Farm & Ranch Living Magazine Features Oregon Hop Farmer Blake Crosby

Take a peek into Blake’s world in the latest issue of Farm & Ranch Living:

 · Blake’s Journey: The Crosby Hop Farm has been growing beautiful Oregon hops for more than 100 years. Blake is a fifth-generation hop farmer and has worked on the family farm since he was young, doing anything from irrigation and tractor-driving to sweeping the floor of the hop picker during harvest. These days, Blake is in charge of Crosby Hop Farm’s craft-brewing sales.

· Hope in Hops: With the surge in popularity of craft beer-brewing, hops are a hot commodity. Business for hops farmers continues to pick up with each season. Blake’s Oregon farm provides hops for local brewers such as Burnside Brewing in Portland, as well as brewers from all across the country.

· Business versus Barn: Blake balances life between working in the office and working out in the fields. He spends his days fielding phone calls from brewers looking to buy hops and managing the farm’s finances. Outside the air-conditioned office, he checks up on the state of the crop and prepares for the upcoming harvest.

· Harvest Time: Blake takes readers through the process of beginning a hop harvest, from the people and machinery needed to make the harvest a reality, to the types of hops his family’s farm produces.

For more on Blake’s journey, check out the August/September issue of Farm & Ranch Living, a digital edition is now available for Google Play & Android, Nook, and Kindle.
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