Ali Hamm, is researching how to best grow organic hops in Colorado. She received a $20,000 grant from a local brewery.

The Colorado State University horticulture masters' candidate is working with New Belgium, which gave her the grant, along with Odell Brewing, which has been supporting her work for several years.

Her work has potentially major implications for local farmers: The price of conventional hops has jumped from around $2 to upward of $35 a pound, with 2007 seeing the highest prices for hops ever recorded.

"Nobody thinks about growing hops in Colorado - well, not until this year," Hamm