It really seems to be a simple solution: If you can’t beg, borrow, or steal the hops you need, grow your own.

Small brewers become hop farmers amid shortage

For the second straight year, a worldwide shortage of hops has small brewers worried they might not find enough hops to produce their standard beers, let alone experiment with new ones. Many are planting hops themselves to ensure an adequate supply at a price they can afford.
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Herb Pluemer, owner of Tractor Brewing Co. in Los Lunas, N.M., bought 10,000 hop stems from Wills’ Oregon nursery to try growing the crop himself after hearing how much farmers wanted this year.

“We had to lay out $16,000 for the hops for next year, and now they want the following year upfront and it’s just going higher,” he said. “I have a lot of land, so I got the idea, why not try hops myself?”