Food & Drink

In Washington, Growing Hops is a $380 Million Business

The vast majority of American hops hail from Yakima Valley.

By Seattle Mag October 13, 2017

hops-farm-yakima-780

Growing hops is big business. In 2016, the Yakima Valley hop crop was valued at about $380 million. The crop has a far-reaching economic impact on the local economy—things like farming equipment, fertilizer, jobs and tourism.

The craft brewing industry, which has grown dramatically over recent years, has had an impact on hop farming in a big way. Historically, farmers have endured a fluctuating hop market, a supply-and-demand roller coaster with unstable prices that, at times, sank so low that it was nearly impossible for farms to survive (and many didn’t). But the new and increasing demand created by craft breweries has helped stabilize prices for hop farmers around the world.

While the 2017 harvest is still shaping up, we know this about last year’s hop crop: The Yakima Valley produced nearly 65.5 million pounds of hops, valued at $380 million.

For the first time, in 2015 and 2016, the Yakima Valley produced more hops than any other agricultural area in the world, edging out Germany as the top hop producer. In part, this is because European farmers recently endured a drought that severely impacted the hop crop, but it can also be attributed to an increase in acreage. 

Washington farmers planted nearly 37,500 acres of hops, an increase of 16.4 percent from the previous year.

The Yakima Valley produces about 75 percent of the commercial hop crop in the United States, with most of the remainder coming from Oregon and Idaho. Only about 2 percent of the nation’s hops come from outside the Pacific Northwest.

Read more about Yakima Valley, the hops capital of the world, here.

 

Follow Us

Seattle: Again The Place To Be

Seattle: Again The Place To Be

Seattle nears pre-pandemic visitor levels in impressive turnaround

Visit Seattle released preliminary figures for 2023 at its annual meeting Wednesday, and found that the region hosted 37.8 million visitors last year, an 8.9% increase from 2022. That’s just 10% less than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

Foot Traffic Rises Again in Downtown Seattle

Foot Traffic Rises Again in Downtown Seattle

Downtown Seattle Association: Slow recovery continues

Nearly 1.9 million visitors came downtown last month. Downtown averaged 85,000 daily workers, a 16% increase from February 2023. That, however, is only 57% compared to the same period in 2020, right before the pandemic.

Cream of the Chop: Top Chef Kaleena Bliss

Cream of the Chop: Top Chef Kaleena Bliss

Washington native competes on popular Bravo cooking competition

Seattleites will spot a familiar face on the latest season of Top Chef, set in Wisconsin this year. Chef Kaleena Bliss competes for the coveted title on the longstanding cooking competition franchise, now in its 21st year.

Washington’s Woeful Gender-Pay Gap

Washington’s Woeful Gender-Pay Gap

Women across the state earn significantly less than men

Women across the state made $18,4000 less in average wages than men in 2022. New research from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that only Utah has a larger discrepancy, at $20,649.