budd Farm, told the news source that New Jersey breweries were very interested in his crops once he got going on his small farm.

"All you need is a few breweries interested in sourcing all of their ingredients from within the state," he told the news source. "I tend to believe there would be great interest in that."

While Hansen and Byrtus bartered with local farmers in order to get the equipment necessary to start their farm, those who want to begin farming on their own might have better look searching online. The auction website IronPlanet offers buyers a wide range of used agricultural equipment to choose from, so shoppers can find exactly what they're looking for. What's more, IronPlanet's unique IronClad Assurance enables interested buyers to view a full inspection report before they purchase, ensuring that they know exactly what they're getting.

Topics: Industry Headlines