Green baby hop plants starting to climb the twine in a hop yard

Yakima Chief Ranches Brand Management Program

Footprints®

Combining best-in-class agronomy, rigorous trials, and field-level data to ensure varietal purity and dependable performance brewers can trust.

Boot print in dirt with scattered hop cones around it

The Best Fertilizer is a Farmer's Footprints in the Field

The Footprints logo is more than an emblem; it’s an ethos. Every bale of hops that carries the Footprints badge represents the human minds, hands, and physical footprints in the field that have contributed to the industry-leading quality of all Yakima Chief Ranches brands. Yakima Chief Ranches promises suppliers, brewers, and end consumers exceptional variety performance. Each step of crop management has been evaluated to ensure that the product delivers true value. From supplying healthy plants to a focus on quality and food safety, Yakima Chief Ranches sets harvest standards across all varieties and growing regions. Since the Footprints program was implemented in 2012, the Yakima Chief Ranches brand has consistently been ranked among the highest-quality brands on the market. Simply put, Footprints is where innovation and intention mesh to form the Yakima Chief identity, where the rubber truly meets the rows.

Where Crop Management Meets Craft Quality

Healthy Plants

The Footprints team assists hop growers in transitioning to clean, virus-free planting material. These healthy plants produce increased yields and maintain consistent quality.

Rows of hop bales with piles of green hops in background at farm facility

Quality & Food Safety

In collaboration with the Yakima Chief Ranches lab, greenhouse, and Yakima Chief Hops teams, the Footprints program helps facilitate facility audits, environmentally conscious pest and disease mitigation techniques, employee safety, and food safety in strict adherence to the Green Chief ® farm quality program.

Core sample of hops with bale in background stamped with Footprints stamp

Crop Management

Ensuring proprietary hop varieties are produced according to brand standards is essential for maintaining quality and consistency. The Footprints team collects trial data across regions, including soil samples, training dates, cover crops, and peak ripeness evaluations. This information helps growers reliably produce high-quality hop brands that customers trust.

Farmer walking hop field during hop harvest with tall bines in background

Harvest Standards

Each hop brand managed by Yakima Chief Ranches has prescribed harvest or “pick” windows to achieve consistent character and attributes. As agriculturists working alongside Mother Nature, we face variability and challenges each growing season. The team collaborates with growers to navigate optimal harvest windows each year.