{"id":1260,"date":"2024-02-22T09:47:55","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T09:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2025-05-19T12:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T11:47:11","slug":"major-boost-for-uk-hops-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/2024\/02\/22\/major-boost-for-uk-hops-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Major boost for UK hops industry\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pioneering collaborative project between University of Kent researchers and\u00a0<\/span>Wye Hops<\/span><\/a>\u00a0alongside\u00a0<\/span>National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB)<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>the British Hop Association<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>The Hop Plant Company<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>LGC genomics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has been awarded over half a million pounds by\u00a0UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)<\/a>\u00a0to develop environmentally resilient \u2018super hop\u2019 varieties.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u00a3574k five-year project will involve \u202f<\/span>Dr Helen Cockerton<\/span><\/a>, Industrial Research Fellow at the\u00a0<\/span>School of Biosciences<\/span><\/a>, working closely with Hop Breeder, Dr Klara Hajdu, on genetic informed breeding to create hop varieties which are more resilient to drought, pests and diseases. \u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hops give beer its distinct aroma, flavour and bitterness and are an essential ingredient in the UK\u2019s \u00a310 billion brewing industry. The UK was once the leading supplier of the industry\u2019s hops but when lighter Pale Ales and Indian Ales became fashionable in the 1800s, UK growers struggled to compete against foreign competitors, especially when UK hops were falsely purported to be of inferior quality.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is huge potential for UK-grown hops \u2013 of which 50% are grown in county Kent \u2013 to regain a leading status within the UK brewing industry but to do so, hop growers need to overcome a series of major challenges. Verticillium wilt, the number one disease threatening UK hop production, is currently untreatable and able to kill entire hop gardens. Extreme heat and droughts are also becoming more commonplace in the UK.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This new project aims to provide a solution to these challenges and supply UK breweries with high quality, sustainably produced, local hops. Dr Cockerton will contribute a wealth of expertise in genetic informed breeding to the project. This technique has advantages over traditional breeding as it enables scientists to use their understanding of a crop\u2019s DNA to select varieties which, when bred together, will produce varieties with desirable traits, such as drought or pest resistance. This is one of the first hop breeding programmes in the world to use this approach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Cockerton said, \u2018The tools we will develop through this project will enable us to generate better hops faster than we could achieve through using traditional approaches alone.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Hajdu added, \u2018Through this collaboration we are not only addressing important issues such as the development of climate resilient British hop varieties but also re-establishing a dynamic, research-driven hop breeding programme capable of future proofing the UK hop and brewing industries in the face of evolving challenges.\u2019 \u202f \u202f \u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This project is funded by the\u00a0Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs\u2019 (DEFRA) Farming Innovation Programme<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Transforming Food Production<\/a>\u00a0challenge which<\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>funds ambitious research and development projects to overcome production barriers and create a more productive and sustainable sector. \u202f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pioneering collaborative project between University of Kent researchers and\u00a0Wye Hops\u00a0alongside\u00a0National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB),\u00a0the British Hop Association,\u00a0The Hop Plant Company\u00a0and\u00a0LGC genomics\u00a0has been awarded … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74795,"featured_media":1261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[282613,13897,9112,282603,256068],"tags":[79492],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1262,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions\/1262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}