WHY IS PRODUCE SO MUCH BETTER THAN IT USED TO BE?

I am sitting at my desk looking at a beautiful red apple. I have eaten about 10 of them over the past few weeks and, to put it mildly, they are awesome. This apple is the new Cosmic Crisp? that you may have heard about. I originally tried it a few years back in a test orchard. It is touted as good as, or even better than, Honeycrisp-- but without the growing and storage issues inherent to Honeycrisp.  Growers love to sell Honey Crisp, but they hate growing it.  In my humble opinion, the creators of Cosmic Crisp? hit the jackpot. This is one great apple. 

As a new product aficionado and a leader in an ag business, I find it exciting that crop breeders can develop a fruit or vegetable that is so much better than anything we consumed in the past. My company grows hops. In beer history, the Germans had a purity law requiring that the only ingredients in beer were barley, yeast, water and hops. So how did those German beers evolve to the incredible lagers, IPAs, stouts, porters and craft beers you love today? Hops have evolved and they are the key to giving beer its aroma and character.   Today, there are multitudes of varieties of hops.    Our farm grows 22 of them.   

In my opinion, the best hop varieties have high aromatic qualities. Many of these varieties are privately owned. Private varieties have strict growing protocols and are licensed to select growers and brokers. Some craft beer packaging will label the hop variety. If it has a trademark symbol it is a private variety. Currently, the hops that are very popular are Citra?, Sabro?, Simco?, Mosaic? and Strata?.

To give you an example, Strata? will give beer an aroma described as “Passion Fruit Meets Pot”. (Wafting cannabis is my favorite descriptor). Mosaic? is noted for its berry medley aroma but also includes hints of mango, stone fruit, pine and herbal spice. Sabro? can be described as Neo Mexicana. Think of what you might experience while sitting on a beach in Playa del Carmen where pina coladas are served.   

Recently my company started studying the effects of earth and climate on hop characteristics. You may have heard of “Terroir” in wine. We are researching hop terroir. We believe that this will help brewers further refine their skills and keep great craft brews coming to market.   I am excited for the future of agriculture as we work to grow crops not only with higher yields and better disease resistance but also with better hedonics. –or, in other words, they just taste/smell awesome.