Organic Hop Farmers Article

[alexdagrate]

Interesting article in today's Seattle Times about organic hop farmers lobbying the USDA to no longer classify beer made with non-organic hops. I'd be interested to hear what HBT members think about such a rule change.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013189572_hops18m.html

 

[msumike2001]

I would not classify beer made with non-organic hops as organic. Not that I care about it not being organic.

 

[Pappers_]

Thanks for the link. The folks at Seven Bridges Co-op have been strongly supporting this, as has an author who writes a blog called Beer Activist. It seems pretty common-sensical that organic beer would have organic malts, grains and hops.

 

[alecoholic]

Makes sense to me.

 

[alexdagrate]

Organic-certified foods only need to be made with 95% organic ingredients (excluding water). Are most beers 95% malt, and therefore hops and yeast don't *have* to be organic to get certification?

There's another article about this issue in the Oregonian:
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/10/growers_near_win_in_battle_to.html

 

[alexdagrate]

This article from June 2010 made it seem like hops are less than 5% of the ingredients, and therefore don't have to be organic under the 95% rule.

http://www.oregonbusiness.com/on-the-scene/3737-on-the-scene-good-clean-beer

FTA:
"Some breweries cut down on costs by not using all organic ingredients. An organic beer is composed of 95% organic ingredients, not including water and salt that can’t be classified. Hops are the only allowed non-organic component, making up that 5%. This is for good reason since organic hops are the most expensive ingredient to grow and buy: an interesting quirk for an organic product. Hopworks rarely uses organic hops for this reason."

 

[Zamial]

The water comment above me brings up a very valid point. Since there is no such thing as organic water and one of the major concepts of organic foods is they are better for you. Since beer is MOSTLY water none of it should legally be allowed to claim "organic" on the label but rather "made with organic grains/hops/yeast" as applicable.

I like the idea of healthy beer and organic farming but when does it just turn into white noise? Remember the main reason these folks are making a stink is to sell more of their product...

 

[alexdagrate]

and this article notes that making a beer with 100% organic hops would likely result in a larger carbon footprint, most organic hops are currently grown in Germany and New Zealand. Obviously, more organic hops would be grown in the US if the rule were to change, but it's still an interesting issue...

http://www.portlandbeer.org/blog/2010/05/14/bottle-release-organic-rise-up-red-from-hopworks/

"Hopworks is well know for their sustainable practices and organic beer. Even though the love of beer is the driving force behind their business, it’s just as important to find balance within the community and environment. For example, the greatest varieties of organic hops are available in Germany and New Zealand. Purchasing these hops toward a 100% organic beer creates a large carbon footprint just to ship the hops from where their grown all the way out to Portland. Getting the exact ingredients at any cost is not part of the decision making process at Hopworks. Figuring out how to make the same product with a lower environmental impact and remain cost effective is complicated, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. While other brewers are dealing with costs and shipping logistics, Hopworks deals with many other layers of complexity when choosing the ingredients and the process for their beer production and distribution."

 

[Pappers_]

It was mega brewers like AB who originally petitioned to have hops exempted from the list - so that they could use non-organic hops and still call their beer organic. Here is a link to an excellent 2007 letter from Russell Klisch of Lakefront Brewery http://beeractivist.com/2007/05/25/lakefront-brewery-organic-beer-should-require-organic-hops/ countering AB's arguments.

Yet another reason to support this common-sense rule change.

 

[alexdagrate]

The water comment above me brings up a very valid point. Since there is no such thing as organic water and one of the major concepts of organic foods is they are better for you. Since beer is MOSTLY water none of it should legally be allowed to claim "organic" on the label but rather "made with organic grains/hops/yeast" as applicable.

The USDA rule is 95% organic ingredients excluding water. So the malt, hops, and yeast have to be 95% organic to be USDA certified.

That brings up another issue... do yeasts have to be certified? How would that even work? If a yeast strain is grown on organic food, is it therefore organic yeast? How many generations between a non-organic strain and an organic strain have to pass? Fish Brewing in Olympia (my town) uses W'Yeast 1056 for all their organic certified ales. Whether they feed their yeast organic food, I don't know...

 

[Pappers_]

and this article notes that making a beer with 100% organic hops would likely result in a larger carbon footprint, most organic hops are currently grown in Germany and New Zealand. Obviously, more organic hops would be grown in the US if the rule were to change, but it's still an interesting issue..."

Alex, the portion I bolded/italicized is exactly the issue - without the rule change, organic hop growing in this country will not thrive.

 

[Pappers_]

That brings up another issue... do yeasts have to be certified? How would that even work?

No they don't. Personally, I think the yeast and water arguments are diversions and red herrings. Lets focus on the agricultural portion of this issue - the items that are grown on farms.

Anheuser Busch successfully got the USDA to exempt hops from the list of organic ingredients for organic beers. This is both transparent, runs counter to common sense, and has crippled organic hops farming in this country. The only legitimate argument for it is that its cheaper for mega brewers like AB.

 

[Pappers_]

If you are interested in these sorts of issues, there is an interesting book called Fermenting Revolution http://www.breworganic.com/fermentingrevolutionhowtodrinkbeerandsavetheworld.aspx. The author's day job is director of sustainability at American University and he writes a blog at www.beeractivist.com You'll also find other resources at Seven Bridges Co-op at www.breworganic.com