Great interest has been kindled in producing hops in the Northeast. While hops were historically grown in the Northeast, they have not been commercially produced in this region for over a hundred years. With this loss of regional production knowledge, the advancements of cropping science, and the development of new varieties over the last few decades, a great need has been identified for region-specific, science-based research on this reemerging crop. The vast majority of hops production in the United States occurs in the arid Pacific Northwest on a very large scale in a dry climate. In the Northeast, the average hop yard is well under 10 acres and the humid climate provides challenges not addressed by the existing hops research. Knowledge is needed on how to produce hops on a small-scale in our region. With this in mind, in August of 2010, the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Program initiated an organic hops variety trial at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont. The UVM Extension hop yard is trialing 22 publicly-available hop varieties and 3 additional varieties from Dr. John Henning’s breeding program in Oregon. The goals of these efforts are to find hop varieties that demonstrate disease and pest resistance, high yields, and present desirable characteristics to brewers. Hops are a perennial crop – most varieties reach full cone production in year three
