By John O’Connell
A new experimental hopyard at the University of Idaho’s Parma Research and Extension Center will facilitate trials evaluating pest and disease threats facing the state’s hop farmers.
The new short-trellis hopyard, comprising 220 plots of Chinook and Cascade variety of hops throughout 1.7 acres, was planted in April and will be highlighted June 21 during a field day and tour of the Parma facility.
It will supplement the full-trellis hopyard, where researchers at Parma conduct studies evaluating chemical efficacy, chemical residue and yield effects.
The U.S. ranks No. 1 in global hops production, raising 40% of the world’s hops, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. Idaho is the No. 2 hops-producing state, responsible for 16% of U.S. hops production.
James Woodhall, an Extension specialist and plant pathologist based in Parma, has spearheaded the project. Parma research technician Silas Shumate oversaw the design and construction, with input from area hop farmer Diane Gooding.
“Hop growers need information about new products and existing products and how well they work. This will enable us to get that information very cost effectively,” Woodhall said. “It’s more than doubled our capacity for hop field research.”
Because the new hopyard is not intended for experiments evaluating yield, researchers were able to plant shorter trellises requiring fewer farming inputs to generate the same data on disease and pest pressure.
Shorter trellises are also easier to spray, enabling researchers to plant rows with tighter spacing.
“The main benefit is you can put in a yard for a third to a fourth of the cost per acre this way and you still get viable data,” Shumate said. “There’s not a lot of hops research going on within our Treasure Valley for the hops in the Treasure Valley. We can get a lot more data out to our hop growers in the coming years.”
The first research project is already underway at the facility, evaluating biological products applied when hops are planted.
The yard is laid out into two main blocks, surrounded by “spreader rows” of a hop variety that’s extremely susceptible to diseases and pests.
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