- Are you a growing hops to resell to brewers, homebrewers or other?
[*]Do you have 1/4 acre in the ground or more?
If you answered "Yes" to both of those questions, you are eligible to register with the Hop Growers of America for your very own Grower ID number.
Obtaining a grower number is a free service to the industry, and does not require membership to HGA.
I know what you are probably asking...why?
As passionate as we all may be about our precious little cones, the reality is that they are a commodity. Once they leave your farm, they may go to a brewer who will use them or he/she may turn around and re-sell them on Lupulin Exchange, barter with them for something else they want or just give them to a local homebrewer. We have been contacted by brewers who bought hops of ours that have been resold at least 2 times.
The idea of a nationwide registration program for growers allows the following to happen:
- If a brewer loves your hops and wants more, they can find you.
- If you need to recall your hops, a recall can be issued on your grower ID #.
- This will make it easier for NASS to collect statistical data on the amount of hops planted in each state.
- You'll be added to their database as a hop grower for any brewer's looking for hops grown in their area.
The form is quick and easy to fill out. They turn it around rapidly and send you back a certificate listing your farm name and ID number. We at Gorst Valley Hops fully support this effort and have contributed a fair amount of effort to get this up a running. The more organization our industry has, the better off we all are.
If you have questions, contact them at USA Hops, contact me directly by PM on this forum (I'm here daily) or just post your question/comment here.
