Hops from Chuvashia apply for organic certification

Work on registering raw hops as organic is carried out by scientists from the Chuvash State Agrarian University together with Roskachestvo. Employees prepare documents and conduct on-site inspections to confirm the “eco” status.
Chuvashia is the country’s leader in hop production; about 90% of the “green gold” is grown here: by the end of 2023, 180 tons of the crop were harvested. Hop plantations are located on the agricultural areas of 8 producers: Agrokhmel LLC, AgroResursy LLC, Vylsky Agricultural Production Complex, Leninskaya Iskra KOPKH, Chuvash Research Institute of Agriculture - a branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution FANC of the North-East, RUSKHMEL LLC, Chuvashkhmelprom OJSC, LLC "Hop of the Fatherland."
In addition, the Chuvash Agrarian State University has areas with crops. The task of the university is not so much to grow hops, but to conduct scientific and research work. For this purpose, since December 2022, the Competence Center “Chuvashia – a hop production center” has been operating on the basis of the educational institution. “ Work
is underway here aimed at import substitution in hop growing. At one time, up to 3-4 thousand tons of hop cones were collected annually in the Chuvash Republic, but in recent years the industry has undergone significant changes, not for the better. Many breweries have given preference to foreign raw materials. It’s good that there are still specialists in hop growing, and our task is to give them every opportunity to restore science, and after it the production of hops,” notes the importance of the activities of the Competence Center, the Deputy Prime Minister,Minister of Agriculture of Chuvashia Sergei Artamonov.
In a year and a half, the Competence Center, in order to provide the industry with high-quality planting material, planted hop mother plants of high reproduction, trained specialists from different regions of the country in courses, registered and entered into the State Register two new hop varieties: “Aromatic” and “Suvar”. With significant government support, the first laboratory for complex analysis of hops was opened at the Center.
The next step is to confirm environmental friendliness. For this purpose, the hop plot with the Podvyazny variety of the Competence Center with an area of ​​1.7 hectares is allocated for organic farming, where only biological preparations are used.
The work on registering “organic hops” is planned to be completed by the end of 2024 . Expert visits are expected during the period of technical ripeness of the crop cones (August-September).
“It is necessary not only to create a scientific and technical base, but also to restore the good name of Chuvash hops,” said Anatoly Korotkov, HEAD of the Competence Center.