05
Nov
Hop Varieties Emerge for Organic Growers to Expand Organic Beer Market in the UK
(Beyond Pesticides, November 5, 2025) Environmental and public health advocates, farmers, and business leaders are raising a glass to the expansion of organic hop production, which aims to boost the viability and growth of organic-certified beer products in the UK. A 2024 report by UK-based Organic Research Centre, in partnership with farmers, follows three years of field trials to assess the suitability of various hop varieties in organically managed systems. At a time when organic hops production in the UK has dropped significantly due to varieties that are vulnerable to downy mildew and hop powdery mildew, the report offers a blueprint for additional on-farm, applied research in the United States, including from groups such as the Organic Farming Research Foundation’s (OFRF) Farmer-Led Trials Program. The report cites promising results for new hop varieties.
The continuous use of pesticides not only contributes to biodiversity collapse, public health deterioration, and the climate crisis, but also to the ability to enjoy a beer without fear of exposure to toxic chemicals, including evidence of glyphosate residues found in popular beer and wine brands. (See Daily News here and here.)
Background and Methodology
The authors of this report reflect on their years-long field trials and the value of peer-to-peer learning in informing medium- to long-term decision-making for their agricultural operations.
“To overcome the barriers to making a successful organic UK hop industry, new hop varieties that are tolerant of disease and climatic conditions as well as suited to agricultural systems that have a positive effect on the environment are required,†say the authors in the introduction of the report. They continue:
“Hop farmers need better access to information on hop performance in organic systems. Hop merchants and brewers wishing to sell and use organic hops need organic farmers to help test new varieties for their adaptation to low-input farming systems. This field lab is overcoming some of the challenges faced in the UK organic hops industry by using participatory variety testing to find suitable breeding lines for organic farming systems with whole supply chain collaboration.â€
The following aims of the field lab included:
- “Bring[ing] together key stakeholders in the organic hops supply chain including breeders, merchants, farmers and brewers to address the issues collectively.
- Identify[ing] varieties and breeding lines suitable for organic production and test these in field trials in commercial organic hop gardens.
- Assess[ing] hop variety characteristics and qualities for brewing through lab analysis and brewing tests.
- Develop[ing] assessment tools to quantify the performance of hop varieties grown in field trials in commercial organic hop gardens.â€
Eight participants engaged in the organic hops field lab, including Greg Pilley of Stroud Brewery (Group coordinator and Brewer); Will Rogers of Charles Faram—a global hops supplier based in the UK — (hop merchant/technical expert); Peter Glendening of PGhops/Charles Faram Hop Development Programme (research agronomist); John Walker of Tedney House Farm, Worcestershire (farmer); Tom Upton of Woodlands Farm, East Sussex (farmer); and Dominic Amos, Henny Lowth, and Isabel Mackintosh of Organic Research Centre (crops researchers).
“The hop varieties were tested at two farms in the predominant hop growing regions in England: the West Midlands and South East counties. Both tested different varieties of hops to suit the tall and dwarf hop systems in place,†says the authors in the methodology section. They continue: “Plants for the trial were sourced from Wye Hops Ltd and British Hop Association (BHA) breeding programme bred by Dr Peter Darby and from the Charles Faram Hop Development Programme. The varieties trialed at Tedney House Farm were all bred by Wye Hops and were selected by John Walker from the trials carried out at Dormington by Peter Glendinning for Wye Hops. Table 2 and 3 summarises the varieties that were selected at each farm for testing.†(See pages 5 to 6 of the report for additional details on the thirteen specific varieties.)
The researchers, in their field assessments over the course of three years, observed the following variables in assessing the suitability of the selected hop varieties in organic systems:
- Phenology: “Crop stage at key timings, ripening and harvest window.â€
- Vigor: “Early season [vigor] assessed visually as days to reach top wire.â€
- Disease resistance: “In comparison to farm control varieties, identification of foliar disease symptoms and severity assessment.â€
- Pests: “In comparison to farm control varieties, identification of pest presence and damage assessment.â€
- Weed cover: “Most abundant weed species present noted.â€
- Number of hops and strength of plants: “The number of hop bines that were successful and their strength.â€
- General establishment: “How well established the variety is compared to the control, visual observation.â€
Results
There are four varieties – Endeavor, Sovereign, Harlequin, and “3294†– that farmers identified as having “promising suitability for organic systems due to their good performance in [these] field lab trials, [and] they will continue to be grown by the farmers.â€
- Endeavor & Sovereign Varieties: “At Tedney House Farm, John Walker has decided to continue to grow and monitor Endeavour; this is the only 2022 planted variety that will be continued in addition to the control, Sovereign. From the results in Table 5, Endeavour showed good disease resistance in year 2 but was susceptible to slugs, aphids, downy mildew and hop powdery mildew in year 3. Despite this, a 65 kg yield was obtained and a pilot brew was [evaluated]. John Walker hopes that the downy mildew will be less prevalent with drier weather and in a better location too. The Endeavour planted in February 2023 has been clear of aphids and hop powdery mildew as well as having minimal downy mildew damage.â€
- Harlequin and 3294 Varieties: “Harlequin is going to be trialed again at Woodlands Farm; Tom Upton would like to double its planted area. Table 6 shows that the variety has been relatively disease free throughout the three years and the yield [is] reliable due to the good sized and fast-growing bines and heavy cones. Also, variety 3294 will be grown and monitored for another year with several rows planted this coming spring. Despite not looking promising at the start of the trials it recovered quickly from disease infection and was free of downy mildew in the final year despite the wet conditions.â€
This cohort hopes to access funding in the near future to better understand “the environmental and carbon footprint of organic hop farming compared to conventional…to improve the marketability of organic beer.†This organic-conventional comparative, peer-reviewed analysis has been conducted on other commodities, including coffee. Researchers in a different study published in Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy found in the new coffee production study that certified organic coffee producers in Peru have a lower carbon footprint than transitional organic coffee farmers. More specifically, “The results indicate that the average emissions for the production units classified as in transition are equivalent to 1.11 kg CO2e per kilogram of green coffee, while for the organic production units, the average emissions associated with 1 kg of green coffee are equivalent to 0.68 kg CO2e.†(See Daily News here.)
Previous Coverage
In the last year, businesses such as Patagonia Provisions and Brooklyn Brewery have invested in organic beer, which is increasingly evident given the interest by brewing and food companies. It is important to note that the expansion of hops production for the organic beer market in the United States would not have been possible without the leadership of advocates, farmers, breweries, and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which led to the strengthening of organic standards for beer back in 2010. The growth of this sector and transition to truly organic beer speaks to the spirit of “continuous improvement,†the original design of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), and the importance of mobilizing the public to engage in the public input process that continues to keep organic law strong in opposition to those seeking an easier path to the organic label.
In the original drafting of OFPA, advocates came together to determine how to encourage the development of certified organic sectors despite the lack of available, verifiable organic inputs for many products—beer included. With this spirit in mind, the improvement of standards for beer encapsulates the significance of OFPA in the context of its principles, incentives, and the statutory intent to encourage public input to strengthen the integrity of organic standards. This oversight process—with public, organic grower, and scientific input, and the authority of the stakeholders (environmentalists, consumers, growers, retailers, certifiers, and scientists) on the NOSB to manage the allowed substances in organic production and processing—operationalizes the underlying principle of continuous improvement in the law. Nonorganic ingredients, up to five percent of total product ingredients, are allowed in products labeled organic the showing that these ingredients are not “commercially available.†This allowance was intended by the drafters of the law to incentivize innovation, development of environmentally sensitive materials, and expansion of organic production by those seeking a market opportunity for organically produced ingredients. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the American Organic Hop Growers Association and its formal 2009 petition urged the removal of the exemption that allowed nonorganic hops in organically labeled beer.
Beer producers could rely on nonorganic hops since this ingredient was listed as an allowed nonorganic agricultural ingredient, given that it was less than five percent of the product ingredients and not commercially available as an organically grown product.  The situation created a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, because as long as the law allowed the use of nonorganic hops, brewers were not looking for organic hops, and growers did not produce them in large quantities. In other words, even though growers of hops showed that the crop could be grown organically, it was not produced to supply the market because lower-cost, conventional (nonorganic) hops were permitted in processing organic beer. In addition, many breweries and wholesalers were locked into contracts with conventional hop growers. As a result, after the filing of the petition and getting the issue on the agenda of the NOSB, organic hop growers descended on the 2010 NOSB meeting, testifying to the fact that they could fill the demand for organic hops and challenging their “not commercially available†status.
The process of continuous improvement worked as intended. Listening to the facts, the NOSB passed a recommendation to phase out hops grown with chemical-intensive practices from the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances by adopting language that, by January 1, 2013, removed hops from 7 CFR § 205.606 (Nonorganically produced agricultural products allowed as ingredients in or on processed products labeled as “organicâ€) under OFPA. This gave the breweries time to transition from organic-labeled beer to organically grown hops without breaking existing production contracts. (See Daily News here.)
In 2012, two years after Beyond Pesticides (as an NOSB board member at the time), growers, and advocates across the nation came together to speak out against chemical-intensive hops in “organic†beer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in a new rule that hops must be grown in compliance with the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances in order for beer products to meet USDA organic certification standards. (See Daily News here and here.)Â
Call to Action
See Eating With A Conscience to access a tool where you can click on different produce, vegetables, and other food products and identify which likely pesticide residues would be detected in non-organic versions, highlighting the significance and value of organic as the only legally defined and accountable form of sustainable agriculture in the U.S. Currently, there are 91 listed food items, including barley.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source: Organic Research Centre
