Is the Great British hop crop under threat?
Growers in the country's hop capital say yields for the perennial are falling, which could mean beer prices frothing up and being passed on to the consumer.
Growers in the country's hop capital say yields for the perennial are falling, which could mean beer prices frothing up and being passed on to the consumer.
The long, hot and dry summer of 2025 has accentuated drought conditions that the industry has been facing for the past few years, according to Paul Corbett, who farms hops at Charles Faram near Malvern. The crop struggles to grow in temperatures consistently above 30 degrees Celsius.
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Kent are the country's biggest producers of hops, although the acreage of the crop has halved since 2021.
Paul adds that the industry is coming to terms with storing more water and increasing irrigation, but also bringing innovations in to the market, surprisingly coming from cannabis growers in the USA, a crop similar to hops.
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