Northwest District

Hello DNW MBAA community

I am working with a team of researchers at OSU, WSU and Univ Idaho on a USDA-funded project to improve the competitiveness of US hops. Part of the team led by Lena Le, Director, and Morgan Montanez, Research Assistant, at the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center at WSU wish to connect with you to better understand how the EU Farm to Fork Policies may be impacting ingredients your brewery uses, particularly hops. They seek your expertise to understand how the policy change is impacting your business and breweries of all sizes (or not). 

Specifically, if you would be willing to set aside an hour of a day of your choice, their team would like to ask you about attributes your business finds important in obtaining hops, the value of sustainably grown ingredients to your business, and how valuable you think certain aspects of the changes to hops production will be for the future of beer. Additionally, they are interested in any concerns you may have about changes to hops crops. The interview can take place on zoom or over the phone based on your comfort. As a token of appreciation, they would like to send you a $20 gift card upon the completion of the interview.

Please e-mail sesrc.hops.study@wsu.edu with the day and time that works best for you. They understand that it may be a busy time for you, and they are more than happy to talk outside of "normal" business hours including evenings or weekends. Additionally, if you have any colleagues who you think we should speak with, feel free to share this e-mail. They want to make sure they accurately represent the experiences and needs of brewers. 

Thanks for your help with this project.

Best regards,

Tom Shellhammer