Save the Ales Save the Ales Climate change is threatening all aspects of our lives - where we live, our health, and now, how we spend our free time. Global warming will change temperature, precipitation, and greatly affect local climates in numerous ways. One crop that will be greatly affected is hops, one of the main ingredients in beer. Hops are very sensitive to climate. Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Hops require full sun, loose, well drained soil, and lots and lots of water.
Climate change has been predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , a body of the United Nations, to lower precipitation and make summers warmer, leading to decreased soil moisture. Since hops require lots of water, any decrease in precipitation or available water in the soil will lead to decreased hop quality and production. Longer and warmer summers also will likely lead to an increase in both the diversity and longevity of pests and pathogens, decreasing hop yield. Decreasing hop production in the Northwest will likely have two effects. Not only would the amount of hops produced in the US decrease, leading to an increase in the price of locally grown hops, but the production of European hops has already been diminished due to various pathogens, creating an even greater demand and market value.