One-Half Century of Hop Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture¹

1 Presented at the 50th Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO, September 1984. Contribution of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Paper 7429.

Abstract

U.S. government support for hop research started at Oregon State University in 1930 when most American hops were grown in that state. Research was aimed at finding genetic resistance to downy mildew by breeding and germ plasm introduction and at developing chemical control measures against the disease. Later, work expanded to include agronomic, physiological, and chemical investigations. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists independently, and in cooperation with state scientists in Idaho and Washington, released several new hop varieties that now account for about 35% of total U.S. hop production. Significant contributions to hop growing and utilization also came from research in hop pathology, chemistry, agronomy, and physiology.

• Breeding
• Germ plasm
• Hop diseases
• Physiology
• Varieties