Hops

Great Lakes Hop Working Group

The Great Lakes Hop Working Group (GLHWG) was formed in December 2014 with organizational leadership provided by Michigan State University. The overarching goals of the GLHWG are to identify and prioritize region-specific hop research needs; generate best management practices for hop production through collaborative research; and efficiently disseminate results amongst members and hop growers across the Great Lakes region and beyond.  The GLHWG meets annually in Grand Rapids, MI. The group consists of researchers, educators, and industry representatives from Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, University of Vermont, Cornell University, North Carolina State University, Western Michigan University, Iowa State University, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAFRA), the Centre de Recherche et de Développement Technologique Agricole de l'Outaouais (Quebec), and Hop Growers of America.

Great Lakes Hop Working Group 2015-2016 Priorities

Greenhouse/propagation

Priority areas: Sourcing clean plant material, virus testing rapid detection, virus regulation, grower education, virus indexing, certification

Action items: MDARD and GREEEN Research grants to look at downy mildew pesticide efficacy and develop diagnostic scouting guide for the greenhouse.  Virus surveying of greenhouse stock (December 2014)

Pest/Disease management

Priority areas: Downy mildew management, IPM education, cultural practices for downy, herbicide protocol and registration needs, postharvest downy mildew management research 

Action items: Compile best IPM practices to date (winter14/15), contribution of information to IPM field guide rewrite (winter 14/15)

Postharvest

Priority areas: Processing, food safety, QC analytics, pesticide residues/MRLs, drying and packaging, pelletization

Action items: Educational sessions to present the known science of processing and storing hops (winter 14/15)

Horticulture

Priority areas: Region specific variety development, downy resistance, training date and associated practices, wild hop research

Action items: AFRI application for evaluating wild hop (March), training date study (January)

Crop management

Priority areas: Nutrient managements (N), nutrient testing protocol and interpretation, irrigation, frost management, water use efficiency, fertigation

Business/marketing

Priority areas: Market accessibility, education and facilitation of cooperative grower efforts, grower group development, CoP, product quality and consistency

Regulatory/Internal needs

Priority areas: IR-4 registrations, central resource hub development, plant material regulation (certification and inspection)

Action items: Develop a prioritized list of pesticide registration needs (winter 14/15), apply for a NCIPM grant to formalize the GLHWG (spring 2015?), development of an interdisciplinary grant application (winter 14/15)

Updated August 2015