Two farmers near Taos have tapped into a cash crop that could quench their thirst for profit and bring them heady results at harvest time — hops.

Todd Bates and Steve Johnson told The Taos News they hope eventually to sell their fragrant produce to commercial brewers, who use the large, resiny flower buds from hop vines for flavoring beer. At $50 a pound, hops could become a potent product for not just themselves, but other farmers around northern New Mexico, they said.

Hops grow wild in many parts of the world, but they’re a huge business in Germany and the Pacific Northwest. Bates said his interest in hops was piqued when told they wouldn’t grow organically at a high elevation — Taos is 7,000 feet. “But anywhere apples grow, hops grow. And we’ve got some pretty good organic apples around here.” The quest was on.

For the last year the two farmers have raised dozens of hop varieties, including some they found growing wild nearby. Through cross-breeding, they hope to develop a hop that grows well in the valleys around Taos, but that also has the bitterness properties so revered by brewers.

“You try to breed a plant that isn’t too tall, and has multiple arms and few leaves so that it’s easier to harvest,” said Bates, as he fingered the buds of a 10-foot plant. “We’ve been serious about this for about a year. This is our second crop, and already we’ve found some gems.” Bates, who brews beer at home, said he and Johnson hope to find a commercial brewer in the state who might be interested in trying out their Taos hops. That may not be too difficult. The Web site Beer Expedition lists nearly 30 brew pubs and microbreweries around New Mexico, including several in Taos, one in the nearby village of Embudo and a couple in Santa Fe.