At the Hops Technical Day held on 27th February 2024 at the University of Kent, promising new technical developments were presented from the UK breeding programmes, as well as an announcement of over £500,000 in new research funding, which could help boost the sector's fortunes.
Kent has a long, rich tradition of hop growing, with picturesque oast houses being a distinctive feature of its landscape. British hop growing has faced many challenges, with the number of hectares harvested in the UK more than halving since 2011. Today, over 90% of the hops used to brew beer in the UK are now imported from overseas.
Market influences on hops
Throughout the day, attendees heard about the various factors that have impacted the sector. The beer market has seen a significant popularity spike in craft brewing, with consumers looking for citrusy, punchy aromas. These new flavour profiles are not currently available in our existing hop varieties that are grown in the UK, our old-style British hops are more suited to brewing the traditional ales.
The problem has been compounded by two further factors. Covid was catastrophic. The closure of pubs and hospitality meant the market for hops was no longer there, and production in the UK was drastically cut back and is yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
The cost-of-living crisis is now causing further damage to the hospitality trade, with many pubs closing and volumes of beer sales being hit. The number of pubs in the UK has declined from around 60,000 in 2000, to 45,000 in 2023.
Research innovation for the future of the hop industry
Collaborations between scientists and industry are striving to address these challenges, by breeding new varieties of hops that can not only respond to changing market conditions but that are also resilient to future climate pressures.
Dr Helen Cockerton is a Growing Kent & Medway Research Fellow at the Biotechnology Hub at the University of Kent. A specialist in plant genetics, Helen is supporting the UK hop breeding programme run by Dr Klara Hajdu at Wye Hops.
Their priority is to understand the DNA that controls the crops’ traits. Scientific advances are enabling Helen and Klara to identify which genes control different plant traits. By studying hop DNA, they can investigate which genes affect how tall it grows, how resistant the plant is to certain pests or diseases, or genes that change its flavour and aroma. Understanding and identifying these genes means they can select the right parent plants to breed new varieties, with the traits that both the growers and brewers need.
Securing new funding for ‘super hop’ research
In a major boost for the hop sector, the team has secured £574,000 in research funding from Innovate UK. The funded grant project aims to use traditional breeding methods (informed by this new research into hop DNA) to develop new varieties of environmentally resilient ‘super hops.’
It can currently take over 10 years to bring a new variety into commercial production. However, by incorporating cutting-edge genetic techniques, the hope is to breed new varieties more quickly, giving the UK industry a competitive advantage.
A particular focus will be on breeding varieties that are resistant to a disease called Verticillium wilt. This disease can wipe out entire hop gardens within a season.
Another factor that has not previously been bred into British hop varieties is tolerance to drought. Climate change is likely to bring hotter, drier summers. Growers, particularly in the southeast of the UK, will need varieties that can cope with these new environmental pressures.
Selecting aromas and flavours that meet customer demands will also be another priority for the research. If successful, the hope is to both offset the volume of hops being imported with British grown crops and give UK growers access to export into global hop markets.
