MSU ExtensionHops

Use the resources listed below to help you get started with your hop production.  Want to receive more information on hop production and details about upcoming MSU hop events? Sign up to receive the Michigan State University Digest or follow us on Facebook at Michigan State University Hop News.

NEW! Hop Production in the Midwest and Eastern North America Online Course Now Available.

Join experts from the Great Lakes Hop Working Group for this self-paced, comprehensive introductory course on hop production in reemerging regions of North America including the Plains, Great Lakes and Northeast.  This online, on-demand hop production course includes a primer on the hop market, economic considerations, yard design and establishment, current production practices and postharvest handling. You can preview the first course module for free at Media Space. 

The cost to register is $50 and includes all course content. Pesticide recertification credits are available for Michigan applicators. A certificate of completion is available upon completion of all course work. Scholarships are available, contact Erin Lizotte at taylo548@msu.edu for more information.

Click here for registration instructions and technical assistance info.  

Commercial crop overview

• Getting started with hops: Webinar Recording 
• Challenges and Opportunities for Organic Hop Production in the United States, Agronomy Journal, Volume 103, Issue 6, 2011

Cost of production

• 2016 Enterprise Budgets for hop production (5, 10, 20 acres)
• MI_Hops_cost_of_production_Bulletin-E3236

Hopyard establishment

Cultivars and genetics

• USDA Hop Genetic Resources
• USDA Hop Cultivar Index

Construction

• Hop Trellising and Budgets, Edward B. Page, Colorado State University
• Building a Hopyard, Roger Rainville, University of Vermont
• Irrigation parts list, University of Vermont Extension
• Trellis Cost Budget, University of Minnesota
• Simple Earth Hops: Hop Trellis Parts List

Suppliers

Plant suppliers

• Great Lakes Hops
• Great Lakes Hydrogrow
• Sandy Ridge Farms

Hardware

• Erigging Supply
• Fehr Bros Industries, Inc.
• Growers Supply
• Safeland Industrial Supply, Inc.
• Southern Wire Corporation
• Web Rigging Supply

Coir

• Growers Supply
• Kerr Supply
• RoLanka International, Inc.

Irrigation

• Trickl-eez Company
• Springbrook Supply
• Setting Up Irrigation in Your Hopyard, YouTube video by University of Vermont Extension

Hobby production

• Starting up small-scale organic hops production, Robert Sirrine, MSU Extension
• Growing Hops in the Backyard, William Bamka and Ed Dager, Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension
• Growing Hops in New England, Leonard P. Perry, University of Vermont Extension