Hop Farming From the time that it became part of the agricultural industry of the Fraser Valley in the 1870s until the advent of mechanisation in the 1940s, Sto:lo men, women, and children were important sources of seasonal labour for hop farms, as were members of other First Nations. As has been noted, The single-month picking season encouraged families to locate themselves right in the hop fields. … [T]he hop field gatherings, like the inter-village potlatch ceremonies, enabled Aboriginal people from a broad geographic region to gather together for social, ceremonial, and economic activities. Families exchanged gifts, engaged in athletic competitions, and practices spiritual activities. Running and canoe races, feasts, speeches, and information sharing were common and enjoyable features of the hop field gatherings.(p. 119) Hop picking came to play a dominant role in Sto:lo economic life after the Federal Government banned the potlatch and curtailed First Nations involvement in commercial fishing. Because much of the work in the fields came in a short, intense one-month period, hop picking fit well into traditional Sto:lo patterns of activities. Sto:lo involvement was essential to the hop industry, at least until mechanisation, because few other people were willing to work as pickers: One reason is that hop picking was a hot, labour-intensive job. It required large numbers of labourers and, because of its short one-month duration, few Xwelítem [non-Sto:lo, or "white," people] or Asian immigrants were willing to engage in it. For the Sto:lo, The hop-picking season fit conveniently between the salmon-drying and berry-picking seasons.(p.123) See some pictures of a hop farm near Agassiz Source: Keith Thor Carlson and John Lutz, "Sto:lo People and the development of the B.C. Wage Labour Economy" in Keith Thor Carlson, ed., You Are Asked To Witness: The Sto:lo in Canada's Pacific Coast History (Chilliwack, BC: Sto:lo Heritage Trust, 1997), pp. 118-19, 122-23.