Purdue Hops Team Heads West for Educational Tour

Recently I participated on a Purdue Hops and Small Farms Tour through Washington and Oregon states with the intention to introduce and Purdue Researchers, Extension Educators and Indiana farmers to new specialty crop possibilities. The primary focus of the itinerary included stops to promote collaboration and interaction among team members intermingled with learning innovative procedures, on-going research, and marketing practices.

Our first stop included a visit to Washington State University's Puyallup Research and Extension Center where we joined members of their Small Farms Team and discussed organic cover cropping systems among other projects.

That afternoon we traveled to Toppenish Washington the home of Perrault's Hop Farm, a family operated farm established in 1904. Here we spent the afternoon learning production techniques from some of the best hop producers in the country. We also enjoyed a visit with Yakima Chief, Inc and Hopunion LLC a 100% grower owned supplier for their perspective on the business and marketing of hops.

We completed our time in Washington state with a visit to the WSU - Irrigated Agriculture and Research and Extension Center. This stop may have been my favorite stop where we learned to identify common diseases associated with growing hops, such as downy mildew. This fungal pathogen Pseudoperonospora humuli can cause significant yield and quality losses in hop systems depending on hop variety and disease pressure.

Over the next few days we traveled into Oregon where

we continued to discuss hop diseases, breeding and well as a diverse group of organic vegetable systems at the Oregon State University's Hyslop Farm.
This educational opportunity was professionally rewarding and well as personally enlightening. The Purdue Hops team developed a bond with Indiana growers to promote hops, research best management practices, and develop resources for this new ever expanding commodity within Indiana. If you are interested in more information on growing hops, feel free to contact me via email at any time or by calling our local Extension Office at (317) 776-0854.