KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. (AP) — Motorists driving past the new Crazy Horse Hops farm in southern Henry County are stumped. One passerby wondered if some sort of "weird pole barn" was under construction. That’s understandable. The 10-acre farm is studded with nearly 900 18-foot-tall yellow-pine poles, giving the appearance that Crazy Horse is growing telephone poles. "Indiana has never seen anything like this," said co-owner Josh Martin. "The closest thing would be a vineyard." The poles support overhead trellis wires to which are tied twine that about 10,000 vining hop plants will climb as summer progresses. Started by Martin and co-owner Ryan Hammer, an old high-school buddy, Crazy Horse is already the state’s largest hop farm, and 100 more acres are planned. Most of Indiana’s 25 to 30 hop farms are less than an acre each, including GW Hops and Honey in Delaware County. Last year, there were only 25 acres of commercially grown hops in Indiana, compared to 32,205 acres in the state of Washington, where 71 percent of U.S. hops were produced, according to Hop Growers of America. But Indiana acreage is expanding, thanks largely to rapid growth in the craft brewing industry, which uses the female flowers, called cones, from the hop plant to flavor and stabilize beer. There are concerns about hop shortages. "Most of it gets sold before it even gets picked," said Hammer. "At this point, they’re begging for it," added Martin. "When you go into something and you know the demand is so high that you’re not going to have a problem selling it, it’s kind of a good feeling. These guys (Hoosier craft brewers) want to be able to put our logo or ‘Indiana grown’ on their cans. It’s like anything else: vegetables grown locally, pasture-raised hogs. We will be able to […]
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