Moxee, Washington — Crop You Can Sometimes Smell Before You See It

Moxee sits east of Yakima in one of America's most important hop-growing regions.

The crop likes the combination this valley can provide: long summer daylight, dry weather and irrigation water delivered when growers need it. Hop yards spread across the Moxee Valley on tall trellis systems that turn farmland into geometric walls of green.

Harvest season adds another identifier. The aroma can carry beyond the fields.

Moxee incorporated in 1921 as an agricultural service center. Warehouses, processors and farm businesses linked local growers with breweries across the country and eventually around the world.

The community has grown as part of the broader Yakima area, but hops remain unusually visible in its identity.

Some farm towns need a sign explaining what they grow. In Moxee, opening the car window can occasionally do the job.