This harvest, we picked 566 hectares across Victoria and Tasmania, which resulted in 1,468 tonnes of hops. This was a 128 tonne (9.5%) increase despite a 104 hectare (15.5%) decrease year-on-year. We idled 32% of our gardens due to soft global demand in the current oversupply situation, with many brewers still working through a backlog of previous crop years. We used this production decrease as an opportunity to focus on soil remediation, cover cropping, cycling rootstock, and scaling up leading experimental hops in our breeding program. Impact in beer is expected to remain strong, with this year’s average oil content coming in slightly below or equal to the 5-year average for most proprietary hops. The star performer this year was Ella™, with both oils and alphas above the 5-year average, which should deliver a real depth of flavour and complexity when paired with other new world hops. Eclipse®, Galaxy® and Vic Secret™ all experienced a slight decrease in alphas, and are expected to produce some well-balanced beers with true-to-type flavours and aromas.
Looking back on the last season, everyone pulled together to focus on delivering top-quality hops. From using new water sensors to adjusting our harvest timing, we made smart changes along the way. Yields were higher and while some fields took a break, teamwork stayed strong.
We had an early wet period, followed by a dry stretch, which gave us great conditions at harvest time, but also reminded us of how important water supply is. That’s exactly why we built a second dam in Victoria, to help us through future dry spells, and assist us with a strategic irrigation strategy that takes some of the pressure of our river system in times like these.
As winter settles in and the new growing season begins, our teams are busy planning budgets, updating fertiliser strategies, and getting ready for the months ahead.
This season, we’re continuing our push for more sustainable farming. That includes improving soil health, planting cover crops, and giving older blocks time to recover. With a quieter market this year, it’s the perfect time to invest in the land. Straight after harvest, our teams jumped into cleaning up gardens, facilities and making necessary repairs. We will keep our focus on the two big improvement areas: water use and weed control. Better weed management helps us save nutrients and water, and we will continue with the planting cover crops across all our production hectares.
We’re also upgrading our irrigation systems to a more automated and efficient setup, using new tech to improve how we work. Two of these, FieldIn and CropX, are helping us make better decisions and stay organized, even helping our maintenance teams plan more efficiently.
