High rise hops: Ekonoke CEO details how vertical farming elevates beer flavor, aroma and sustainability

31 Mar 2022 --- AI-backed vertical farming specialist Ekonoke is growing hydroponic hops to mitigate climate risks often associated with this key ingredient for the premium beer industry. Growing hops in a completely controlled environment could be the answer to maintaining consistently high levels of special compounds that contribute to a more desirable flavor and aroma profile.

“Considering how vital hops are for each beer’s precise flavor and bitterness profile, breweries are very concerned about the instability of supply of their preferred varieties. They are very interested in guaranteeing a constant supply of certain varieties with a predictable quality,” Inés Sagrario, CEO and co-founder of Ekonoke, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

She underscores that pesticides are not necessary in Ekonoke’s strictly controlled growing conditions. “Our methods allow us to obtain higher alpha-acid contents (one of the main quality indicators in bitter hops) than the same varieties grown outdoors.”

“Through epigenetics we should be able to further impact essential oils that are particularly relevant for aroma hops. We are also starting our own breeding program through which we expect to obtain new varieties producing the same quantity and quality, with lower energy, water and nutrient use.”

Hops was ranked at the top of a list of crops with the highest climate risk (Credit: Ekonoke).Vertical farming offers brewers access to fresh hops all year-round. In the next five years Ekonoke is targeting that its climate-resilient sustainable hops will be growing in every continent.

Bringing an outdoor crop indoors
In 2020, Ekonoke’s R&D department identified a series of crops that currently have significant climate risk, with hops ranked at the top of the list. Sagrario highlights that most brewers have put in place ambitious sustainability plans over the past decade that can reduce the water and carbon footprint of their operations while guaranteeing resiliency to their operations. 

Hops are generally grown vertically outdoors, as a vine crop guided on trellises to grow up to  six to seven meters high. 

“Ekonoke grows hops indoors, in a 100% controlled environment,” explains Sagrario. “Hops currently are only grown outdoors in specific parts of the world that have temperate climates, long summer days and abundant water.

“As climate change impacts both maximum summer temperatures and average rainfall, conventional hop farming has been facing diminishing production and quality over the past decade. In fact, many conventional hop farmers are giving up and switching to other crops that may be more climate resilient.”

Ekonoke grows its hops hydroponically – without the use of soil – using specialized LED lighting, carefully controlling temperature and humidity so that the plants develop under perfect growing conditions.

“We provide a specific nutrient solution through a recirculating irrigation system that allows us to optimize both quantity and quality, while using 20 times less water than conventional hops,” Sagrario notes.

“Our controlled environment allows us to keep out pests, fungi, or diseases, which in turn helps us to eliminate the use of pesticides. Plants don’t need to dedicate energy to defend themselves against the insects or diseases and we can accelerate the growing cycle without impacting yield and quality.”

Ekonoke grows its crops hydroponically, without the use of soil, using specialized LED lighting (Credit: Ekonoke).

Ekonoke has already reduced the normal growing cycle by 33% and intends to reduce this timeframe by 50% of the outdoor growing cycle. 

“The entire growing cycle is precision monitored and automatized,” says Sagrario. “As we scale our operations, our own proprietary AI will allow us to correctly monitor plant growth and conditions, as well as forecast production.”

Scaling testbed facilities to full-scale
Ekonoke currently operates out of its testbed facilities, where they have three different grow rooms. It is here that the company’s researchers work to streamline processes. 

“At present we are planning a pilot 1,000 m2 operation in Galicia together with our design partner Cosecha de Galicia (the agri-tech innovation powerhouse of Hijos de Rivera, the owners of the Estrella Galicia brand),” details Sagrario.

“By the end of 2023 we should have a fully operational 10,000 m2 farm in Galicia ready to produce 80,000 to 90,000 kg of premium quality hops per year with constant year-round production.”

Between 2024 and 2025, Ekonoke will be building two additional large-scale farms per year, which it anticipates will be rolling out faster after 2026.

“Concrete geographic locations of each farm will be agreed upon with each main client,” says Sagrario. 

“They should be placed as close as possible to major breweries to exploit circular economy synergies, such as using the brewery’s treated residual waters for irrigation, pumping the excess CO2 emitted during the fermentation process to accelerate our indoor hops’ photosynthesis and eliminating hops’ food miles or heavy packaging and refrigeration requirements.”

Between 2024 and 2025, will be building two additional large-scale farms per year, which it anticipates will be rolling out faster after 2026 (Credit: Ekonoke).Vertical moves in agri-tech
Vertical or indoor farming has generally focused on leafy greens and herbs. The growing cycle for those crops is much shorter – generally, by three to six weeks – than for hops, allowing for greater rotation, and growing shelves are usually stacked in large scale facilities. 

“There are multiple large-scale operations in the market, although none of them have proven to be profitable yet and several players are diversifying into higher value crops such as berries or mushrooms,” Sagrario highlights.

“Growing hops is much more complex than leafy greens or herbs in that the plant needs to go through additional stages beyond the vegetative state into flowering and production of the final cones, which requires more careful adaptation of the growing conditions to optimize each stage and maximize results.”

Last month, Dutch start-up Future Crops made moves to accelerate the output of a high-yielding, aromatic basil variety which has been specially adapted for cultivation in a vertical farm. This “super” variety also boasts a long shelf life.

In the civil sector, an EU-backed project spearheaded research into scaling vertical gardens for domestic use, intending to make personalized nutrition more available throughout the continent while reducing reliance on industrial farming.

In other developments, BASF Venture Capital invested in Indian start-up UrbanKisaan, which specializes in hydroponic cultivation of various types of vegetables, greens and herbs in tropical urban environments. This was pegged as the company’s first investment in an early-stage business focusing on India.

By Benjamin Ferrer