Natural Disasters out West Coupled with a Craft Brewing Boom Provide Opportunity for Hop Farmers to Gain Market Share

Abstract

This study focuses on the hops market during the previous years of 1980 to 2015. Background knowledge, economic theory, a review of recent literature, and a regression analysis is performed to attempt to provide evidence that heat and drought have significantly opened up an opportunity for farmers to gain market share in the hop farming industry. This study focuses on the United States greatest supplier of hops, the Yakima Valley of Washington.