Hop culture needs to advance and consolidate itself in the market

Brazil today imports 98% of the hops it consumes, which corresponds to around 1 billion and 100 million reais. The data was presented on October 20th by the coordinator of the Regional Beverages Sector Chamber, Diego Machado, member of the Brazilian Federation of Craft Beers (Febracerva), in a virtual meeting of the Chamber.

According to Machado, Rio Grande do Sul already has a strong hop production nucleus in the Serra region and Vale do Caí, but the main bottleneck is processing, which is still very expensive. “To move forward, it is necessary to reduce these costs, seek crop insurance, agricultural zoning and deepen studies that can develop a hop specifically from Rio Grande do Sul, with "terroir" own,” he says.

The researcher from the Department of Agricultural Diagnosis and Research (DDPA), of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development (SEAPDR), Alexander Cenci, presented the results of the first year of work of the Hops Culture Monitoring and Development Project, developed in partnership with Emater-RS/Ascar, University of Caxias do Sul (UCS) and State University of Rio Grande do Sul (Uergs). 

The project involved the participation of nine producers and the results show that the majority of properties that grow hops, 71%, are in areas measuring up to 50 hectares. And 50% of producers do not have agriculture as their main income, they have some type of link with the world of craft beers and are looking for profitability in a new business. Furthermore, the survey also showed a younger and more entrepreneurial profile: 62,5% are between 30 and 39 years old. Among the main difficulties detected by the research are the commercialization of the product.

“It is a significant project that can stimulate income generation and an option to replace other crops that no longer have the same yield”, highlights Cenci.

According to Gabriel Assmann, General Coordinator of Development and Infrastructure Projects at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), technical feasibility studies for hops are underway, the production of a Good Practices Manual and a proposal for the development of public policies for purchasing small processing plants and training technicians. According to Assmann, on 17/11, there will be an event to publicize this hop project and at the end of the year the publication of a book.

Agronomist Marcus Outemane, from Aprolúpulo and representative of Salva Craft Beer, presented the work they developed with six hop producers. The industry provides technical assistance and guarantees the purchase of the harvest. “The project is successful and we should expand production to a larger area soon”, he highlights.

Among the meeting's agendas, the inclusion of Aprolúpulo in the meetings of the Sector Chamber, the feasibility study of a program to promote hop cultivation, the search for an increase in the budget for the chain through Feaper and the dissemination of the possibility in the production chain to use resources from the APL (Local Production Arrangements) program, from the Secretariat of Economic Development (Sedec).

The vice-president of Aprodecana, Matheus Menegotto, presented the work carried out by the entity over its 22 years and the campaign to regularize cachaça producers. According to him, 90% of cachaça producers are not legal in Brazil.

The meeting was attended by: Aprodecana, Mapa, Emater, Sefaz, Sedec, Febracerva, AGM, Aprolúpulo and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development.