A Champagne farmer starts growing hops

France bleu published an article on Mickaël PORTEVIN's hop production (Agriculture, 2005, Beauvais).

In a bid to diversify local agriculture, the grower, based in the Champagne wine region, has launched his hop-growing project in 2019. Based in Beine-Nauroy, Marne, the alumnus is defying tradition by opting to produce a key ingredient for beer in a region more renowned for its vineyards than its breweries.

May 3 marked an important milestone with the installation of the supports needed for the hop plants, accompanied by a team of local farmers. His project, dubbed "Sacrés Houblons", aims to support local, organic production to meet the growing demand from French brewers, and hopes to sell his hops to microbreweries in the region in search of authentic, sustainable ingredients.

With a planned harvest of 7.2 tonnes of hops, equivalent to 11.5 million halves of beer, Mickael hopes to open up new prospects for regional agriculture and promote more local, environmentally-friendly sourcing in the brewing industry.

Read the full article here