Hop Researchers Lost In DOGE Cuts

The hop industry is reeling from the announcement that two of its researchers were fired, thanks to the Administration's ongoing effort to trim federal spending.  Maggie Elliot, Science and Communication Director at the Washington Hop Commission and Hop Growers of America, said Hop Horticulturist Dr. Paco Gonzalez and Science Technician Brandon Sandoval, were let go without warning.

“The elimination of this position essentially completely dissolved our horticultural program, which we had been building up for nearly three years. Dr. Gonzalez was just 42 days away from ending his probationary period, he started in March of 2022.”

Elliot added the elimination of these two positions means the over $1.6 million spent establishing the Hop Stress Physiology Lab at Washington State University’s Prosser location won’t be utilized.

“Starting from scratch at WSU-IAREC [Irrigated Agricultural Research Center]. So that's establishing a lab, all the instruments that go in the lab, a six-acre research plot, as well as a hop yard as well as a hop picker and kiln facility. There's a lot of infrastructure that went into place that was meant to serve him his entire career and to help us with this research. And so unfortunately, as of now, that laboratory is empty, and all of his research work is really indefinite. We don't know what's going to happen next.”

Elliot added the hop industry, including the Washington Hop Commission, Hop Growers of Washington, Hop Research Council and Anheuser-Busch, invested nearly $300,000 to launch this program.

It’s estimated that public agricultural research generates $20 in economic benefit for every taxpayer dollar spent.

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