The Yakima Valley grows roughly three-quarters of US hop acreage — the densest hop production cluster in the world outside the Hallertau in Bavaria. USDA NASS reported the 2025 US harvested area at approximately 41,654 strung acres (down ~7% year-over-year, and roughly 31% below the 2021 peak as the post-craft-beer-boom correction continues). Washington alone runs roughly 33,000 of those acres; Oregon's Willamette Valley (centered on Marion County) and Idaho's Treasure Valley (Canyon County) round out the remainder. The Yakima Valley supplies roughly one-quarter of global hop production. The cluster is geographically tight: North Yakima (Fruitvale and River Road) for the merchant pellet mills, Moxee for the organic-anchor grower Roy Farms, and the Lower Valley running Wapato to Toppenish to Sunnyside for the grower kilns and warehouse cold storage.
Hop freight is not produce freight. The harvest window is compressed mid-August through late September (the picking facilities typically run 24/7 for about 30 days), but the product moves year-round because of cold storage. T-90 and T-45 pellets, Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, and whole-cone bales each have different equipment requirements. Pellets and Cryo travel under continuous-run reefer at 32–40°F (32°F is the BarthHaas / Yakima Chief Hops industry-recommended setpoint). Whole-cone bales tolerate cleanroom-grade dry van. Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, and high-alpha proprietary varieties routinely carry cargo values that exceed standard $100K reefer cargo insurance limits, requiring additional cargo limit endorsements.
Evergreen Shippers (FMCSA MC#896325) is the Spokane-anchored transportation broker that dispatches the reefers and cleanroom dry vans against the Yakima Valley hop merchant cluster — John I. Haas, Hopsteiner, Yakima Chief Hops, Roy Farms, and the smaller pellet processors and grower-direct operators across the Valley.
We do not take title to hops, do not negotiate sales, and do not act as a hop merchant or broker of record on the product. Hops sit outside PACA (PACA governs fresh fruits and vegetables, not processed hops), but the same separation applies: the hop merchant retains the customer relationship and the regulatory paperwork; Evergreen handles the freight from merchant warehouse dock to brewery, DC, or marine terminal.
Pellets, Cryo, bales, and extracts each travel under different specifications. We match equipment to product, not the other way around.
The standard pellet retaining roughly 90% of whole-cone mass, milled and pressed into vacuum-sealed nitrogen-flushed foil pouches (5 kg / 11 lb and 20 kg / 44 lb cartons are industry-standard). Continuous-run reefer at 32–40°F. Pre-cooled trailer at the merchant dock. Reefer download data on request.
Lupulin-enriched concentrate retaining roughly 45% of whole-cone mass — approximately 2x the alpha-acid concentration of T-90 with less vegetal matter. Same cold-chain discipline as T-90 but higher cargo value per pound. Common in IPA-heavy craft and commercial dry-hop programs.
Cryogenic-processed lupulin concentrate via liquid-nitrogen separation. The YCH Cryo Hops process is patented (US Patent 11,214,765, awarded 2022). Premium varietal cargo — $250K, $500K, $1M cargo limit endorsements available. Tamper-evident seals and chain-of-custody discipline at load and unload.
~200 lb compressed bales of whole-cone (whole-leaf) hops, baled at the farm kiln. Cleanroom-grade dry van — trash-free trailer, no prior produce loads. Typical for traditional lager programs and hop-forward craft using whole-cone.
CO2 extracts, ethanol extracts, and essential oils — processed concentrate forms. Dry van with chain-of-custody, tamper-evident seals, and (for international moves) export documentation. Highly concentrated, highly valuable per pound.
Aug-Sep inbound from grower kilns to merchant pellet plants and cold-storage warehouses. Short-haul tractor and bale-trailer dispatch around the Yakima Valley. We coordinate with the kiln schedule, not the pellet plant clock.
The world's densest hop production and processing cluster outside the Hallertau. We have the dispatch addresses on the map.
John I. Haas — part of the BarthHaas group, the world's largest hop supplier — operates its Yakima HQ at 1600 River Road and the dedicated Pellet & Warehouse Complex at 1716 Gordon Road. Hopsteiner (S.S. Steiner), family-owned continuously since 1845 in Laupheim Germany and one of the largest hop traders in the world, operates its own Yakima Valley pelletizing plant (opened in the 1970s) plus farms acquired locally since 1940. Yakima Chief Hops at 306 Division Street — a 100% grower-owned cooperative — runs three pellet mills, the patented Cryo Hops process, and more than 30 million pounds of cold storage across Yakima and Sunnyside. The pellet-mill freight cluster: we dispatch reefers against the loading-dock schedule.
Roy Farms in Moxee — family-owned since 1907 — runs approximately 3,500 acres of hops, cherries, apples, and blueberries. Roy Farms describes itself as the world's largest independent brewery-direct hop farm and is the largest organic hop producer in the United States (Certified B Corp, Salmon-Safe, GlobalG.A.P., USDA Organic, SQF). In fall 2021 Roy Farms entered a direct-to-customer distribution partnership with HAAS to market the American Dwarf Hop Association (ADHA) proprietary varieties Azacca, Adeena, and the rest of the ADHA portfolio. Moxee anchors organic and certified-program hop freight where chain-of-custody discipline matters for the brewing customer.
Grower kilns and warehouse cold storage anchor the Lower Valley. Inbound bale traffic during harvest moves north to the pellet plants; outbound finished pellets and bales move year-round from cold storage to brewing customers. Short-haul harvest-season dispatch coordinates with kiln schedules.
The US craft and commercial brewing customer base — California, Colorado, Midwest, East Coast, plus Canada cross-border. International export through NWSA marine terminals at Tacoma for Asian, European, and Latin American brewing customers. Each destination shapes the equipment match.
The freight discipline shifts with the variety. Proprietary HBC and YCR aroma varieties carry premium cargo value and tight chain-of-custody. Public-release dual-purpose varieties move on standard reefer terms. We read the rate confirmation against the variety, not the SKU.
Hop Breeding Company proprietary release (2007). Alpha-acid 11–14% (T-90 form), 21–28% in Cryo. Dual-purpose, dominated by aroma usage. Grapefruit, mango, passionfruit, lychee, gooseberry. The single most-shipped American craft hop. We dispatch heavy on Citra during harvest inbound bales and year-round on pellet outbound to craft IPA programs.
Originally Hopsteiner breeding program. Alpha-acid 14–18%. Bittering / dual-purpose. Pungent, earthy, spicy, resinous, light citrus. The high-alpha workhorse for both commercial lager bittering and craft dry-hop programs. Public release (patents have expired). The freight reality is volume: CTZ moves a lot, on standard reefer terms.
HBC release (2012). Simcoe x Nugget male. Alpha-acid 10–14%. Dual-purpose. Tangerine, mango, passionfruit, blueberry, pine, earthy. Down approximately 44% YoY in 2024 acreage as the craft correction settles in, but remains the #3 US variety. Heavy in NEIPA / hazy-IPA outbound to East Coast Tree House / Trillium / Other Half.
Yakima Chief Ranches proprietary. Alpha-acid 12–14%. Dual-purpose. Passionfruit / citrus, stone fruit, pine, earthy. Foundational West Coast IPA variety, still a top-10 by acreage. Pairs heavily with Citra and Mosaic in dry-hop programs — we often see multi-variety pallet builds going to the same craft customer.
Virgil Gamache Farms (Toppenish, WA) proprietary, US plant patent + EU plant variety rights. Discovered as a chance seedling in 1998. Alpha-acid 8–11%. Aroma / dual-purpose with very high myrcene (60–70%) — tangerine, apricot, orange, floral. The Toppenish anchor for Lower Valley grower-direct freight.
USDA-ARS public releases (Cascade 1972, Centennial 1990, Chinook 1985). The American craft beer canon: Cascade defined the West Coast pale ale, Centennial drove the early IPA renaissance, Chinook anchored the pine / grapefruit bittering profile. All in production decline as craft consolidates, but still core to traditional pale ale and classic-IPA programs.
HBC release (2018). Super-high-alpha bittering (17–20%). Neutral, clean bitter with mild herbal-earthy-floral aromatics. Designed for commercial-brewing bittering efficiency. Acreage expanding in 2025 as growers shift from high-aroma cultivars toward high-alpha. The freight is high-value-per-pound: less material per IBU achieved.
Bred by the Indie Hops / Oregon State University aroma-hop breeding program (2009 bred, 2018 commercial). Alpha-acid 11–18%. Dual-purpose / aroma. Tropical, dank / cannabis, passionfruit, strawberry, grapefruit. Ships primarily out of Oregon's Willamette Valley but enters the Yakima warehouse system frequently for pelletizing and distribution.
HBC is the 50/50 joint venture between Yakima Chief Ranches and John I. Haas (the BarthHaas US arm), formed in 2003 specifically to release proprietary aroma varieties to the American craft market. HBC owns the IP and the brand on Citra, Mosaic, Pahto, and a growing portfolio. The breeding partnership shapes which varieties dominate Yakima Valley acreage and, by extension, what we dispatch.
The hop industry is in a structural correction. US craft brewery count posted its first net decline in 2024 (per the Brewers Association). Acreage is down approximately 31% from the 2021 peak. The freight shifts with the market.
The Brewers Association reported 9,612 operating US craft breweries in 2024 with 430 openings against 529 closures — the first net decline since 2005. Craft volume fell 3.9% YoY to 23.1 million barrels (the largest non-pandemic drop on record), holding 13.3% beer-volume share. But craft retail dollar share rose to 24.7% ($28.8 billion, +3% YoY) as premium pricing held. Translation for hop freight: fewer breweries, but the surviving operators buy hops at premium specifications and run lower-volume / higher-mix dispatch patterns. The Cryo Hops and proprietary-aroma trade is sticky; commodity bittering volume is softer.
Hops in the US craft market are sold predominantly under 1-to-5-year forward contracts negotiated before harvest. The convention (introduced by Yakima Chief Hops / Hop Union to the US craft trade in 1994) is that brewers secure roughly 75–100% of critical-variety needs in year 1 of a multi-year contract, 50–75% in year 2, 25–50% in year 3. Sierra Nevada pioneered 3-year-forward contracting in response to early hop supply shocks. The freight implication: most of what we dispatch is pre-sold inventory moving from cold storage against scheduled releases, not spot-market loads. The contract calendar drives the dispatch calendar.
Anheuser-Busch InBev directly contracts roughly 3.7 million pounds per year from WA / OR / ID growers (typically on 3-to-5-year terms) and owns Elk Mountain Farms in Bonners Ferry ID, one of the world's largest single hop farms. Boston Beer (Sam Adams, Truly, Twisted Tea), Sierra Nevada (~1.5 million lbs/year hop purchases publicly disclosed), New Belgium / Lion, Bell's, and Yuengling are documented top-tier US craft hop buyers. Per Brewers Association 2024 rankings, the top 5 craft producers by volume are Yuengling, Boston Beer, Sierra Nevada, Tilray Brands (former AB craft), and Duvel Moortgat USA. Each pulls from the Yakima merchant cluster.
IPAs hold approximately 49.4% of craft off-premise dollar sales (Circana, 2024) — roughly $8.2 billion in retail. Hazy / NEIPA is the most-checked-in style on Untappd, with 9 million+ check-ins in 2024. The dry-hop rates on NEIPA are 3–5x conventional pale ale rates — this segment is what drives outsized Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, and T-45 lupulin-concentrate demand. East-Coast haze-IPA breweries (Tree House, Trillium, Other Half, Monkish, Equilibrium) and West-Coast haze programs are the heaviest Cryo customers and the destinations behind our highest-value cargo dispatches.
Top US hop export destinations 2024: Belgium, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil — collectively roughly 57% of total US export volume per BarthHaas and USDA FAS GATS data. Australia, China, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand, and Colombia add another ~34%. Belgium led with approximately $65 million in 2023 imports of US hops — counterintuitive for a country with its own brewing heritage, but the global brewing supply chain pulls American aromatic varieties hard. Most of that volume ships through NWSA marine terminals.
US hop production fell to 87.1 million pounds in 2024 (-16% YoY from 104M lbs); production value dropped to $446 million (-21%). Average US hop price per pound is down ~16% from the 2022 peak. Growers are tighter on margin and tighter on logistics costs. A late truck, a warm trailer, or a rejected load at the brewery is a margin event that didn't matter as much in 2021. The freight discipline — pre-cooled trailers, continuous-run reefer, verified cargo coverage, sequenced APHIS phytosanitary certs for export — is how we keep the merchant-shipper relationship intact through the correction.
| Origin | Destination | Equipment | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Port of Tacoma / NWSA | Reefer container drayage @ 32–40°F | ~200 mi / 4-5 hr |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Northern CA / Sierra Nevada / Russian River corridor | Reefer or cleanroom dry van | ~800 mi / 2 days |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Southern CA brewery cluster (LA / SD) | Reefer or cleanroom dry van | ~1,150 mi / 2-3 days |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Front Range Colorado (Fort Collins / Boulder / Denver) | Reefer (32–40°F) | ~1,200 mi / 3 days |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Midwest (Bell's / Founders / Three Floyds) | Reefer (32–40°F) | ~1,950 mi / 4 days |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | East Coast haze-IPA market (Tree House / Trillium / Other Half) | Reefer (32–40°F) | ~2,800 mi / 5-6 days |
| Yakima merchant warehouses | Vancouver BC cross-border | Reefer or cleanroom dry van | ~400 mi / 1 day + crossing |
| Grower kilns (Lower Valley) | Yakima merchant pellet plants | Dry van / flatbed (bales) | ~30-50 mi / same-day |
Hops sit in a different regulatory bucket than fresh produce. The boxes we tick are FSMA-adjacent, customs, and cargo coverage — not PACA.
The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act covers fresh fruits and vegetables. Processed and stored hop products — pellets, Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, extracts, dried whole-cone bales — sit outside PACA scope. Evergreen Shippers is a transportation broker; the hop merchant holds the customer sales relationship.
FDA rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Cold-chain hop pellet freight follows the same shipper-level obligations the rule places on brokers arranging produce freight: written equipment sanitation procedures, prior-load disclosure, temperature specifications communicated in writing, training records, and 12-month record retention. Trailer wash and pre-cool verification at load.
Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, and premium varietal pellets travel under tamper-evident seals applied at load, verified and signed at unload, and recorded on the BOL. For international moves, the customs documentation (commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin where required, phytosanitary certificate per destination) travels with the load.
Hop exports to many international markets require a USDA APHIS phytosanitary certificate, issued through the Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking (PCIT) system. The certificate is the hop merchant's responsibility — Evergreen sequences drayage and ocean container booking against the cert so the load is not stranded at NWSA waiting on paperwork.
Standard $100K reefer carrier cargo insurance is inadequate for Cryo Hops and lupulin powder. We verify carrier coverage before every dispatch and supply additional cargo limit endorsements ($250K, $500K, $1M) for premium dispatches. Lloyd's of London carries Evergreen's broker contingent cargo coverage.
Washington UTC, Oregon DOT, Idaho PUC weight and axle enforcement on outbound lanes. CDFA border stations at Hilt I-5, Truckee I-80, Klamath Falls/Tulelake on California-bound trips — plant-material inspection adds 15-45 minutes per crossing.
Warm-trailer loading, cycle-sentry reefers, or a long border wait above 32°F can shift the alpha-acid profile and the cohumulone-to-myrcene aroma signature. The brewing customer notices.
Pre-cooled trailer at dock-ready time, verified at trailer side. Continuous-run requirement written into every rate confirmation. Cycle-sentry / start-stop reefers are not dispatched on hop pellet loads.
Cryo Hops, lupulin powder, and high-alpha proprietary varieties routinely exceed standard $100K carrier cargo insurance. A theft, a roll-over, or a refrigeration failure on an underinsured truck is the merchant's loss.
Carrier cargo coverage verified before every dispatch. $250K, $500K, $1M endorsements supplied for Cryo, lupulin-concentrate, and premium varietal moves. Lloyd's of London on the broker contingent side.
Whole-cone bales loaded into a dirty trailer that last hauled produce or rubber pull contamination into the brewing supply chain. The brewer rejects the load.
FSMA prior-load disclosure on every dispatch. Cleanroom-grade van for whole-cone bales — trailer wash records on file. Carriers added to the hop rotation only after FSMA review.
Miss the container booking at Tacoma and the load sits in cold storage waiting for the next sailing. Brewery customers in Asia and Europe have their own production calendars.
Reefer container drayage from Yakima to NWSA marine terminals coordinated with the freight forwarder's container booking and the terminal appointment. APHIS phytosanitary cert sequenced into the pickup window.
August-September inbound bale traffic from grower kilns to pellet plants competes with the cherry, apple, pear, and onion harvest squeeze for regional dry van and flatbed capacity.
Short-haul dispatch around the Yakima Valley coordinated against the kiln schedule. Capacity pre-committed in early summer for harvest-season bale runs.
Call (509) 321-4380 — product (T-90 / T-45 / Cryo / bale), origin warehouse, destination, and we'll quote committed reefer or cleanroom dry van.