Source: NCDA&CS, 8/22/22


A research project that’s received funding from the NCDA&CS New and Emerging Crops Program is developing new varieties of hops for use in the state’s craft beer industry. Currently, the state’s breweries depend largely on hops grown in other states, but the North Carolina hops project aims to change that by breeding hops varieties that grow better in North Carolina’s climate.

“Back in 2007, 2008, we had all these new craft breweries developing within our state. There was a lot of excitement about them, but people didn’t realize what those craft breweries had to do to try to get the hops,” said Jeanine Davis, Ph.D., the principal researcher who is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Horticultural Science at N.C. State University. “We have a lot of enterprising farmers and wannabe farmers in North Carolina, and they jumped right on this, and people started growing hops. It didn’t take them very long to run into difficulties and start looking for assistance from the Department of Agriculture and from the university.”

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