Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this project is small and medium-size commercial hop growers and hobbyist home garden hop growers. Changes/Problems:There were two unexpected outcomes in this project. First, the semi-automated harvester was not able to remove hops directly off the trellis structure with a minimal plant debris load. The hops stripper component of the harvester head was re-designed twice and trialed but still did not function as needed due to cone and side arm clumping. Also, the essential oil content of harvested hops in both 2019 and 2020 were much lower than expected. The project's work schedule was adjusted for one technical objective -- completing a value chain analysis and survey to determine potential grower benefits of alternative markets for hops and value-added products was eliminated from project work since the essential oil content. This technical objective was not accomplished in the project due to the low essential oil content of the hops in both years of the project and the failure to design equipment that could successfully harvest hops off of the trellis structure. Both of these were critical to this objective's feasibility. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Extension and outreach efforts include hosting field days at the Indiana research farm, providing marketing materials and how to use videos on the ibexgrows.com website, and direct to consumer email marketing campaigns. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project resulted in a commercial product that supports the home gardening sector and gives people an option to grow hops on a small scale in rural, suburban and urban areas throughout the US. Project activities have also led to new business opportunities for our materials vendors, local advertising company, printing service provider and other support businesses such as legal, accounting, web hosting, etc. in the Midwest and Atlantic regions. University researchers in Florida and Arkansas used the system to study hops. TGS completed basic research on growing hops and worked to finalize product design, develop sustainable vendor relationships, secure outside funding and put together the infrastructure necessary for successful product launch. Test site growers in New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana provided feedback on trellis design, yields and pest managements and contributed ideas to help make plant management tasks more user friendly. Plant growth data was provided by the Univ. of Florida. Adev Automation worked to develop a trellis-compatible mechanical harvester. Research addressed 1) the issue of high equipment and labor costs associated with small scale production of hops and 2) the unavailability of equipment suitable for hobbyists in suburban and urban areas. Potential future impacts are the creation of more manufacturing jobs to meet product supply demands, higher small farm market profits and increased sales of home garden fertility and pest control products. 1. Build and evaluate the performance of a mechanical hand harvest aid. A hand harvest aid was built using the same design as the hops stripper of the semi-automated harvester being developed in this project. Three designs were trialed during the project. Each design had a central hole where a bine would be held and adjustable sliding plates. The goal was to strip whole cones from a single bine at a time while keeping the bine intact and minimizing the leaves and side arms in the harvested material. This was important because stripping cones from the bines rather than threshing them off would better preserve the cone chemicals. The end result would be higher quality harvested hops. However, all designs failed to overcome the issue of cone and side arm clumping at the central hole. This clumping also resulted in mechanical stress on the bine which caused the bine to break. 2. Build and evaluate the performance of a semi-automated harvesting system. A harvester was built as a rover based that would use an adjustable 10-ft. boom base that the harvest head would travel along as it stripped cones from a bine attached to the trellis structure via a bine wire. The rover had 4 independently steerable wheels and an adjustable plate to adjust the height of the boom. Powered by marine batteries, it was controlled by a microcontroller with a wireless link to a laptop. An inductive sensor and visible cameras aligned the boom in parallel with the bines. Research focused on getting the harvest head to remove hops while keeping the bine intact. This issue was not resolved by the end of this project. 3. Assess trellis performance, plant growth, yield and cone quality data of different cultivars at 8 beta test sites. Sixty feet of low trellis system was installed at test sites within the midwest, southern and eastern regions. Overall the trellis structure performed well in field trials. The trellis arms were observed to flex considerably under the full weight of plant growth and isolated fractures were observed in the trellis posts at the end of Year 1. The trellis structure was strengthened by raising the pivot point of the trellis assembly, increasing the wall width of the trellis post and shortening the trellis arm in Year 2. These design improvements were observed to correct the structural issues. Plant growth was sufficient for bines to reach the top of the trellis. No nutrient deficiencies were reported at any test site. No disease or pest issues were significant. Yields were 5% - 30% of reported yields for cultivars grown on 20-foot trellis structures and ~50% - 60% of reported yields for cultivars grown on 16-foot trellis structures. Data suggests that yields on the 12-foot low trellis system are not sufficient to be profitable for commercial hop farms. However, test sites noted that cones matured differently between the top and bottom of the bines. This observation could be a function of using a new bine training method. This situation could of benefit to Pick Your Own (PYO) operations and home hobbyist growers. Cones from the Indiana site were tested for Brewer's Quality. The majority of cultivars were found to have essential oil contents lower than their reported standard while alpha acids were found to be fairly consistent with standard values. The new bine training technique used in this project, whereby each bine is trained to a separate wire and spatially spread out from other bines to maximize light exposure, along with the hot weather conditions during cone formation in both 2019 and 2020 could have been significant factors in low levels of essential oils. 4. Evaluate effects of new bine training methods on side arm and flower cluster bud break to improve harvest efficiencies. The goals of this method were to cause more cone-producing side arms to form lower on the bine to increase yields and to position the majority of cones on the side of the bine that would be underneath the trellis when rotated to the harvest position. This cone position would, in theory, increase the efficiency of mechanical harvest. In this method, the rotatable trellis arm was set to vertical until the bines reached the trellis top. The trellis was then rotated back 45º and the bine tips were removed to release the bine from apical dominance and initiate side arm emergence. Once cones started to form, the trellis was rotated back to vertical until harvest. Three experimental plots were used to test the effects of trellis rotation on plants and the trellis structure was kept vertical (no rotation) in three control plots. Data collected included: a) number of nodes with two side arms, nodes with one side arm, and nodes without side arms, b) number of cones per side arm from most distal to most proximal node on each bine, c) percent of cones on both sides of the trellis and d) distance from ground to first side arm with cones. Statistical analysis using t-tests found no significant difference between means. It appears that trellis rotation and topping the bines does not affect cone placement on the trellis, the number of auxiliary buds that give rise to side arms or the height of side arms from ground level that produce cones. 5. Complete a value chain analysis and survey to determine potential grower benefits of alternative markets for hops and value-added products. This technical objective was not accomplished in the project due to the low essential oil content of the hops in both years of the project and the failure to design equipment that could successfully harvest hops off of the trellis structure. Both of these factors were critical to this objective's feasibility. 6. Analyze final system performance, complete cost estimates and prepare a profit and loss (P&L) pro forma. The system met performance expectations. Installation only requires 1-2 people and an electric auger or sledgehammer, socket wrench and screwdriver. All kit parts fit into packaging that can be shipped direct to customers at a reasonable cost. Plants can be maintained from training through harvest without the need for a ladder as the trellis arm can be rotated to hip level. Currently there are no competitor products on the market. Our cost estimates support a sale price of $775 for the IBEX Hop Growing System Kit.

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems:The harvester was not able to remove hops directly off the trellis structure with a minimal plant debris load. The hops stripper component of the harvester head was re-designed and trialed but still did not function as needed. A new design that is expected to reduce clumping of plant material at the point of contact with the stripper component will be field trialed in 2020. The project's work schedule was adjusted for two technical objectives. Building and evaluating the performance of a mechanical hand harvest aid was not an efficient use of resources until the design of the hops stripper component is finalized. In addition, completing a value chain analysis and survey to determine potential grower benefits of alternative markets for hops and value-added products cannot be fully executed until hops are harvested from beta test sites in 2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Design efforts on the harvester will focus on preventing the clumping of hops and leaves at the aperture of the hop stripper component of the harvest head. The goal is to have a design that harvests at least 95% of the hops off the trellis structure while minimizing the plant debris load. Once this goal is met, the hop stripper component will be adapted to create an economical, easy to use hand harvest tool. While the rover base was found to be sufficiently capable of moving under the trellis and locating bine wires, additional work is still need to integrate the harvest head-boom assembly and create a user-friendly harvest bin that can be used to collect the hops for further post-harvest processing. Yield and cone quality studies on 16 different cultivars will continue in Year 2 of this project. No adjustments are anticipated in fertility or pest management. An adjustment in the bine training method in order to increase yields will be to cut the bine tops once they are 12-16" past the top of the trellis rather than 2-3" past the top. This change is expected to increase yields by at least 10-15%. A second year of data will be taken to determine if trellis rotation after topping the bines to release apical dominance affects cone placement on the trellis, the number of auxiliary buds that give rise to side arms and the height of side arms from ground level that produce cones. Also, TGS will work to complete a value chain analysis and survey to determine potential grower benefits of alternative markets for hops and value-added products. Online resources will be used to initiate networking with hop alliances and brewer guilds located in the target regions. In addition, field days at select test sites for growers, craft brewers and extension agents will used to gather information to meet this objective. A final goal in the next reporting period is going to gather and analyze the low trellis production system performance data provided by beta test sites. Cost estimates will be calculated based on the final system design. A profit and loss pro forma will be prepared for both a 1/4 acre and 1 acre planting.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Small and mid-size farms located in the midwestern, eastern and southern regions of the US will benefit from a trellis and harvesting system for hops that is designed for their particular needs. Such a system would allow them to meet the large demand by craft brewers in their region for local grown hops. Standard hop yard equipment used in large hops growing regions such as the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are just not practical for most of these farms. This standard equipment is expensive and designed for plants that will grow 20 feet tall and produce high yields--both of which are difficult in regions with a less than ideal climate as compared to the PNW. Excessive heat, high humidity and shorter day lengths experienced in regions outside the PNW can combine to make hops production more difficult because yields are lower and disease pressure is higher. To offset these issues, farmers need a new system for growing hops that makes disease management easier and reduces labor-related annual operating expenses. Trellis Growing Systems is developing such a system. The Low Trellis Production and Harvesting System for Hops is expected to help these farmers that struggle to profitably grow hops. The system includes a rotatable fiberglass-reinforced trellis structure, corrosion resistant metal hardware, and mechanical harvesting equipment designed to harvest hops directly off the trellis structure. The trellis structure's unique rotatable feature allows growers to more easily and efficiently complete the work necessary for this labor-intensive crop. Pest scouting and disease control measures as well as harvesting can occur from ground level which eliminates costs and safety concerns of using high lift equipment needed in standard hop yards. Research to identify cultivars that produce the highest yields of quality hops is currently being undertaken at tests sites in Indiana, Ohio, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Arkansas. Information on best cultural practices and labor management will be gained along with field trial results to refine prototype mechanical harvesting equipment. All of these efforts are anticipated to further the knowledge base on cultivar performance in different regions and result in greater labor efficiencies. Together, these benefits should help small to mid-size farmers realize a higher return on investment. Accomplishments to meet technical objectives: Build and evaluate the performance of a mechanical hand harvest aid. This objective will be addressed once re-design work on the hops stripper component of the harvester head is complete during the next reporting period. Build and evaluate the performance of a semi-automated harvesting system. A remote-controlled prototype harvester was built and field tested. The base rover unit design did meet the harvest head requirements, support the boom weight and power all sensors and motors controlling the boom position. The inductive sensor worked well with visible cameras to accomplish the task of aligning the boom to the bines attached to the trellis structure. The hops stripper component of the harvest head was re-designed based on field tests on hops cultivars that differed in sidearm length and cone load. Assess trellis performance, plant growth, yield and cone quality data of different cultivars at 8 beta test sites. Sixty feet of low trellis hops production systems were installed at eight beta test sites spread within the midwestern, southern and eastern regions. The trellis structure performed well and only minor design changes will be made for Year 2 project work. Plant growth varied between test sites. A cold, wet spring at test sites in New York, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio contributed to poor early growing conditions for the 2 year old plants which had been established in test hopyards from late fall 2018 to early spring 2019. Yield data from newly propagated Cascade plants was collected by University of Florida personnel at the Gulf Coast Research Station. The Florida trellis system includes the use of over-head LED lights to supplement the natural day length in order to increase overall yields. Yield and cone quality data were collected at the Indiana site where Phase I work had been performed and plants are 2-5 years old. Yields from 2 year old plants were lower than reported yields for the same cultivars at full production on standard 18-20' high trellis structures and 14-16' low trellis structures. Yields on our 12' trellis structure were lower than expected for the mature 5-year old plants. This fact could have been the result of heat stress during critical flowering stages as the plants experienced 43 days > 85 °F and 15 days > 90 °F during the period of burr and cone formation. Sterile flowers where observed on all bines of a cultivar known to be susceptible to heat stress. Cones from 8 cultivars were tested for chemical quality within 36 hours of being harvested. The Brewer's Quality (HPLC) and Essential Oils test results showed the majority of cultivars to be within their industry standard level for alpha acids, have higher than normal beta acid levels and lower than normal total oils. The effects of heat stress could have contributed to the lower production of essential oils. Evaluate effects of new bine training methods on side arm and flower cluster bud break to improve harvest efficiencies. Three experimental plots were used to test the effects of trellis rotation on plants and the trellis structure was kept vertical (no rotation) in three control plots. Each plot had 2 plants from 3 different cultivars (Centennial, Columbus and Northern Brewer) with 5 bines trained per plant. The following data was collected: a) number of nodes with two side arms, nodes with one side arm, and nodes without side arms, b) number of cones per side arm from most distal to most proximal node on each bine, c) percent of cones on both sides of the trellis and d) distance from ground to first side arm with cones. Where applicable, statistical analysis using t-tests found no significant difference between means. Based on this information, it appears at this time that trellis rotation and topping the bines does not affect cone placement on the trellis, the number of auxiliary buds that give rise to side arms or the height of side arms from ground level that produce cones. Complete a value chain analysis and survey to determine potential grower benefits of alternative markets for hops and value-added products. This objective will be addressed in the next reporting period after more yield and cone quality data is available. Analyze final system performance, complete cost estimates and prepare a profit and loss (P&L) pro forma. Cost estimates will be calculated based on the final system design after field trialing in the next report period. However, current cost estimates for a 1/4 acre of trellis system are $4,662 based on the following components: 30 trellis post assemblies with hardware, 20 wood tie back posts, 1000 hop clips and 500 stainless steel bine wires.

Publications