Federal Funding Will Help Finger Lakes Economic Development Center (FLEDC) Purchase Hops Processing Equipment and a Shared Hops Harvester to Benefit New York State Hops Farmers

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to approve an application submitted by the Finger Lakes Economic Development Center (FLEDC) for $34,000 in funding through the USDA's Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RGEC) program. The funding will enable the Finger Lakes Economic Development Center (FLEDC) to purchase hops processing equipment and a shared hops harvester to benefit several local hops farmers. The harvester would be available for any Yates County grower to use, which is important since many hops farms are start-up operations that lack the capital resources to afford the significant upfront costs required to purchase expensive equipment like a harvester.

Last summer, Schumer visited Climbing Bines Hop Farm in Penn Yan, alongside other Yates County hops farmers to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide low-cost financing programs that provide start-up capital in the form of loans to small businesses and also to partner with Cornell Cooperative Extension's New York State Hop Program and several regional hops growers led by Climbing Bines in an effort to find federal funding for a $50,000 harvester. Schumer's push has led to this application by FLEDC and he is now pushing the feds to approve it.

"We need to do all we can to help New York hops farmers compete, and since many of these hop producers are start-ups, that means giving them the tools to purchase equipment they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise," said Schumer. "New York is experiencing a resurgence in hops production, with the Finger Lakes region leading the charge, and being able to acquire this hops harvester and other hops processing equipment would lead to even more growth in this burgeoning industry. It would provide the support hops farmers throughout Yates County need to get their business going full steam."

New York State was once the national leader in hops production for U.S. beer producers, but experienced a drop in production due to a combination of factors. Hops farms bloomed between 1830 and 1849 to the point where New York became the national leader in production. By 1855, the region was raising over three million pounds annually and was responsible for 85 percent of all hops in America. This strength gradually declined due in large part to blight, changing climate conditions, competition from drier states in the Pacific Northwest, and Prohibition. As a result, the bulk of hops production shifted to small farms and home breweries, where it remains today.

But recently, the hops industry in New York has grown rapidly, and the number of breweries is expected to increase since the enactment of the NY Farm Brewery Law, which requires participating breweries to use local hops and barley. There are many craft breweries springing up across the region that would benefit from local hops suppliers. The development of a vibrant hops-growing industry in the Finger Lakes will boost tourism.

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