Breeding disease resistant hops for the craft beer industry

The craft beer industry is experiencing explosive growth across Canada. Along with this growth, there is agrowing demand for locally grown hops. Brookdale Farms is one of only a handful of agricultural businesseswho are experimenting with hop growing on the east coast of Canada. They produce hops for their sistercompany, the Tatamagouch Brewing Company, a rapidly growing craft brewery located close to the farm. InNova Scotia, hop growing is challenging because of high humidity and the associated pressure of fungaldiseases, especially powdery mildew. The proposed research will enable Brookdale Farms to breed their ownnovel, mildew resistant hop cultivars suitable for cultivation in Nova Scotia. By the end of the project, hopseedlings carrying disease resistance genes will be delivered to Brookdale Farms along with optimizedprotocols for future breeding efforts. Brookdale Farms will maintain the resulting plants and select the bestfrom among them to commercialize several years from now. The resulting hop cultivars will not only requireless chemical input to grow, but their future commercialization within Nova Scotia has the potential to providethe local craft beer industry with their own unique hop cultivars, providing an innovative marketing advantagefor the local industry, and a unique commercialization opportunity for Brookdale Farms.