{"id":21266,"date":"2024-10-07T06:21:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T06:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=21266"},"modified":"2024-10-07T06:21:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T06:21:09","slug":"hop-picking-underway-in-the-uk-czech-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/10\/07\/hop-picking-underway-in-the-uk-czech-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"Hop picking underway in the UK, Czech Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published September 13, 2024<\/em>. A lukewarm hop picking season in the UK has begun September 2024, even as a strong harvest culminates in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK\u2019s case, hop gathering usually marks a celebratory tradition that began with the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0century introduction of the hop plant,\u00a0Humulus lupulus<\/u><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the places synonymous with the harvest is Hertfordshire in south-east England. Here, local beer maker Ledbury Real Ales is acclaiming the season\u2019s comeback, writes Ledbury Reporter<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company sources its green hops from nearby Hawkins Farming, whose late summer fruits, hops and grain harvests last four months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kent Harvest <\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But it is not just Hertfordshire that gathers these flowers that bitter and flavor beer, for there is rural Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Situated in to the southeast of London, Kent is losing its great tradition of September hop harvesting<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC reported on September 12, 2024 that since the 1930s, the county would welcome London families for the autumn harvest.  Children and adults alike would stream there in a celebratory mood to gather the crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 1972 however, the family event was dying as more and more beer companies rushed in to make \u201ccraft beer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite losing momentum, many people still reminisce back to how they used to come by horse wagons to gather the flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the holiday-like event was a waged system where harvesters labored to pick flowers from 6-meter tall bent vines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flower pickers got payment per bushel after delivering their blooms to the drying houses. Here, the green hops would dry and soon brew beer for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better Hop Picking in Czech Republic<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While in England the tradition is out of time, central Europe is seeing a robust harvest of hops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A case study is the August 2024 harvest in the Czech Republic where hop picking began August 17, successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country ranks third globally in the production of hops, of which 70%<\/u><\/a> ends up mainly in Japan and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although hop acreage in 2024 has dipped to 4,582 hectares, production could echo 2023\u2019s strong posting of 6,897 tonnes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, \u00a0the country\u2019s Distillers\u2019 Union thinks that at least\u00a020%<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of Czech breweries won\u2019t reopen due to poor grape harvests. This exempts factories that make hop-flavored beer, which will remain open due to rising demand. Indeed, during Octoberfest in neighboring Germany in 2023, hop beer demand was upscale despite\u00a0steep pricing<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, hop picking is culminating in the Czech Republic and starting in the UK amid a dying harvesting tradition.  Speaking of which, below are salient facts about the UK\u2019s hop sector, including its recent strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK Hops Statistics <\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hop cultivation in the UK began in the 16th<\/sup> century when Dutch merchants brought the plant here. In the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries, the English have ranked as not only leading hop producers but beer lovers as well. FAOSTAT records that the UK and Northern Ireland yielded a volume of 1,091.47 tonnes <\/u><\/a>of hops in 2021. The volume would dip in 2022 to 1,068.62 tonnes, just like acreage, which shed 17 hectares to 800 hectares.  The UK\u2019s 2022 output was only about 1%<\/u><\/a> of worldwide production but the 5th<\/sup> highest, behind the U.S.\u2019 44% lead. In Europe, England emerged third in 2022 production behind Germany with 32%<\/u><\/a> global share and the Czech Republic at 4%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is England a major importer of hops<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite producing 1% of world\u2019s hops, the UK still needs more and imports often exceed exports 7:1. In 2022, for instance, the country imported $78.3 million <\/u><\/a>worth, versus $10.2 million in hop exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much hop extracts does the UK export<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of hop extracts, the UK came 4th <\/sup>(when counting the 3rd<\/sup> placed EU as one country). The UK\u2019s exports totaled 1,703.94 tonnes<\/u><\/a> in 2021, per World Bank figures. That same year, imports of hop extracts reached 1,279.23 tonnes<\/u><\/a>, the third highest worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much beer do the English drink yearly<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the UK ranked 7th<\/sup> in beer consumption at 4,496,000 liquid tonnes<\/u><\/a> per year. Only Germany, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., and China in ascending order drank more. In per capita terms, the Irish constituted the highest beer-taking constituents of the British Isles at 116.33 liters<\/u><\/a> per year per person in 2021. This was the second highest per-individual consumption rate globally after the Czech Republic\u2019s 140.12 liters per capita. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published September 13, 2024. A lukewarm hop picking season in the UK has begun September 2024, even as a strong harvest culminates in the Czech Republic. In the UK\u2019s case, hop gathering usually marks a celebratory tradition that began with the 16th\u00a0century introduction of the hop plant,\u00a0Humulus lupulus. One of the places synonymous with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHop picking underway in the UK, Czech Republic - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/10\/07\/hop-picking-underway-in-the-uk-czech-republic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hop picking underway in the UK, Czech Republic - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Originally published September 13, 2024. 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