Of all the alcoholic drinks in the United States, beer reigns supreme. The Pew Research Center notes that beer made up 42.3% of all consumed alcohol in 2021, compared to wine at 17.4% and spirits at 40.3%. According to the Beer Institute’s 2025 Beer Serves America study, the beer industry contributes more than $471 billion to the national economy.
In 2024, the U.S. produced 160 million barrels of beer—that’s 20 gallons per adult in the country. While craft brewers often work with organic produced grains, big beer corporations often use wheat and hops treated with pesticides toxic to human health, pollinators, and the safety of our water and food supplies.
“People are often passionate about the type of beer they drink and have major sway with beer producers,” comments Emma Kriss, Food Campaigns Manager at Green America. “If the beer industry can get pesticides out of its products and implement organic farming practices in its supply chain, then they would be an example to other food companies that they can do the same.”
The Way We Make Beer Is Bad
It starts with how we grow crops like barley and hops. Instead of practicing safe and healthy agricultural practices like regenerative or organic, most beer companies in the U.S. prioritize profit and efficiency over a healthy planet and people.
Spraying pesticides on crops to control pests may increase food production, but their use comes at a cost. Pesticides are known to cause acute health problems like blurred vision, difficulty breathing, seizures, and more, as well as chronic risks such as cancer, reproductive harm, and disruptions to the endocrine system. The resulting harm spreads throughout the supply chain, from the farm workers who grow and harvest the grains to the people who drink commercial brews.
“Barley, for example, can be exposed to up to seven pesticides, including the neurotoxin dichlorvos,” explains Kriss. Dichlorvos is classified as “possibly” and “probably” carcinogenic to humans, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and EPA.
The known carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate was found in nearly every major U.S. beer brand in a 2019 report from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) finding several major brands contained
glyphosate levels above 25 ppb.
The Beer Institute, which represents the $431 billion beer industry, tried to dismiss these findings as trivial noting these levels are below the EPA’s “tolerance” levels for glyphosate—in other words, below the maximum legally permissible amount of pesticide residue allowed. However, as PIRG notes, studies have shown as little as 0.1ppb of glyphosate, or .0001ppm, has the potential to destroy beneficial gut bacteria and increase breast cancer cells. And the landmark study that supposedly demonstrated the safety of glyphosate, “Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans,” released in 2000, was formally retracted in December 2025 by the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, because of improprieties, including the influence of Monsanto, maker of glyphosate containing RoundUp, on the results. Green America is currently working with partners to update this testing and will share the results later this year.
“Farmers and farm workers are [exposed] to these harmful pesticides, increasing their risk of the known health concerns,” Kriss warns. She also notes that when pesticides seep into the soil, they can put future nutritious crops at risk.
Can I Still Drink Beer?
Despite the prevalence of pesticides in beer production, there are ways beer-lovers can keep enjoying their hoppy ales and stouts and all the rest.
Kriss suggests opting for organic beers at retail stores or restaurants but warns that even organic foods can carry trace amounts of pesticides through drift. Even organic-labeled compost and fertilizers can still turn out to be contaminated by pesticides because the source material may contain industrial run-off. If a local brewery you love doesn’t have organic beers, tell them how important that is, and it will keep dollars local.
Enjoy the tailgates and parties, the pubs and camping trips, and some good beer, by drinking organic and
advocating for organic and safe agricultural practices from your local farmers and businesses.
