MUNICH (AP) - The keys to combating the climate change that is wreaking havoc on Germany's beer industry could lie in a plant nursery - nicknamed "our kindergarten" - at the Society of Hop Research north of Munich.
The 7,000 seedlings are a mix of new varieties resulting from research, education and age-old German traditions in hop growing and beer brewing. The hope is that the plants will grow seven to eight meters tall and be strong enough to withstand a host of diseases and disasters that come their way - such as rising temperatures, drought and the dreaded powdery mildew that can wipe out. whole crops.
At each stage, the plants will be incorporated into education in classrooms at universities and vocational schools, breweries and farms across Germany. Generations of professional farmers and brewers, as well as the students who want to join them, will learn a lot from the plants growing: what new varieties to add to reduce the risk of a bad year wiping out a farm's entire crop, or the newest varieties bring a new flavor to the market, and whether a specific type is particularly resistant to disease.
The successes - or failures - of the seedlings could determine the fate of the country's famous Hallertau region, the world's largest hop growing area where most of the farms' crops will end up in beer.
If the hops stay alive and thrive, the vines will move to trellises on trial fields in the heart of Bavaria next year. Researchers hope the specially bred hops will grow into climate change-resistant and commercially viable varieties that will eventually be brewed into beer served around the world - and at future Oktoberfests, celebrated an hour's drive south of the research association.
"The new varieties give our farmers the chance for an income and an income for the next generation," Walter König, director of the association, told The Associated Press last week from the small farming town of Hüll. "It gives our brewers the varieties they need now and in the future."
Man-made climate change has made the world hotter and increased the likelihood of both long droughts and intense rainfall. It has influenced farmers and their practices around the world, including in this beer region of Bavaria, where the art and craft of growing hops and brewing beer dates back more than a thousand years. History is honored at every Oktoberfest, which began on Saturday for the 189th time.
Education and research are crucial components of the German beer industry, from the Society of Hop Research to apprenticeships, vocational hop growing training and the vaunted Master Brewer diploma.
For example, König lectures to brewers and farmers throughout Germany and in the research center's dedicated classroom, spreading society's latest knowledge on drought-tolerant agricultural techniques, pesticide reduction and efforts to increase plant biodiversity. In recent years, the association has been breeding hop varieties for farmers who take climate change into account: the new plants require less water and have deeper roots to withstand the drier weather.
Experts say this education and information sharing is becoming increasingly important for preserving the traditional taste of your favorite German lagers and ales.
"Climate change is happening. This is true, you cannot doubt it," says Thomas Becker, professor and chairman of brewing technology at the Technical University of Munich.
Becker, who oversees the university's research brewery, says he teaches the 400 to 500 students in his program to think about how climate change affects the entire beer industry, from the bottom to the bottle sold on the commercial market.
Farmers' yields are shrinking rapidly and what's left has become "completely different," Becker said, forcing brewers to change their recipes to achieve the historic flavor. The professor also challenges his students to minimize energy consumption during brewing and finish with a product that has a longer shelf life to limit waste.
The students soon discover that brewing a crisp, cold beer on a warming planet is becoming increasingly difficult - and it could get even more difficult, according to a study published last year in the journal Nature Communications . Researchers predicted a 4 to 18% decline in hop yields across Europe's growing regions by 2050 if farmers do not adapt to the changing climate.
It is already happening in the Hallertau. The region's raw materials - hops and barley - have had to deal with higher temperatures and less rainfall during the growing months in spring and summer for a number of years.
Andreas Widmann, a 32-year-old fourth-generation hop farmer in the Hallertau, has lost 20 to 30% of his yield in recent years after hot, dry summers. In addition to his studies in agricultural business administration, Widmann took specialized lessons in hop cultivation at the only technical school in Bavaria that offered such courses.
Widmann's experience comes both from the classrooms and from time spent with his own crops in Germany and during a three-month internship on two hop farms in the United States. He learned about climate change at school, such as new soil treatments, but says creativity also plays a role on the field.
Now he has transitioned from student to teacher: he works with the students on his farm to figure out the best way to water sustainably with irrigation, use fertilizer efficiently and plant new varieties that can cope with climate change and still be marketable to brewers who want to maintain their quality of life. classic taste.
"Looking at the future of hop growing is always very difficult," Widmann said last week as the vines around him were harvested. "Because on the one hand it depends on supply and demand. What kind of hops do brewers want? On the other hand, we say: 'Yes, we need climate-tolerant varieties to grow.'"
König says Widmann and Becker's students are among a wave of future farmers and brewers who are ready and willing to tackle climate change.
"We may have established old brewmasters many times. They say, 'I'm not changing my recipe, it's fine the way I do it. I don't want to use a new recipe or a new variety," König said. 'But we want to teach the new generation what the problems are, what solutions we have.'
It's a delicate balance for the German beer industry to preserve the country's hop and brewing flavors and traditions while adapting to the future. To ensure that the Hallertau remains the largest hop growing area in the world for centuries to come, Becker says climate change must continue to have its own place in the classroom.
"It's really always on our minds as we train our people," he said.
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Pietro De Cristofaro contributed to this report.
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