We at Off Color don't focus on hops as much as most US craft breweries do. Aqua Predator Wet Hopped Saison is certainly an exception with 100 pounds of crystal hops picked by our friends at Hop Head Farms in Michigan in the morning, put in the back of some dude's Civic, and infused in our single 20 barrel (600 gallon) batch with a make shift hopback. This is not the usual road hops take into your beer, not at all.

Hops cones are typically picked from trellises from the end of August through October (in the Northern Hemisphere) and processed for long term storage. The process for long term storage need to be accomplished quickly as the fresh picked hop cones are fairly perishable and will quickly rot in the back of some dude's Civic if not properly handled. Before the "Economic Miracle" all of Germany's hops were picked by this guy (who looks suspiciously like Roger Deschner):

After picking the first step is drying as the hops are over 90% water greatly contributes to their tendency to quickly rot. Drying is done in specially designed kilns that bring the moisture down to around 10%. The dried hops are then pressed into bales and stored. this used to be done by hop stompers like this guy:

But is now done by less jolly machines like these: