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Innovation with measurable Sustainability

Hopsteiner is dedicated to environmental sustainability, social well-being, and long-term economic growth. Reducing your carbon footprint can be as easy as using new hops.

SHOP HOPS

OUR APPROACH

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

OUR VARIETIES

regenerative agriculture

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

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WHO WE ARE

Since 1845, Hopsteiner has provided quality hops and hop products to breweries around the world. Hopsteiner is a dedicated partner to breweries of all sizes, helping secure a wide array of public and proprietary hop varieties from across the globe. Our unique range of hop varieties and innovative hop products are designed to enhance flavor, aroma, consistency, and flexibility for brewing and beyond. As a vertically integrated hop supplier, Hopsteiner grows, breeds, and processes the highest- quality hops and hop products available. We process hops through sustainable approaches for growing, cultivating, producing, and refining practices that safeguard biodiversity and our natural resources. As such, Hopsteiner strives to make our trade practices as economically, environmentally, and socially responsible as possible. The research presented here addresses sustainable principles we use to grow our business while innovating for our clients and customers.

OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY

OUR PROCESS

BREEDING
 
hopsteiner research and development lab

Yakima, WA

 

FARMING
 
 
golden gate hop ranches (gghr)

Lower Yakima Valley

 

 

PELLETIZING
 
HOPSTEINER PELLET PLANT

Yakima, WA

 

EXTRACTING
 
 
HOPS EXTRACT CORPORATION OF AMERICA (HECA)

Yakima, WA

 

 

 

BREEDING

Hopsteiner Research and Development Lab

Breeding

FARMING

Golden Gate Hop Ranches

Farming

PELLETIZING

Hopsteiner Pellet Plant

Pelletizing

EXTRACTING

Hops Extract Corporation of America

Extracting

Order NowDiscover otherworldly flavor with Aloraâ„¢ (formerly HS17701), now commercially available for contract and spot purchase. Exclusively from Hopsteiner.

OUR MISSION

INNOVATION AND RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

SUSCEPTIBLE VS RESISTANT
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In agriculture, susceptibility refers to a crop’s inability to generate a consistent yield in the face of stress. On the other hand, resistance refers to a crop’s ability to actively combat specific plant stress factors such as disease, drought, and heat.
HIGHER YIELDS
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High-yielding varieties have been key to our sustainable intensification efforts, enabling us to maintain crop yields on less cultivated land and therefore increasing our resource-use efficiency.
NUTRIENT & WATER USE EFFICIENCY
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Fertilizer and irrigation water are major inputs of hop cultivation. We select hops with greater nutrient and water use efficiencies, allowing us to achieve the same yields while maximizing outputs.
THE BREEDING PROGRAM
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The Hopsteiner Breeding Program stands as a cornerstone in the ongoing innovation and evolution of hop varieties within the brewing industry. 

CARBON FOOTPRINT COMPARISON

2024 Variety Data

Our hops are sustainable

Through our breeding program, we reduce our lifecycle CO2 emissions by selecting for hop characteristics such as climate resilience, water- and nutrient-use efficiency, processing energy, and yield efficiency. We aim to reduce our dependence on natural and chemical inputs through continual genetic gain, thereby cultivating more resource-efficient hop varieties.
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IMPACT THAT'S MEASURABLE

Hop varieties from the Hopsteiner Breeding Program have a significantly lower carbon footprint when compared to other varieties. Alora & Sultana compared to an average of 30 commercially grown aroma hops. Helios & Eureka! compared to Herkules (Lbs CO2e/ Alpha Lb.)

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0 % ↓
Aloraâ„¢
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Sultanaâ„¢
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Heliosâ„¢
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Eureka!â„¢

HOPS OF THE FUTURE

  1. 2006
  2. 2011
  3. 2012
  4. 2014
  5. 2015
  6. 2016
  7. 2019
  8. 2020
  9. 2022
  10. 2023
  11. 2024

  1. helios (11)

     

  2. helios (5)

     

  3. helios (6)

     

  4. helios (7)

     

  5. eureka (1)

     

  6. helios (8)

     

  7. helios (3)

     

  8. helios (10)

     

  9. helios (1)

     

  10. helios (2)

     

  11. Erebus tile

     

SHOP HOPS

Regenerative Farming Practices 

Regenerative farming focuses on enhancing soil health and biodiversity. Our goal is to improve plant growth and vigor through efficient use of fertilizer and reduce the necessity for pesticides. Our current regenerative efforts include:

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Cover Crops

We improve soil health during the off-season by planting cover crops. With cover crops, we reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff which reduces our need to till during the growing season. Cover crops also out-compete weeds, reducing the need to till before planting seasons which further reduces CO2 emissions.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

This is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on the long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, intentional habitat development, and the use of resistant varieties. We currently practice intentional habitat development by releasing beneficial predator insects to target pests who harm hops but are native to the land. 

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dairy manure and hop leaf trash

These natural forms of fertilizer are high in organic matter, allowing us to replace the use of synthetic fertilizers. Manure applications in the hop fields help dairies safely dispose of their waste. Our state-of-the-art group of combines plays a key role here, because, unlike other facilities that take the whole hop bine to a processing plant to strip the cones, our combines strip the hop cones from the bine in the fields, leaving behind plant matter that returns nutrients to the soil as it breaks down after harvest. Any leaf trash not left in the field is easily separated from the hop cones by our picking machines and is applied back to our fields as a green fertilizer.

Drip irrigation with moisture probes

Each field is equipped with drip irrigation lines and moisture probes, allowing us to closely monitor soil moisture levels and adjust irrigation applications in real-time.

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Aerial and satellite imagery

Helps us monitor our hop fields from above and enables us to identify weak production areas or management issues in our field. Crop imagery also allows us to identify plant stress before it is visible to the naked eye and rapidly respond to these stresses, resulting in greater productivity and increased input use efficiency.

Petiole & Soil sampling

We perform petiole & soil sampling to analyze the plant nutrient makeup in real-time for better controlling optimum nutrient levels. This allows us to properly manage our fertilizer amounts and sources to prevent nutrient toxicities and deficiencies. Additional soil samples will be collected when problem areas are identified or to measure the efficacy or corrective measures.

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CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

Bee Better

We are proudly Bee Better certified. To protect and expand pollinators' habitat, we have planted various crops in our organic fields to support biodiversity conservation for natural regeneration. We aim to provide brewers with a standard sustainability metric to assist in making more sustainable choices amongst available hop varieties.

 

Mid-Columbia Fisheries

Hopsteiner is partnering with Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring wild salmonid populations, to transform riverbanks along the Yakima River into native shoreline habitats for improved water quality for native fish like salmon. The goal of the project is to establish a native riparian zone to improve habitat by adding native trees and grasses to create shade and filter zones between the river and working hop fields. The vegetation will improve ecosystem functions critical to native fish along the shoreline.

Pink Boots Society

Pink Boots Society aims to assist, inspire and encourage women and non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry to advance their careers through education.

Prosser Boys and Girls Club

Hopsteiner has been instrumental in community campaigns for the construction of the new Boys & Girls Club facility. Designed to serve youth in Prosser, the Prosser Clubhouse provides a safe place for kids and teens to be themselves after school.

CERTIFIED QUALITY EVERY STEP OF THE WAY