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By DOUG GRAVES

DELAWARE, Ohio — Now is a great time to be a producer of barley and hops. Just ask any of the 220 craft breweries in Ohio.

In 2011, the Buckeye State was home to 32 craft breweries, and at the time growing barley and hops was considered a risky venture. The worry was whether the demand for hops would be high enough. Then, many wondered about the success of so many craft breweries.

One hops grower, Matt Cunningham of Marysville, took notice of the craft beer boom back in 2013 and decided to experiment with 100 hop plants.

“We grow corn and soybeans and a little bit of wheat,” he said. “I was looking to stay on the farm but do something else. I saw all of these craft brewers popping up everywhere, so I started growing hops.”

More than 100 years ago the crop was grown in Ohio but moved out to the Pacific Northwest, where there weren’t as many problems with insects or mildew. Prohibition also played a role in the demise of the crop, which is used to balance the sweetness of malt in beer.

But the crop has come back to life in Ohio. According to the Brewers Assoc., the economic impact for this state is $1.2 billion a year.

“I wanted to start small and get my head wrapped around it,” Cunningham said. “This is my third year and the first year for a full crop. The first challenge was that I couldn’t use any of our farm equipment for the hops. It’s a lot of hand work, like hand pruning, hand spraying and hand harvest. It’s a lot of work.”

Cunningham said disease is a challenge with hops and spraying is a necessity. He uses a wand to spray, though he says the right way is to use an orchard sprayer.

“They have harvesting machines that are $30,000 to $60,000,” he explained. “Some people cut the bines (a part of the plant) and take them to the harvesters. I pick by hand but to get any bigger, I’d have to get a harvester or take the bines to one. It takes a person 30 minutes per bine to harvest, and the harvester can do it in 30 seconds.”

Harvest is typically in August and the hops are sold soon after.

“There are three ways to sell it,” he said. “One is wet right off the bine that is about 70 percent moisture. It creates a logistical challenge for the brewery because it has to be in the brew kettle within 24 to 48 hours or it will start to mold.

“You can also air dry the cones down to 10 percent and sell the dry whole cone, but it is messy and the leaves fall off. The most common is dried and pelletized. That is how the commercial hops farms sell them.”

Cunningham is hoping to expand the hops portion of his farm, possibly next summer, to approximately 1,000 plants, or about an acre.

“One of the brewers I was working with said I should try barley. I started planting barley in a one-acre plot in the fall of 2014,” he said. “I thought you could just grow a special kind of barley and sell it right to brewers, but it has to be malted first or it is useless for brewers.”

Cunningham grows 50 acres of barley, planting two different varieties. Seeding rates and production, he said, are pretty similar to wheat. In 2016, his barley yielded around 65-70 bushels per acre.

He is just one of many success stories around Ohio when it comes to growing hops or barley.

“The amount of growth in just the last couple of years is amazing,” said Brad Bergefurd, a horticulture specialist with Ohio State University extension. “I’ve done specialty crops for 24 years and this is almost like a new industry in the state. Taking a 100-year-old crop and bringing it back to Ohio is awesome.”

11/17/2017