Estudo de casos: desafios e oportunidades no setor do lúpulo brasileiro

Abstract

Brazil is one of the largest consumers and producers of beer in the world, and one of the indispensable ingredients for beer production is hops, which until the year 2018 was almost 100% imported. Hops are responsible for imparting bitterness, flavor, and aroma to the beverage, and the fact that almost 100% of the input is imported makes breweries dependent on the quality of the imported ingredient for the elaboration of their drinks. With the need for processing combined with the expansion of cultivated areas, the development of projects for specialized industries to efficiently process the plant is of utmost importance so that Brazil can participate in the entire hop production chain and eventually satisfactorily meet its domestic market. Thus, the overall objective of the work was to highlight the challenges and opportunities within the Brazilian hop sector through a case study, in order to assist researchers and industry players in developing projects that yield more efficient and satisfactory results. The adopted methodology consisted of the following steps: (1) Identification and definition of related cases regarding Brazilian hop production, its quality, and application; (2) Evaluation of cases and analysis of the obtained results; and (3) Synthesis of relevant results for the Brazilian hop sector. At the end of the work, it was concluded that the adopted approach contributed to emphasizing the importance of hops in the industrial context, providing valuable opportunities for development in this sector. Throughout the study, it was observed that the lack of synergy between academic and professional trajectories proves to be challenging, but an integration of the academic environment with practical experience is beneficial for both industries and universities.