Heat, parched soils and significantly smaller hop cones: for many hop farmers in Austria this year’s harvest is proving sobering. The Mühlviertel, one of the country’s most important hop-growing regions, is particularly hard hit.
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“The heat and the drought have taken a heavy toll on us. Some of my plants are completely ruined,” says Stefan Hofer, chair of the Mühlviertel hop growers’ co-operative, speaking to ORF.
Even the plants that survived the dry spell have not developed as well, he says.
“The others simply haven’t been able to form cones in the same way. Everything is about half the size of a normal year.”
But the problem does not stop at the Austrian border. In Germany too, one of the world’s most important hop producers, increasing aridity is posing major challenges for farmers.
This is particularly evident in Bavaria. The Franconian town of Spalt, together with three other German growing regions, is one of the areas that supply around 40% of the world’s hop production.
Extreme weather events are placing farms under growing pressure. Longer dry periods not only hamper plant growth but also encourage pests such as spider mites. When infestations are severe, crop losses can be considerable.
Is Germany therefore facing a beer shortage?
Drought is becoming a problem for hop growing.
At least for this year’s Oktoberfest, beer lovers do not yet need to worry: so far there have been no warnings of a shortage of beer at the festival.
However, the problems in the hop fields could ultimately also be felt by breweries. Hops are one of beer’s key raw materials and are responsible for its bitterness and a large part of its aroma.
How far this year’s harvest will affect prices and production cannot yet be said with any certainty on the basis of current forecasts. Alongside the volume harvested, factors such as existing stocks, long-term supply contracts and the development of cultivated areas also play a role.
One thing is clear, though: the sector increasingly has to grapple with the question of how to grow its raw materials under drier conditions. Producers are relying on different approaches.
Irrigation to prepare hop growing for drought
One of the most obvious responses to increasing dryness is additional irrigation. For many hop farms, water supply is becoming a central question for the future.
Growers in Austria’s Mühlviertel region are already reacting. Irrigation systems have now been installed on around 20% of the hop acreage. In view of more frequent dry spells, demand is likely to rise further.
Larger irrigation projects are also being planned in Bavaria. In the Spalter Hügelland, a system is to be built that will pump water in winter from a bank filtration well on the River Fränkische Rezat into a new storage basin. From there, around 400 hectares of hop fields are to be irrigated during dry months. Using bank filtrate is also intended to protect groundwater.
The costs are estimated at up to €20 million. The Free State of Bavaria is expected to cover around half, with the participating farmers having to finance the remainder.
In the Hallertau (source in German), Germany’s largest hop-growing region, work is also under way to secure long-term supplies of water. The local irrigation association brings together 461 farms covering a total of around 12,000 hectares. Bavaria is supporting plans for new irrigation infrastructure with €9.5 million.
But additional irrigation alone is unlikely to be enough. “Simply turning on the tap is not sufficient,” said Manuel Starlinger, managing director of the Mühlviertel hop growers’ cooperative, speaking to ORF.
And in fact the brewing industry is not only focusing on hops. Another key raw material is also suffering from the drier conditions.
Winter barley instead of spring barley
Farmers and breweries are therefore also looking for alternatives when it comes to barley. On average, about 60 to 75 grams of spring barley are needed for half a litre of beer. Yet this particular variety of grain is finding it increasingly hard to cope with rising levels of drought.
Spring barley “has a big problem; it only ripens under stress and does not grow properly,” brewmaster Jörg Kirchhoff told broadcaster rbb.
A brewery in Potsdam is therefore experimenting with winter barley in the Uckermark. Initial trials are being run on two hectares to see whether it is suitable for cultivation and, subsequently, for the brewing process.
The crucial difference lies in the sowing date. “Winter barley is drilled in October and thus benefits from all the moisture of autumn and early winter,” Kirchhoff explains. “By January it is generally already green and has a huge head start in terms of growth.”
While spring barley carries out a large part of its development in the increasingly dry spring and summer months, winter barley is better placed to benefit from the moisture of the cooler seasons.
The experiment is being accompanied by the Terrathesis project at the Film University Babelsberg, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, which looks at the concrete consequences of climate change in Brandenburg.
“Everyone talks about the weather changing and things getting drier. But what does that actually mean? Among other things, it means that your local brewery is running into problems,” says project leader André Nebe.
The project, which aims to bring together science, agriculture and the brewing industry, is scheduled to run until the end of 2029.
