Latest / No Dirt No Flowers Podcast / Pre-Harvest Check-In Reflection & Chatter

Transcript

Pre-Harvest Check-In Reflection & Chatter · No Dirt No Flowers Podcast

0:00
Hello everybody, we're back. First off, thank
0:04
you very much for your patience while we got
0:06
through the summer and got all prepared for harvest.
0:09
And now we're finally back with a brand new episode
0:12
for you. This episode we'll be doing a little
0:15
bit of pre -harvest check -in. Mike and Drew
0:17
will talk about the growing season that we've
0:20
had so far, how the crop's looking, a quick market
0:24
check -in to see what we've seen while we've
0:26
been out visiting breweries. We also have some
0:28
special guests coming into the podcast for the
0:30
first time. And I have to say, the first guest
0:33
is probably my most favorite guest so far. Again,
0:37
thank you for your patience while we got through
0:39
the summer. We're looking to get back on track
0:41
with new episodes coming a little more regularly.
0:44
And hopefully we'll have a lot of fun guests
0:46
and special episodes this coming harvest. So
0:48
stay tuned for those. Enjoy the pod. Whoa. Your
1:00
shirt says rad like that movie. Yeah, this is
1:03
from the movie Rad. How'd you come by that? My
1:07
lovely wife got it for me. Oh, my gosh. I have
1:10
two of them. Want one? It might be kind of tight
1:12
on you. You're a bit stockier than I am. Stocky?
1:18
I mean, not as stocky as I used to be. There
1:20
was a time I was pushing 50 bills more than I
1:23
am now. Doing the best I can. No dirt, no flowers.
1:29
Episode what? Not enough. Yeah. Today we are
1:34
joined by Andy Roy. Oh, hi. Thanks for having
1:38
me, guys. Of course, my co -host, Mike Roy. Yeah,
1:42
hello. And myself, the stocky Drew. I mean, if
1:48
you didn't know me before, I don't think you
1:51
would call me svelte by any means. But if, you
1:53
know, you've seen my fluctuation, it's definitely
1:56
a more svelte. Oh, oh, cracking that. See, the
2:01
harvest beers have been dropped off. They're
2:03
coming in now. Getting ready to pick some hops
2:06
tomorrow. Yeah, shout out to Roadhouse. We're
2:10
drinking their beers right now. Yeah, we have
2:13
a Wilson. West Coast style IPA and a family vacation
2:18
light lager. Both those have Roy Farms hops in
2:22
them. Which ones? The family vacation light lager
2:26
has a Dina and the Wilson has our Chinook and
2:30
Strata. Love it. I'll be darned. Well, we're
2:35
getting ready to pick hops tomorrow. We're on
2:37
a tight timeline, but we got to get back going
2:40
on podcasting. Yeah, we've slacked. Yes, we have.
2:46
Gosh, when we say slacked, it would mean like,
2:48
it's not like we ignored it. It's more like,
2:51
as it turns out, growing hops, selling hops.
2:58
Podcasting about hops. Let's be honest, we're
3:03
just not that great at managing our schedules.
3:06
Well, I mean, there's been a lot of travel, you
3:08
know, out in the field. Yeah. Both the hop fields
3:12
and the field that is the beer market. So we've
3:16
been busy. Fields on fields. Fields on fields.
3:18
Yeah. But, hey, we got a big month coming up.
3:22
We're going to have several different brewers
3:23
on to talk about whatever the hell they want,
3:26
which would be really exciting. Scott just texted
3:29
me and said he would do it. So we're going to
3:32
have Scott Dorsch from Odell Brewing. We are
3:35
going to have Isaiah Smith, who is the CEO of
3:38
our culture brewing and director of supply chain
3:41
for Creature Comforts. I'm really excited about
3:44
that one. He's come from a different background,
3:46
and so he has some thoughts on the hop supply
3:49
chain and ways to improve it and things to chat
3:53
about there. So that's pretty exciting. I am
3:55
positive we will have plenty of other impromptu
4:00
podcasts. Decent chance some of it will include
4:05
some libations. Probably. Good chance of that.
4:08
What if we had like a 10 p .m. podcast? That
4:13
could get dangerous. Bring it on. That would
4:15
take a lot of editing on my part. Well, no, then
4:18
you just need to edit it at 10 p .m. the next
4:20
night. Really capture the spirit of it. So what
4:25
are we talking about today? Oh, we got a few
4:29
topics. Let's talk about... We'll talk about
4:31
Harvest coming up. Yep. First, since Andy has
4:36
been the intro -outro guy and is the editor of
4:38
the show, but I know... Most people already know
4:42
who Andy is, but why don't you talk a little
4:46
bit about yourself, introduce yourself, and because
4:49
I know you're going to have some input on everything
4:50
we have to say today. Yeah, first off, thanks
4:54
for having me. Long time, first time. Yeah, Andy
5:00
Roy, born and raised in the valley on the farm.
5:07
Never really quite took to actual... farming
5:11
in the field mike's got stories about that plenty
5:15
plenty yeah i okay can we just pause there because
5:21
i know our audience is going to just want one
5:23
so can we just yeah go for it mike one story
5:25
you want to do the wrapping the truck around
5:28
the anchor wire or oh yeah no i'll do two quick
5:33
ones okay well so there's three of us liz is
5:37
sitting over here as well so mike andy liz and
5:41
liz always wanted to be on the farm i always
5:43
wanted to be on the farm andy kind of didn't
5:47
want to be on the farm yeah he could take it
5:50
or leave it yeah so it was just a complete junk
5:52
show around the house because normally my dad
5:55
would only take one of us on the ranch at a time
5:59
yeah yeah when you do rounds good Check irrigation,
6:03
check the fields. Yeah, so he'd usually have
6:04
to go make rounds at night. Yeah, check on irrigation,
6:09
check on whatever. So he'd take one of us. I
6:13
feel like we need to invite Liz in just to be
6:15
able to add color. That doesn't hurt anything.
6:18
We can add her in a little color commentary afterwards.
6:21
So anyway, it always turned into a cluster if
6:24
my dad took Andy because... I would be crying
6:29
because he wasn't taking me, and Andy would be
6:31
crying because he had to go. Yep. This is two
6:34
weeks ago, too. One time, Andy's out helping
6:41
my dad check fields for mites or pests, and my
6:45
dad would always start walking across the field,
6:49
and then one of us would drive around and pick
6:51
him up on the other side. And this is like...
6:54
Probably before we had our licenses. I was probably
6:57
between 10 or 12, somewhere around there. So,
6:59
yes, well before having your license. And we
7:02
used to have this open communication, you know,
7:04
CB radio system on the ranch. So my dad starts
7:08
walking across the field. Andy starts driving
7:10
around the field. And somewhere in the middle
7:13
of the field, my dad, on his walkie -talkie,
7:16
heard Andy. He's like, uh, Dad? And then he gets
7:20
on the radio. And Andy proceeds to tell him that
7:24
he got the truck stuck. Oh, I told him, could
7:27
he come to like this Southeast corner of the
7:29
field? Yeah. So he goes over there and somehow
7:31
Andy had magically gotten the anchor wire right
7:35
in between the cab of the truck and the bed without
7:38
doing any damage to it. It was impressive, but
7:42
terrifying on my part. So they had to bring the
7:44
backhoe out and pull the truck off the anchor
7:46
wire. Yeah. And I, the reason I so expertly.
7:51
fit the anchor wire between the bed and the cab.
7:55
This is, I kept trying to wedge it out. So I
7:58
kept going back and forth and just kept moving
7:59
it further and further into the truck because
8:01
it was, it was muddy on that corner. So it started
8:04
to slide a little bit and I just kind of held
8:06
off on the CB for as long as possible because
8:08
I knew that the whole farm was going to hear
8:10
it. So I was like, so yeah, that's one. The other
8:15
one too is dad and I were out making the rounds
8:17
and you're out driving tractor. yeah i remember
8:20
dad was like hey let's go check on your brother
8:21
so we go over there and we're driving along the
8:25
hot field and we get to where you're coming up
8:28
towards us up a row and we stop and you see us
8:34
and you're waving you got this big smile on your
8:36
face and dad and i just look at each other in
8:39
silence and then look back down the row And then
8:44
you get to the end of the row, and the tractor's
8:46
all lopsided, and you're driving on a flat tire.
8:49
And we're like, hey, Andy, do you notice you're
8:52
driving on a flat tire? You're like, oh, no,
8:55
I'll drive it back to the ranch. We're like,
8:58
no, get in the truck. You can't drive that thing
9:01
to the ranch on the flat tire. I mean, I was
9:03
just having a grand old time, probably rocking
9:05
out to Eve 6 or, you know. Everclear or something
9:08
like that on the headphones and saw them. I'm
9:10
like, hey, hey, guys. How's it going? So, yeah,
9:13
I quickly learned actual field work was not for
9:16
me. Let me ask you this question. Could you start
9:19
a tractor right now? Oh, yes. Perfect. All right.
9:27
All right. So farming wasn't your thing. Yeah,
9:30
very much. Farming was my thing. Every time you
9:33
tried to farm, you cost the ranch. Yeah, quickly.
9:37
Quickly realized I was a liability. And I've
9:41
always... Maybe just on equipment. Not a liability
9:44
overall. No, I'm a people person. We realize
9:46
that. And so around 20, when I was 21, 22, moved
9:51
down to Southern California, lived in L .A.,
9:54
wanted to be in the big pictures. On the silver
9:58
screen. On the silver screen. I wanted to be
10:00
in the movies. And then I realized I didn't want
10:03
to and also couldn't do that. And then... Pivoted
10:06
into video editing. Was down there for about
10:09
12 years. Met my wife, also from Washington.
10:12
We want to be closer to family after we had our
10:14
first daughter. So we moved back up to Washington
10:18
in 2014 because that was when craft industry
10:22
was starting to kind of take off and they needed
10:24
help with sales, which did not involve any tractors
10:28
or backhoes or anything. It just involved hanging
10:30
out with people, which I think I'm good at. So
10:33
I was involved in sales and kind of marketing
10:38
and harvest planning. I thought you were going
10:42
to say harvest posters. Oh, yeah. And then I
10:44
pivoted, dovetailed my old skills from L .A.
10:47
to harvest posters, which I can give a quick
10:50
overview of how that came to be. 2017, there
10:54
was a massive vole problem in the valley, and
10:58
it hit us pretty severely. bulls are little rodents
11:01
that would come along and nibble at the bottom
11:02
of the binds. And we had just like dead patches
11:05
in the fields. Like primarily it was like Chinook.
11:08
And I think there was one other variety. So we
11:12
were talking and we can either just kind of like
11:16
breeze past it, or we can just kind of like have
11:18
fun with it and realize it's a problem that we're
11:20
having and, you know, face it in a fun way. And
11:22
so I created a, I created a bull poster for 2017.
11:26
Then that had a good response. And then we started
11:29
to do it every year. And so now we're on our
11:31
ninth year of harvest posters. Which you'll get
11:34
to see on the social media. Yes. We will be posting
11:39
that on Saturday, which should be tomorrow. You
11:43
should have already seen it. Yeah. And this year's
11:45
theme is based off of Step Brothers. Because
11:49
we always try to base the poster on what's going
11:53
on in the industry. on the farm itself or in
11:56
the industry overall. And this year for us, one
11:59
of the, if not the biggest event that happened
12:03
to Roy farms is our strategic partnership with
12:06
Crosby hops. And I, as soon as we started talking
12:10
about that, I had an image of Mike and Blake
12:13
Crosby sitting there like stepbrothers on the
12:16
poster. And that just kind of wrote itself that
12:18
way. It's a great poster. Why? Thank you. Where
12:23
on earth did the picture of me come from? This
12:27
is sustainability right here. I used the picture
12:31
from when we were on the dragon last year. So
12:35
I was just trying to look for a little placeholder
12:37
until I got a new picture. And then I saw that
12:40
picture and I'm like, oh, it kind of looks like
12:41
he's singing. So I just put you right there.
12:43
It goes to show how much I paid attention to
12:45
last year's. Well, you were riding tandem with
12:49
Mike on the dragon for the... Game of Cones.
12:52
Oh, yeah. Holding a sword. Yep. We got the bunk
12:55
beds. We got the Prestige Worldwide presentation.
12:58
We got the Catalina wine mixer scene. And what
13:02
was the other one? Oh, Joe and Jason as doing
13:06
the job interviews in the tuxedos. Love it. Great.
13:10
Okay, so you're talented at making movie posters.
13:13
You shouldn't be allowed to operate vehicles.
13:16
Wait, side question. How many accidents or perceived
13:20
accidents? On the farm? No. On the farm, there
13:29
was the one where it was fresh hop pickup time
13:33
at harvest, and I had pickup set for 7 a .m.
13:37
I set my alarm for 5 .45 a .m. I thought. Turned
13:43
out I set it for 5 .45 p .m. Woke up at 645 in
13:47
a panic. Started rushing to the farm to make
13:49
sure the orders were ready. And it was that time
13:51
in the morning when the sun was directly in my
13:53
eyes. And I was going to the... I was going past
13:57
the cooling floor to our Pell Facility cold storage
14:00
where we keep the hops. So basically, sun was
14:03
right in my eyes. Didn't see the beam and totaled
14:06
my car at the time. Just slammed into the driver's
14:10
side. Look, I get out. I'm like, look at it.
14:14
I'm like... Don't have time for this. Pull it
14:15
over to the side behind the experimental dryer
14:18
and then just run to the cold storage and make
14:21
sure the hops are there. And then just figure
14:24
the rest out. That year, Mike had a great time
14:27
just wrapping all the poles on the farmhouse
14:31
with pool noodles. I guess it was fine. I love
14:38
my big brother. If we're talking no dirt, no
14:43
flowers here, so the dirt is that farming and
14:48
operation is the flowers. I'm not allowed to
14:51
go in the dirt. Is what you're doing now. Yeah.
14:54
I'm on the flower end. You know I'll probably
14:57
edit all this out. What? No, I'm not going to
15:00
edit it out. I'm going to keep it in. So, yeah.
15:03
Going back to what I do. With the new partnership
15:06
and with the adjustment on the sales team, I
15:09
am right now diverting a lot of my... Focus on
15:12
brand management for Roy farms and primarily
15:16
latitude 46, the hop breeding program that we
15:18
manage. And so basically a lot of my focus is
15:22
setting up hop experience slash tap takeovers,
15:25
which will be coming to your neighborhood soon.
15:28
And basically just kind of getting more exposure
15:31
and more, you know, just kind of helping. bring
15:34
that into the forefront more. Speaking of the
15:36
hop experience, what are kind of our target areas
15:39
for this next year? I mean, this is not a promise
15:41
that they're going to happen. Yeah, I'd say the
15:43
ones that are primarily ready to go are we'll
15:48
be having one in the Austin area, and we will
15:51
be having one in the Southern California, right
15:56
now San Diego area. And then we'll also have
15:59
events around CBC Hop Convention in January.
16:04
tucson and i think one or two more yep so which
16:09
very material joking aside that's a very material
16:13
part of our future we feel yes absolutely so
16:17
we're hitting the gas on it andy is obviously
16:20
has a major role in that is spearheading a lot
16:23
of those initiatives and so excited about things
16:27
that are coming Yeah, so I'd say to any of our
16:29
listeners, if you want to have a hop experience
16:31
in your area, shoot me an email. And if you want
16:35
to try experimental hops, shoot him an email.
16:38
I got the goods. What are your top favorite three?
16:42
Top favorite three? Yeah, because we have probably
16:44
about six or seven that are rolling around in
16:46
there that we are pretty excited about. Are we
16:49
talking about just the numbered varieties or
16:51
just overall? Overall. Overall? Well, of the
16:55
commercially released, Both Adina and Azaka are
16:58
two of my favorites. Adina's doing gangbusters
17:02
right now with the big lager push that everyone's
17:05
having right now in the industry. Of the numbered
17:08
varieties, I would say right now ADHA 1631, which
17:12
I get like huge fruit punch, berry, light dank
17:17
in the aroma. And we actually have a roadhouse
17:21
beer on tap that is going to be pouring during
17:23
harvest as well. Then also... ADHA 1001, which
17:28
has like grapefruit, citrus, berry notes. Boss.
17:34
Boss. That thing's. Boss. Oh, and then 1123.
17:38
Yeah. ADHA 11, which we just had a beer down
17:41
in Chico, and that was really good. Yeah, that
17:45
one was really good. Yeah. Very exciting. And
17:48
we'll have all those available to sniff and rub
17:51
and brew with this next year. So the other thing
17:57
that you do, which kind of leads into where we're
17:59
at right now, is you are also instrumental in
18:04
the branding of Roy Hops and how the quality
18:08
comes off when we pick them and making sure that
18:12
they meet kind of that stamp that Roy Farms is
18:16
known for on the hops we pick. Well, first off,
18:20
thanks for putting all the blame on me if anything
18:24
goes wrong. But no. I'm trusting. All right,
18:27
good. Yeah, no. Yeah, basically, it is a team
18:32
of us that come together to discuss when and
18:35
how we should pick, whether it be, whether to
18:38
start with this variety, that variety, should
18:40
we pick it at our Deserol facility, which is
18:42
a Peralt picker, or at our Roy facility, which
18:45
is a Don Howe facility, and basically just trying
18:48
to line everything up to make sure that it's
18:50
picked during the right picking window, the aroma's
18:53
where it needs to be. And also we don't have
18:57
any downtime and are able to kind of run smoothly,
19:00
not have any down days. So it's a lot of juggling
19:02
act, but basically my primary focus is going
19:06
out in the fields and making sure that they're
19:07
ready to be picked. So we went back, we've gone
19:11
back and forth about what to start with, when
19:14
to start. Well, we knew what we were going to
19:16
start with, but when to start is always kind
19:19
of the big question that happens every harvest.
19:24
We were looking at starting Thursday and then
19:26
Friday, but then we decided we're going to start
19:28
tomorrow, which is Saturday the 30th, right?
19:33
30th with Centennial at the Deseret facility,
19:36
which is the Peral Picker, and then we'll be
19:38
starting Sunday on Strata at the Roy Picker.
19:41
Yep. Love it. What are you thinking of the crop
19:44
this year? Either of you two. Oh, I can start
19:47
on that one. Industry crop, Roy Farms crop, both.
19:51
You have freedom here. All right. I think, I
19:55
mean, granted, I've been in my slash our little
20:00
bubble most of the summer focusing on growing
20:04
our crop. So I don't have the best visibility
20:07
across the industry, but it is fairly patchy
20:11
when you look across the industry. I think there's
20:14
two main components playing a role in that. How
20:18
healthy are you and what could you afford to
20:20
invest into the crop and which irrigation district?
20:23
are you on and and how much of your total production
20:28
or productive capacity are you growing on that
20:31
irrigation district so moxie in general i think
20:35
looks average to above average there's some other
20:39
areas like some portions of the reservation that
20:43
probably had some irrigation interruptions that
20:45
that don't look as good but that's just kind
20:49
of a general overall statement i think overall
20:53
The crop looks about average, but depending on
20:56
where you're growing, you could be slightly above
20:59
or slightly below. I don't really see any glaring
21:04
hot spots per se or major deficiencies in the
21:09
crop this year. It's been a pretty good year
21:12
for growing in terms of just temperature, environmental,
21:17
and pest and disease pressures. Powdery mildew
21:21
has been pretty light. A little more downy than
21:24
I would have expected kind of earlier on that
21:27
usually becomes less of an issue when the heat
21:30
comes on. And then my pressures have been pretty
21:35
good this year. We also started our in -house
21:39
scouting team this year, so that's helped us
21:42
a little bit. But I think we've only sprayed
21:44
like maybe four blocks or something this year
21:47
out of the entire ranch. Four blocks one time.
21:51
And so it's probably one of the best years we've
21:53
had in terms of reducing mite sprays. I'm pretty
21:57
excited to see it come in because quality looks
22:00
good. Yields are looking good. The cone density
22:05
seems like it's good. So you never want to jinx
22:08
it, though. But looking good, I think. Andy,
22:12
what do you think? I mean, from what I've seen
22:15
in the fields, our fields are looking healthy.
22:21
The cone set, the cone density looks really good.
22:24
The aroma is where it needs to be. It smells
22:26
great. And so far, I mean, everything's looking
22:30
to be, yeah, I would say average as far as yields
22:35
go. But aroma, it looks like it's going to be
22:37
a good aroma year. Yeah. Yeah. All right, guys,
22:41
I have to go. Harvest is calling. Got a plan.
22:44
So thanks for having me on the podcast. Hopefully
22:46
I did okay and it won't be the last time I'm
22:49
on. It won't be the last time. No. All right.
22:52
I'm really looking forward to that 10 p .m. podcast
22:55
recording. Oh, I want to know who else is going
22:58
to be on. We already know the answer to the question.
23:01
All right, guys. Well, thanks for having me on.
23:03
I care about you. Continue on. Later. One question
23:09
that I do have, Mike, about what you were talking
23:12
about, about water, is how much do you think,
23:16
well. I guess on Roy Farms, we've been having
23:19
a lot of discussions over the last several weeks
23:22
about water. Just the last several weeks? Well,
23:25
I mean about water. Water's my love language.
23:27
I know, but not that side of it. Okay. Water
23:29
management. Oh, yeah. And leveraging every single
23:33
asset we have to make sure that we have the water
23:37
we need. Anywhere we're losing water, anywhere
23:39
we have wells that don't work or whatever, because
23:42
if we have another dry winter, which it doesn't
23:45
look like we will. According to Farmer's Almanac.
23:49
But if we do, it's going to get ugly. I'm wondering
23:53
how prevalent do you think that is in the industry
23:56
right now of people really, really throwing resources
24:01
at preserving water? Or is it even possible we
24:06
just have areas we can maximize, but maybe not
24:08
everybody can? I don't know anything about the
24:10
infrastructure out there. I mean, I think it's
24:14
super mixed. a real there's a real spectrum out
24:19
there of water management tactics and you know
24:24
some people have invested in it some people haven't
24:27
i'm not saying that's good or bad some people
24:29
they've been managing this dirt for you know
24:33
generations and they just kind of know how to
24:36
irrigate generally speaking i don't think that
24:39
that's the right approach moving forward because
24:41
of the The different watering requirements of
24:46
each variety and the increasing need to get the
24:51
highest production out of those blocks because
24:53
the margin of error is less, costs are higher,
24:56
you know, there's price compression in the market,
24:58
et cetera, et cetera. And I see a real difference
25:02
in mindset out there across the entire industry.
25:05
I mean, generally speaking, everybody's trying
25:06
and I think everyone's doing a good job. But
25:10
it's mixed, and we're seeing this increased pressure
25:13
with drought conditions this year. What I have
25:18
to anticipate will be drought conditions next
25:21
year. Because even if we get a good winter, we've
25:24
still got a deficit to make up for. And so I
25:28
think it's highly unlikely we're going to go
25:30
into next year with a full allocation. Now, I
25:33
mean, in our case, you know, we have... junior
25:36
water rights we have senior water rights senior
25:38
auto rights didn't get cut this year juniors
25:41
did but we got you know some supplemental wells
25:44
drought wells we have other wells artesian wells
25:49
we have different ways of dealing with some percentage
25:55
of that reduction on the junior water right ground
25:57
yeah i don't know if i can clearly answer that
26:00
question i'd say some people are really focusing
26:04
on it And some people aren't. We continue to
26:07
focus more on it because of the potential risk
26:11
of drought. And I just consider it the number
26:14
one input. You know, I mean, so if you miss on
26:17
that, there's no amount of fertilizer or labor
26:20
or resources you can throw at it to make up for
26:23
it. Interesting. Yep. You've been doing this
26:26
for a long time. And while the forecast doesn't
26:32
say that we should. have any less water this
26:36
winter than we did last winter as you pointed
26:38
out though we are playing from behind has the
26:41
ranch been in this position before where where
26:44
i guess the valley where reservoirs are so low
26:47
going into the winter has it ever got worse than
26:52
this maybe that's a better question i don't know
26:56
i mean i need to talk to my dad from what i can
27:01
remember It hasn't been worse than this. But
27:07
I don't know. I mean, if it goes beyond next
27:09
year, then it could be the worst it's ever been.
27:16
Well, we're just going to assume that's not going
27:20
to happen. Yep. How do you feel about Liz coming
27:24
in, sitting right here and talking? Sure. Just
27:27
come on. Oh, my God. Put that close up to your
27:31
mouth. You saw your dad do this. Listen. It's
27:37
the day before harvest. All the Roys are in one
27:41
room. How exciting is that? For those of you
27:44
that don't know, I've been officially adopted
27:46
by Leslie Roy. Just not fancy by that. She doesn't
27:50
know about it yet. When did this official adoption
27:52
happen? I just kind of made that up. It's very
27:56
likely. I feel like you set it up at the cabin
27:59
when my mom was present. Yeah. See that? You
28:02
hear that voice? I think she is aware. Glorious.
28:05
It's legit. Ladies and gentlemen, we have got
28:09
our podcast manager, Liz Roy, on the show. This
28:15
is kind of fun. See? You just have to feed me
28:17
some beer and I'll get on here. See, it took
28:19
you all 10 seconds to be excited about it. Oh
28:21
my gosh. So there is some of your dad in you.
28:23
There is. So we're going to take a little hiatus
28:25
here from what we were talking about. Now Andy's
28:29
gone on some work call, getting ready for harvest,
28:31
and now we got Liz in here. So what was it like
28:34
growing up on the farm? I loved it. Yeah, lovely
28:39
memories growing up. It was good. What was your
28:44
favorite thing to do on the farm? Like go play
28:47
in the ditch banks when it was all muddy, like
28:49
from our old house. Because that was like our
28:52
backyard. Mike would micromanage. What? No. You
28:57
had specific ways that you wanted the water to
29:00
flow, I remember, so you'd build little dams.
29:02
And then if you tried to, like, alter his plan.
29:06
You don't remember that? I do. This sounds nothing
29:08
like me. I'm five years younger than you, so
29:11
I guess you just kind of ordered me around. I
29:13
did what you said. Did you work on the farm?
29:18
Yeah, I did. Did you ever get fired? I knew you
29:21
were going to say that. Yeah, I believe I got
29:23
fired twice. For what? I remember getting fired
29:26
once. Well, I remember twice. Once, I wanted
29:32
to go to Wet and Wild. Remember the water park,
29:35
old one? Was it in... Like in Tri -Cities? Yeah.
29:39
Wild Waves. Wild Waves. There used to be a Wet
29:42
and Wild, though, somewhere. Oh, Moses Lake.
29:44
There's one, one place or the other. I know what
29:46
you're talking about. Go on. I wanted to go to
29:48
my friend's birthday party and that's when we
29:50
worked in the cherry line super early mornings.
29:54
And my dad said, nope, you got to go to work.
29:56
And I think I just said, nope, I'm going to the
29:58
party. And he said, you're fired. I was like
30:00
10. Oh, dad fired you. Yeah. I got fired by my
30:03
uncle. I was super young. And then another time
30:08
I didn't like training baby hops. They would
30:10
drop you off in the middle of nowhere to train
30:12
baby hops with my cousin. And I didn't feel comfortable.
30:16
That was not okay with, I think it was Uncle
30:18
Jerry. Yeah. I don't know if it was like fired.
30:23
Cherry's fired. For sure, the cherry line, you
30:26
got fired. I think I just didn't come back for
30:29
work that other time. Did you drive a tractor?
30:32
No, I've never driven a tractor. I bet you could
30:35
start it better than Andy could. I think I could
30:37
too, for sure. He's not going to edit that out.
30:42
Probably not. But I feel like we were always
30:46
in and out growing up. I remember helping my
30:49
grandma Roy fill the pop machine. That was a
30:52
big chore around here. She would always put us
30:54
to work if we were down here because she was
30:56
always down here too, younger years. Really?
30:59
What other little chores did she make us do?
31:02
That was the main one. That was the main one.
31:05
I mean, that was the main one I remember with
31:06
grandma. Grandpa would always try and steal me
31:10
for some cattle chore and I'd always try and
31:12
run or hide. Wait, back up the track. There were
31:16
cattle out here? Oh, yeah. Why have I never heard
31:18
of this? Grandpa Roy was a big cattle guy. They
31:22
used to run cattle in the firing center, or we
31:24
used to run cattle, I guess. Our family used
31:26
to run cattle over there. I think at one point,
31:29
my dad and his brother said enough because it
31:33
was a lot of work in the wintertime to run cattle,
31:36
so they were just tired of working all hours
31:41
during the summer. Growing hops and apples and
31:44
whatever else, and then just transitioning into
31:47
something else in the wintertime. So I think
31:49
eventually they just told my grandpa I was enough's
31:51
enough. But were there horses? Oh, yeah. We used
31:55
to ride horses in the firing center to go find
31:57
the cattle, or to herd the cattle. So from those
32:00
of you that don't know, which probably nobody
32:02
knows, although we talk about Liz pretty regularly.
32:05
I think we want Liz to start being a part of
32:07
the hop selection process. Oh, sweet. I have
32:12
not heard that. Well, we're telling you right
32:14
now, live. I haven't heard it either. Live feed.
32:17
What? It was your idea. Customer experience.
32:20
Oh, yeah, customer experience. Yeah, so Liz is
32:24
gifted in all things image for the company. She
32:28
likes to think that she needs to be in the background,
32:30
but that's... No, I just turned 45, and I feel
32:33
like I'm way more social than I ever give myself
32:35
credit for. Yep. It seems like we didn't even
32:38
have to twist your arm to get you to come to
32:40
six feet to sit in the chair. Well, I've had
32:42
half of a beer. That's all it takes. Perfect.
32:47
Yeah. Perfect, perfect. What's your favorite
32:50
part about working at Roy Farms? I would say,
32:53
I mean, working with Mike, working with both
32:55
of you. No, working with family. And just all
33:00
the people I've gotten to know around here. It's
33:02
a good group. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It seems like it's
33:06
a pretty fun place to be. It seems you've been
33:11
around here for over a year now. I'm still here.
33:16
When is your actual anniversary of a year? About
33:21
six months ago. Oh, so a year and a half. A year
33:23
and a half. Yep. But I feel like I've been here
33:27
forever. Well, I've been in the industry for
33:31
a long time. Yeah. And we did work together when
33:34
you were working for the AD, not ADHA. America.
33:38
Oh, yeah. I believe we met at a coffee shop.
33:45
Yeah. Cause I can still remember my first interaction
33:49
with Mike Roy. It was when they put me on the
33:52
executive director role for. Oh, yeah. And I
33:58
was looking at our logo and I was like, I had
34:00
no idea, but I just. was suggesting that we needed
34:04
to change it. So it was throwing out this idea
34:06
like, what if we change this and here's like
34:08
a rough idea or something like that? And Mike's
34:10
response was, I think your design's poor. What?
34:14
And then introduced me to Liz. I liked how that
34:18
logo turned out. That was a good one. Did I actually
34:20
say those words? Your exact words were, I think
34:23
the design is poor. I don't know if I would have
34:25
said that. Go look in your history. Is it an
34:29
email? Oh, yeah. I mean, I've gone through spicy
34:33
times. Could have been. The interesting thing
34:36
about your emails is they're tone deaf, but the
34:40
way that you mean them are not typically the
34:42
way they come off. Sometimes they are. You just
34:46
like rattle off like words that have meaning,
34:49
but they could be interpreted as one way or the
34:53
other. I speak from emotion sometimes. He has
34:58
gotten way better. Okay, enough with me, you
35:01
guys. I'm just going to sit here. Thanks for
35:04
coming on. Thanks, you guys. First of many. Oh,
35:08
no. Oh, so some other things that we've been
35:11
working on. You know, we haven't been on the
35:12
podcast or haven't been podcasting much over
35:15
the last few months, and the reason is because
35:17
we have been traveling quite a bit and out in
35:24
the market, and obviously... Working on stuff
35:29
on the farm as well. Everybody is aware that's
35:32
listening how hard the last few years have been
35:35
for brewers and growers. And that's taken a lot
35:39
of work to get around all of that. But, you know,
35:42
being out in the market, it finally feels like
35:47
there's some positivity out there. And it feels
35:50
like there's some challenges that exist that
35:54
are remnants of the last several years. and maybe
35:57
I'll throw out a few and then you can add on,
36:00
but opportunities or really good things going
36:04
on seems like people are working through their
36:07
inventory a lot more, or they're getting through
36:10
their inventory, which means they're back to
36:12
buying hops, which is really good for farmers,
36:16
of course, because we need stable supply. On
36:20
the flip side of that, even though a lot of people
36:23
have worked through their old inventory, There's
36:26
not a lot of contracting going on as much as
36:29
you might see because there is a massive perception
36:32
of spots being available still. And I am personally
36:37
very concerned that that is a dangerous situation
36:41
for all of us to be in. And so my biggest takeaway
36:45
over the last probably three or four months is
36:49
that we as an industry have to drill down really
36:53
hard into... focusing on better communication
36:58
and cooperation throughout the entire supply
37:01
chain and finding out what does everybody need
37:03
for a healthy, sustainable industry. And I think
37:07
it's progressing, but I also think that there's
37:11
a lot of work to do. And I'm very concerned about
37:16
what happens whenever shortages start coming.
37:19
And that's not supposed to be a fear tactic.
37:22
I mean, it's just a logical conclusion. If people
37:25
think there's hops there and there aren't, it's
37:28
going to cause a frenzy, and that's terrifying
37:30
to me. Are you already seeing shortages? For
37:38
Roy Farms, obviously I have no idea where anybody
37:41
else is, but we have, like, as an example, Centennial
37:44
we are basically sold out of, and for 25 crop,
37:49
depending on crop size, we had a... decent position
37:53
after 24 and that sold or contracted. Now Chinook
37:59
strata Amarillo. Those are all really tight,
38:03
tight positions, which is good for us. So don't
38:07
get me wrong. I'm really happy about that. And
38:10
at the same time, I mean, we're a small player
38:14
in the grand scheme of things. Yeah. And so I
38:17
have no idea what anybody else's positions are,
38:19
but I can only imagine that we can't be the only
38:23
one in that position. And that's not to say go
38:25
over contract anything. It's just to say like,
38:28
we need really good communication. Yeah. Because
38:32
what do we need? You know, if 2000 acres of Centennial
38:36
going next year, well, shit, we just did it again.
38:39
And that's not what we need. Yeah. So I don't
38:44
know. What do you think? I'm still trying to
38:48
make sense of it all. And I was just having,
38:51
a bunch of back and forth with my dad over the
38:53
last two days about i mean some of it was related
38:57
to the the german crop and what's going on over
39:02
there but it kind of led into this global discussion
39:05
about you know where does the acreage land in
39:09
a recovered market when inventories are are worked
39:14
through and things normalize again and everybody
39:18
knows that it's not going to be the 60 000 acre
39:21
mark right now in the us but is it 45 000 acres
39:26
is it 47 000 acres is it 50 000 acres what is
39:32
it and and how long between now and then i mean
39:40
yeah for us takeaways you know things are moving
39:44
in the right direction there's pockets of opportunity
39:47
that are continually popping up which is nice
39:50
but then you can go talk to a neighbor and they
39:53
may not be seeing the same thing they may just
39:57
be in a holding pattern for the market to recover
39:59
so that you know merchant abc or distributor
40:03
abc will come knocking it just it doesn't it
40:09
doesn't all add up for me i guess it just leads
40:14
into the question it's like well how much of
40:15
it is a real structural oversupply which it is
40:20
and then how much of it is perception right now
40:25
as we're i think coming off the bottom yeah i
40:29
mean i think an easy solve for i know this will
40:33
never happen or maybe it will maybe our german
40:35
brethren that listen to this might think this
40:37
is a good idea but to me it feels like there
40:40
should be some sort of a at least on the alpha
40:43
side because the two major actors in that space
40:47
are germany and the u .s like something like
40:52
a like a stock exchange or something on alpha
40:56
that trades would be really really valuable so
41:01
brewers can see what's out there what's available
41:03
growers can see that and it's transparent and
41:07
fair and because you could have some really massive
41:12
swings happen real quick in that market Unfortunately,
41:16
when swings happen, somebody wins and somebody
41:19
loses. Not only in the alpha market. Yeah, it's
41:23
true in the aroma market too, but I mean, the
41:26
problem is if it swings too hard to the shortage
41:29
side on the aroma market is our customers can't
41:32
handle. I mean, they use so many more hops than
41:35
the multinational lager producers or whatever
41:40
that it's a material piece of their cost of goods.
41:45
And if it swings up by 50%, things aren't exactly
41:49
five, six years ago. It'd be like us getting
41:51
chemicals shoot up 50%. It'd be like, holy shit.
41:55
It's like existential. It spooks me. Yeah. But
42:01
that's why we're doing this show, right? Yeah,
42:04
yeah. Is to get away from these things. Yep.
42:06
Hopefully. I mean, there's a shortage coming.
42:10
This is when. Yeah. I think it's going to have
42:14
to come from the brewer side to communicate with
42:16
suppliers about what their needs are. Do they
42:20
have the inventory or do they have the crop coming
42:25
in? How risky is it? Whatever that is. Now, even
42:31
though I say that, do you think it's possible
42:33
that the market develops slow enough that people
42:38
can react to it? People being... growers, merchants,
42:44
distributors? Or do you think that swing is going
42:47
to happen too fast? I mean, I can only go off
42:50
a gut feeling because I can't see inventories
42:53
and I can't see burn rates at brewer levels or
42:55
anything like that. The math that I'd be looking
42:58
at is we're at like 62 ,000 acres and now we're
43:00
down to 41 or whatever that is. It's a 30 % swing,
43:05
32, whatever that number is. Demand for hops
43:09
wasn't 62 ,000 and it's certainly not 41 ,000.
43:13
It's somewhere in the middle. And so there's
43:15
not enough acres in the ground in the first place.
43:17
The question is how close are we to that with
43:21
the supply? And if it's, and as we pointed out
43:23
before, it's varietal specific. I mean, if it
43:26
happens in April when people realize the hops
43:31
aren't there and everything's already planted,
43:33
there's nothing we can do about it. It could
43:37
swing really hard or it could be softer. I don't
43:40
know. Yeah. It's really hard to figure out. But
43:44
I think the best we can do is say work with your
43:47
suppliers on getting transparency, fair, sustainable
43:52
pricing, you know, everything and just get locked
43:55
up on that. Yep. But don't overdo it for the
43:59
love of God. Yeah. That's my biggest takeaway.
44:03
What? Don't overdo it? No, it's just that there's
44:05
a lot of challenges. ahead and there's a lot
44:07
of opportunity and there's a lot of reason to
44:09
be excited for everybody like oh the pain's over
44:12
and as we've stated many times we're not trying
44:16
to make a mountain of money here we're trying
44:20
to just be a sustainable family farm and hopefully
44:24
everything can work out where we all work through
44:27
that together i mean you said the pain's over
44:30
but is it because there's there's still I think
44:35
on the average, yeah, I think the skies are starting
44:39
to get bluer and the storms are, that doesn't
44:43
mean that it's over for everybody. Because we've
44:47
seen, we've talked to breweries that are still
44:50
in a really, really hard spot. Yeah. Talk to
44:53
farms that are in a really hard spot. Yeah. And
44:55
then talk to others on both sides that are doing
44:57
much better. What's going on in Germany? You
45:02
know, having having a less Roy be the president
45:06
of the HGC, you know, he's built a lot of relationships
45:10
that, of course, he wants to transfer to the
45:11
next generation. And and rightfully so. So we've
45:14
been spending a lot of time there and working
45:17
with them and. Everything we're gathering is
45:20
things are not the crop is not fantastic. It's
45:24
not horrible, but it's not fantastic. But that's
45:27
a big swing. Seems like there's a lot of growers
45:31
that. don't want to continue operating at these
45:34
low prices and so they're kind of digging their
45:36
heels in and then there's some that are saying
45:39
hey we'll take it seems like it's a very very
45:43
strange market over there right now which is
45:46
probably this like similar to here in some regards
45:49
i don't know yeah just to add a little more context
45:53
there i mean germany is always very dependent
45:57
on rainfall because they don't have irrigation
46:00
districts per se and And even at best, sometimes
46:03
they have supplemental drip irrigation that,
46:06
you know, it doesn't cover the entirety of the
46:08
crop need, but can needs, but can help out. And
46:12
so this year they did get some drought conditions
46:15
similar to us, but we have a lot more capacity
46:20
to irrigate over here. Early indications are
46:23
the crops going to be a bit shorter over there
46:27
than expected. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because
46:31
they're, Their irrigation comes from the sky.
46:35
Ours comes from the mountains. I mean, they both
46:38
actually start in the sky. But they're waiting
46:42
for rain to come. We're waiting for snow to come.
46:44
Yeah. When's the last time you saw a rain cloud
46:46
in Yakima? Yeah, I know. Hopefully we don't see
46:48
rain clouds during the summer and we just see
46:50
snowpack during the winter. But, yeah, I mean,
46:52
this year it's been pretty dry, which is a good
46:56
thing for growing the crop. Because, I mean,
46:59
even when we get a rain event, everybody feels
47:01
good. not much and it doesn't really contribute
47:04
to the crop yeah as we're talking about germany
47:07
earlier this year they cut off sales of some
47:12
of the german nobles to the u .s yeah yeah i
47:16
remember hearing about that well it was so dry
47:19
over there i think everybody was scared i don't
47:22
know we don't really have an update on that but
47:24
that is one thing that happened yeah i'll be
47:27
really curious to see how all that comes in but
47:29
this goes back to like I think there's a better
47:32
way to do all of this. I think there's a better
47:34
way to communicate collectively. I mean, there's
47:39
enough for everybody if we all work together.
47:41
For sure. I don't know. Lots of learnings, lots
47:45
to come, going into harvest, hoping to have a
47:48
good, safe, high -quality harvest. I'm pretty
47:54
excited about the people coming on. Yeah. Wanted
47:57
to make that happen for a while, so. It'll be
48:00
convenient having people roll through here, get
48:02
them on the mic. Mic's on the mic. Mic's on the
48:05
mic. So we covered a bit of ground today. We
48:10
had three Roys on the show. First time ever.
48:13
Coming back into a healthy, productive podcast
48:18
season ahead of us. The crop's set. By the time
48:23
this thing lands, we will be into harvest. Yeah.
48:29
back recording, which is good. So here's to our
48:33
follow through getting back on track. And today's
48:38
episode is brought to you by time management.