Will climate change cause beer shortages?
It has been published and surmised in numerous European studies that there might be a decline just south of 20% in Hops production by the year 2050. This will also be paired with a decline of the nutritional value of hops that lends to the character and flavour profiles of certain beers. Two seperate studies that spanned over two decades each across three large hops producing countries have show a few interesting factors crop up.
Most prevalent among them being that the average start of the production season having shifted by nearly 13 days. As well as that hops production over the last 30 years, in the majority of Europe, had decreased by nearly 20%. With the ripening period coming along earlier that usual has also had a dramatic decline on the acid content, that provides beer with its bitterness, in hops.
According to the projects director of the US Brewers Association measures have been taken to combat a similar problem in the US. These measures mainly consist of developing hop varieties that are resilient to these climate changes.
The projects director Chuck Skypeck also stated that he believes these concerns are slightly out of proportion. He stated that there definitely are factors to be concerned about, but that the appropriate steps are being taken to combat them.
The president and CEO of Asahi Group Holdings stated that climate change can reduce barley crops and the quality of hops over the course of the next 30 years. This could cause a beer shortage. He also stated that the increased temperatures may present an interesting opportunity in terms of beer consumption, but that they may not be able to produce enough beer.
In conclusion it is unclear how the climate changes will affect the beer world, but with steps being taken to combat these issues only time will tell.
The information in this article was greatly sourced from an article in USA Today Money. Which covers this article more in depth, should you wish to view this article you can Click here.
