The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service released their annual report on hop acres planted. The report shows a small increase of about 4% more acres planted in 2021 versus acres harvested in 2020.
The uptick in acres planted indicates a recovery versus the difficult year last year with deceased demand due to the pandemic. The overall beer market was down 3% last year while craft beer volume was down 9%. In addition to the pandemic, severe weather during the hop harvest and heavy smoke from large wildfires also impacted yield.
See a detailed analysis of the report from Brewers Association chief economist, Bart Watson here and the full USDA report here.