It is evident few days before the start of hop harvest that the hop crop 2015 in the Czech Republic will be lower than the crop 2014.
Luboš Hejda, Chairman of the board of Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic, delivered pre-harvest information from all hop growing regions. He estimates 30% lower crop than previous crop 2014 that reached 6.202 tons.
While the long and deep-built roots and irrigation systems can partly protect plants against dry weather there is no way how to protect hops suffering from high temperatures. “The combination of both occurrences has a harmful influence on the yield and quality. Due to high temperatures, the water from a hop delivery system is evaporating. It affects a maturation of hops. Thus, the yield will be lower.” … said Luboš Hejda during the Hop Growers Day that is regularly held at the hop research farm in Steknik.
Zdeněk Rosa, Chairman of Board of Bohemia Hop a.s. and CHMELAŘSTVÍ, družstvo Žatec, informed from the position of the Chairman of the Economic Commission of the IHGC that the hop acreage worldwide has increased up to 50.500 ha. Nevertheless, the crop 2015 will be lower than in the previous year due to the unfavourable climatic conditions in summer 2015. The decreases are expected apart from the Czech Republic mainly in Germany and Slovenia where the weather progress was similar.