Hop Production in Northern Arizona: Opportunity and Challenges for Small-scale Growers?

Hops are an essential crop in the world for beer production and are mostly grown between latitudes 35° to 55° north (Dodds 2017). This includes northern Arizona. The U.S. leads world hop production (40%) and is closely followed by Germany (38%). In the U.S., Washington state is the highest producer (68%), followed by Idaho and Oregon in the second and third positions, respectively, with a total of about 28%. According to Dobis et al. (2019), craft breweries are driving local hop production expansion to most states in the USA with promising opportunities for small-scale, beginner farmers, and other related stakeholders. This could open a new frontier to the large population of small-scale growers in the region. This paper aims to provide growers and potential hop growers information about hop production in central and northern Arizona, and the possible challenges ahead.