With another growing season behind us and the winter solstice marking the beginning of another, the Operations Teams are actively working on fine-tuning our budgets, fertiliser programs, and labour calendars.
This past season saw everyone working together to deliver an even higher focus on supplying quality hops to our customers. This process started with applying the additional insights derived from our new irrigation sensors all the way through to shortening our harvest window. Yields were slightly down on estimates, with some gardens being idled.
The season came with its challenges, including an early wet season leading to a dryer than average period from late spring to harvest. We experienced good weather during the harvest window, but were reminded about the risks in relation to irrigation water availability. In line with this, we completed our second storage dam early this year to satisfy some of our requirements for drought risk mitigation.
The focus this season will be to continue with our sustainability focus around soil health, with more cover cropping and soil remediation on the agenda. With the current decrease in demand, we will also aim to use this opportunity to idle and rejuvenate some of our older gardens.
