The Mayor of Calasparra, Jesus Navarro, is urging local farmers to accept the conditions offered by the brewery, Estrella de Levante, which proposes growing hops for the first 100 percent Murcian beer here in Calasparra.
A meeting with the Director General of the brewery, and representatives from Calasparra, including the Mayor, the Esperanza Rice Cooperative and the farmers was held with the Department of Agriculture yesterday to iron out the details of the project.
According to the Mayor the conditions offered by the brewery are “advantageous and the farmers should decide to accept them so that the rice fields can produce the hops which will be used in the first 100 percent Murcian beer that Estrella de Levante want to produce next year to mark its fiftieth anniversary.”
“The main advantage for the farmers is the guarantee of sale,” continues the Mayor who has indicated that trials for the project will start immediately. Moreover, the Town Hall, has offered to carry out a trial on “dry land” (secano) with a view to extending the cultivation beyond the rice fields and increase production of the hops.
For the Head of the Esperanza Rice Cooperative “the greatest importance is the possibility of medium and long term commercial activity.”
The first hops would be sown in December and harvested in June. It is projected that some 60 hectares will produce 330 tons of a special variety of the hops for the production of the beer.
