Editing Hops (section)

=== Migrant labor and social impact ===
[[File:Kratky, Frantisek - Sklizen chmele (ca 1898).jpg|thumb|Hops harvest in the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] (1898)]]
[[File:NMA.0063746 Humleplockning mellan Vånga och Näsum.jpg|thumb|Hops harvest in [[Skåne]], Sweden, in 1937]]

The need for massed labor at harvest time meant hop-growing had a big social impact. Around the world, the labor-intensive harvesting work involved large numbers of migrant workers who would travel for the annual hop harvest. Whole families would participate and live in [[hopper hut|hoppers' huts]], with even the smallest children helping in the fields.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Connie's Homepage – Hop Picking in Kent |url=http://www.btinternet.com/~hunny.pot/homepage/hopping.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721103026/http://www.btinternet.com/~hunny.pot/homepage/hopping.html |archive-date=21 July 2012 |access-date=20 May 2012 |website=www.btinternet.com |publisher=Btinternet.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=George Orwell: Hop-picking |url=http://theorwellprize.co.uk/george-orwell/by-orwell/essays-and-other-works/hop-picking/ |access-date=20 May 2012 |website=www.theorwellprize.co.uk |date=20 October 2010 |publisher=Theorwellprize.co.uk |archive-date=26 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326084442/http://theorwellprize.co.uk/george-orwell/by-orwell/essays-and-other-works/hop-picking/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The final chapters of [[W. Somerset Maugham]]'s ''[[Of Human Bondage]]'' and a large part of [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[A Clergyman's Daughter]]'' contain a vivid description of London families participating in this annual hops harvest. In England, many of those picking hops in [[Kent]] were from eastern areas of London. This provided a break from urban conditions that was spent in the countryside. People also came from Birmingham and other Midlands cities to pick hops in the [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]] area of Worcestershire. Some photographs have been preserved.<ref>Smith, Keith. ''Around Malvern in old photographs.''. Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester. {{ISBN|0-86299-587-6}}.</ref>

The often-appalling living conditions endured by hop pickers during the harvest became a matter of scandal across Kent and other hop-growing counties. Eventually, the Rev. [[John Young Stratton]], Rector of Ditton, Kent, began to gather support for reform, resulting in 1866 in the formation of the Society for the Employment and Improved Lodging of Hop Pickers.<ref>Kentish Gazette, 23 October 1866</ref> The hop-pickers were given very basic accommodation, with very poor sanitation. This led to the spread of infectious diseases and led to contaminated water. The 1897 [[Maidstone typhoid epidemic]] was  partly as a result of hop-pickers camping near the Farleigh Springs which supplied Maidstone with water.<ref>Sarah Rogers, ‘The Nurses of the 1897 Maidstone Typhoid Epidemic: Social Class and Training. How representative were they of mid-nineteenth century nursing reforms?’ (Unpublished Master of Letters dissertation, Dundee, March 2016),</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hales |first=I. |date=1984 |title='Maidstone Typhoid Epidemic' |journal=Bygone Kent. |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=217–223}}</ref>

Particularly in Kent, because of a shortage of small-denomination coin of the realm, many growers issued their own currency to those doing the labor. In some cases, the coins issued were adorned with fanciful hops images, making them quite beautiful.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Furiners: A Forgotten Story |url=https://www.brewtek.ca/the-furiners-a-forgotten-story#hop-tokens |access-date=22 July 2019 |website=www.brewtek.ca |archive-date=4 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504221219/https://www.brewtek.ca/the-furiners-a-forgotten-story#hop-tokens |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Indian_hop_pickers,_Puget_Sound_region,_Washington,_ca_1893_(LAROCHE_78).jpeg|thumb|Puget Sound region, Washington, c. 1893]]

In the United States, [[Prohibition]] had a serious adverse effect on hops production, but remnants of this significant industry in the western states are still noticeable in the form of old hop kilns that survive throughout [[Sonoma County, California]], among others. Florian Dauenhauer, of [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]] in Sonoma County, became a manufacturer of hop-harvesting machines in 1940, in part because of the hop industry's importance to the county. This mechanization helped destroy the local industry by enabling large-scale mechanized production, which moved to larger farms in other areas.<ref name="DauenhauerPD">{{Cite news |last=Gaye LeBaron |author-link=Gaye LeBaron |date=29 June 2008 |title=Hops, once king of county's crops, helped put region on map |work=Press Democrat |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1673&dat=20080629&id=IIZPAAAAIBAJ&pg=1979,6896317 |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref> Dauenhauer Manufacturing Company remains a current producer of hop harvesting machines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dmfg.com/about/ |title=About |website=dmfg.com |access-date=3 August 2021}}</ref>