When June and July hailstorms hammered about 20 percent of the hop fields in the Czech Republic, and 750 acres of 12,278 planted were described as a total loss, nobody could have expected that the 2021 harvest would turn out to be the best in 25 years.
That’s what can result from a proper amount of rain and mild temperatures in July and August. Repeat after me: Beer is still an agricultural product.
Farmers in Czechia harvested 18.2 million pounds of hops (for perspective, that’s about as much as Americans grow of Citra alone), 40 percent more than 2020 and 34 percent more than the 10-year average. Average yield of 1,467 pounds per acre (American farmers average 1,900) was an all-time high.
The Saaz variety accounts for 80 percent of per cent of production, and the 14.7 million pounds harvested easily exceeded the 10-year average of 10.9 million pounds. In addition, alpha averaged 4 percent, compared to the 10-year average of 3.1 percent.
As a result, Bohemia Hop reports that as well as fulfilling all contracts for Saaz this year it will be possible to fulfill postponed volumes from previous crops, and satisfy additional demand.
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