Paraná could become the land of hops

The largest producer of barley in Brazil, Paraná can also become a good producer of hops, a fundamental essence for the characteristic aroma and bitterness of beer. Some experiments already have the participation of the State University of Londrina (UEL) and others are the result of the initiative of producers who have become involved in the cause, expanding the supply of products that leave the field in the State.

In Palmital, rural area of ​​Araucária, in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, 400 climbing plants geometrically well adjusted on the sides point to the sky, extending five meters in height, supported by a structure of posts and reinforced wires. This is the most suitable way for hops to grow and make the most of the sun, which will contribute to better product quality.

The end of February and the beginning of March is the harvest period, and producer Josimar Cubis brings together family and neighbors for the task. It expects to repeat the average of 40 to 50 kilos of already dried and dehydrated product, although the installed potential could yield around 80 to 100 kilos. It serves craft breweries in RMC, Londrina and Maringá, as well as municipalities in São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Cubis was born on the rural property that his parents have cultivated for 57 years, mainly with corn, beans and potatoes. But since she was 18, she hasn't spent the whole day in it. She looked for a job abroad and today still works in an automobile industry. “But I always wanted to plant something on the farm, something that wasn’t common, because it’s difficult for small producers to work with traditional crops,” she says.

In 2015, while browsing the internet in search of something different, he looked at hops and discovered Mantiqueira, recognized in 2021 as a genuinely Brazilian variety, the result of studies carried out by agronomist Rodrigo Veraldi in São Bento do Sapucaí (SP), in the region from Serra da Mantiqueira, with seeds that have adapted to the local climate and soil. “I started talking to him”, he says. In 2020 he brought the first 260 seedlings, which multiplied to 400 on approximately 1,3 square meters of land.

The challenges are being overcome in practice. The first was the distance between the plant lines. In some producing countries it is 1,20 meters due to good sunlight. “I planted them 4 meters apart so that one row does not shade the other and in a line that allows as much sun as possible directly on the plants”, he states. Drip irrigation was not a problem, as an artesian well meets the property's needs.

New obstacles were faced last year, with a fungal attack, due to excessive rain, when 70% of production was lost. And now with an armadillo, which tries to dig up worms where the irrigation drops fall and ends up uprooting the plants, as well as ants, which destroy a plant in one night. Cubis emphasizes that he is still learning how to deal with the plant. “There is nothing for Brazil, you have to study, research, call one person and another, and read material in English”, he highlights.

In the first few years he kept the area absolutely clean, until he learned that hops need moisture and that keeping the grass and straw helps with the task. The intention is to have two thousand plants. “But I won’t increase it until I learn how to work with hops well, it’s better to make small mistakes,” he says. “I found what I wanted in hops since I was a child, every afternoon and in my free time I’m here.”

Between the months of April and September, the producer keeps the plant in dormancy. From then on, it resprouts with growth of up to 30 centimeters per day. At this point, it is necessary to guide the development so that the vine does not become detached from the conductive threads. It blooms in January and harvesting begins at the end of February, when the branches are cut low and taken to manually remove the flowers. Threshings go to the greenhouse, where they are dried for eight hours, crushed and vacuum packed.

Hop research

Research is underway at the academy into the most suitable varieties for Paraná and Brazil. One of the most notable works is between professor Sérgio Ruffo, from the Department of Agronomy at UEL, in partnership with the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), through professor Alessandro Sato, in Palotina, in the west of Paraná. “I have no doubts about the good prospects for Paraná, so much so that we are expanding the research space”, says Ruffo. “It’s no longer a dream, it’s already reality.”

According to the professor, the hop cultivars in Brazil come from the United States and Germany. In the experiments that UEL and UFPR have been carrying out for five years in Palotina, around 20 varieties made available by three nurseries are being studied, one in Rio de Janeiro and two in São Paulo. “These are more productive, better-known cultivars and we are doing adaptation work, we are trying to select the most productive ones for the conditions of Paraná”, he says.

The beginning was in a small area, now expanded and with support from funding agencies, such as CNPq, from the federal government. “We decided to take a chance,” says Ruffo. According to him, the work involves a lot of technology. Hops need 17 hours of sunlight per day for full use and profitability, which is provided by nature in several locations in the main producing countries.

In Brazil, the maximum recorded is 14 hours of daily light. “You need artificial lighting to supplement the remaining three hours and that involves a lot of technology”, he highlights. Special lamps are used in the experiments. “If there isn’t one, it ends up flowering before reaching the top of the trellis, so it doesn’t produce the quantity of flowers that characterizes optimal production. And that’s what we want.”

The professor reinforces that national hops must also guarantee higher quality than those produced, packaged and stored outside the country. “What we do is offer fresh hops, with a characteristic of freshness”, he says. “Another difference is that, with the techniques we developed, we are able to produce two crops a year.” In addition to enabling better use by brewers. “We are committed to having more than one cultivar to allow brewers to exercise creativity in recipes.”

Other uses, according to him, could occur in essential oils in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries.

Hop numbers

Initially, hops were added to beer to act as a natural preservative, but due to the flavor and aroma observed after transport trips, they ended up being incorporated into brewing recipes. The first official mentions of hops in Brazil date back to 1885, with imports made by D. Pedro II. In Paraná, a message from governor Affonso Alves de Camargo in 1920 alludes to plantations in Guarapuava, of seedlings brought from the United States with the help of Cervejaria Atlântida.

The 2022 Beer Yearbook, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, identified 1.729 breweries in Brazil. That year there was an increase of 11,6% compared to the 1.549 registered in 2021. They have 42.831 products registered on Mapa. Paraná is in fifth place, with 161 breweries offering 4.391 different products, many of them award-winning. Brazil produces around 15,3 billion liters of beer annually.

Data from the Brazilian Hop Map 2023, collected by the Brazilian Hop Association (Aprolúpulo), shows that last year Brazil had 114 hop producers, a jump that started in 2015, when there was only one. The total cultivated area was 111,8 hectares, an increase of 133% compared to the previous year, when there were 48,5 hectares. There are 44 varieties cultivated in the country.

The 231.817 plants in production spread across the Brazilian territory yielded 88 tons of product, an increase of 203% compared to the 29 tons in 2022. In Paraná, 16 producers (4th place) spread 17.440 plants (6th place) on 8,4 hectares ( 5th place), with production of less than 8 tons. According to Aprolúpulo, the average value achieved last year was R$223 per kilo, with a maximum value of R$400.

Agrostat, a platform from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock that monitors Brazilian agricultural foreign trade, presented in 2023 the import of 3,1 thousand tons of hops worth US$62 million. Importers from Paraná invested US$4,7 million to bring 114,9 tons, of which 74,3 tons from the United States, 37 tons from Asian countries and 3,6 tons from Germany.