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Daily Barometer
February 16, 2010
Indie Hops grants College of Ag Sciences $1 million to start program, research new breeds
By Katrina Lorengel
The Daily Barometer
OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences will soon have a new aroma hop breeding program thanks to a $1 million gift from Indie Hops.
Indie Hops, a hop merchant based in Portland, has granted OSU $807,000 for this new program. The new program will be headed by research associate and hop breeding specialist Shaun Townsend.
Indie Hops also gave $200,000 to Thomas Shellhammer, an associate professor in food science and technology, to support research for studying aroma hop chemistry and developing new aroma hops. Specifically, the money will be used for program operating costs including supplies, labor and services.
Jim Solberg, CEO of Indie Hops, said they have not donated to any other universities in Oregon.
"OSU has a rich history in hops research and breeding," Solberg said. "We are firm believers in basic research and want to help the craft brewing market in Oregon."
OSU has a 17-acre hop breeding facility. The grant is to be given over the next four years to help develop new techniques and create new aroma hops geared specifically towards craft breweries in Oregon.
Townsend said this research will affect craft breweries around the country, including those located in and around Corvallis.
"Indie Hops is spear-heading an effort to closely involve craft brewers early in the hop breeding process," Townsend said. "The craft brewers will help us select those genotypes that they would like to brew with by assisting with hop essential oil evaluation."
OSU and the United States Department of Agriculture are continuously working on ways to combat diseases and insects that can negatively affect a crop. The new research is designed to help find disease resistant sources that can block disease causing pathogens.
"Disease causing pathogens are constantly evolving to overcome disease resistance bred into current hop cultivars," Townsend said. "We must continually look for new disease resistance sources and incorporate that into desirable breeding lines to form new resistant cultivars. Basically, we're trying to stay one step ahead of the pathogens, and we're also trying to minimize pesticide applications to reduce our environmental impact."
"On the brewing side, craft brewers love to experiment so they are always interested in new hop cultivars that have unique aroma and flavor profiles."
Russ Karow is the head of OSU's crop and soil science department. In an interview with OPB, Karow said that aroma hops are the variety favored by craft brewers.
"What we're going to be doing in this program is trying to figure out what kind of flavors, what kind of aromas are the craft-brewing people interested in and see if we can create those through the breeding program," Karow said.
Indie Hops was created by two former Corvallis residents, Solberg and Roger Worthington, and launched in 2009. Their goal was to set up a hops processing facility in Oregon and draw attention to the fact that this is a premium area to grow aroma hops.
"Craft brewing is the creative use of ingredients for more high quality aromas and flavor profiles," Solberg said. "We want to give craft brewers more varieties of interesting hops."
The new program will be in the College of Agricultural Sciences within the department of crop and soil science.
Katrina Lorengel, staff writer
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