Dalhousie University Student is Brewing Up Something New

Fourth year finance co-op student Evan Price has signed a five year contract with Garrison Brewery to supply the microbrewery with organically grown hops.

Key Points:

The farming venture is a direct result of a co-op work term where Price was required to create his own business and find ways to improve and move forward.
Called FiddleHop farms, Price started by growing fiddleheads. He currently has more than 15,000 fiddlehead plants.
The fiddlehead growing season is between five to eight weeks in the spring. Price wanted to find another crop that could be grown organically for the rest of the growing season.
There was an international hop shortage a few years ago caused by blight and poor weather conditions. The shortage has created a demand in the local market.
Garrison Brewery will use Price’s hops to produce 3 Fields Harvest Ale, a “wet” hopped ale that uses locally grown hops that are harvested, shipped and brewed in the same day.

Pull Quotes:

“We looked at corn, soy and hops. We discovered that corn was a losing proposition and soy is tough to grow organically, but hops seemed to be quite interesting.” Evan Price, Fiddlehop Farm
“No one’s really taken the initiative to develop a local hops industry.” – Jason Pelley, Director of Research, Fiddlehop Farm