“We had an open day in January and there was good interest. We can help other farmers with the processing side with our machinery and knowledge if they decide to plant hops. We would love to see a Southern hop community, providing jobs, commercial opportunities in multiple areas, having fun and presenting a uniquely flavoured product that we can all be proud of together.”
The McNamee family of Southland believes the region holds a lot of potential to grow hops and for farmers to include this in their overall operation.
The family has a sheep farm at Garston, just 50 kilometre south of Queenstown, and alongside this grows 15 hectares of hops with another 8 hectares currently being planted due to the venture’s success. “It’s a two-tier farming system, which works synergistically,” explains Lizette McNamee.
“Normally, when you diversify you have to sacrifice something but we haven’t had to drop sheep numbers. We can put the sheep in there and they do our weed management for us as well as eating some nutritious feed. It’s good for the hops plants as we get natural fertiliser as well.”
Lizette’s husband James is the fourth generation to farm the land, in partnership with James’ brother Terence and his wife Lyn. Challenging wool prices saw the family seek to add to their business.
When James’ cousin Matt started growing hops at his backdoor to make homebrew the family got thinking. After planting 45,000 plants they are now adding to their thriving hops operation.
Lizette says Southland is ideal for growing hops: “More than anything, hops love water and light – two things Southland has more than anywhere else in New Zealand. Add in Garston’s rich soil, warm days and cool nights, and we have the perfect conditions to produce intense, punchy, unique aroma hops,” she says.
Their business, Garston Hops, now offers brewers five aromatic varieties: Southern-grown Riwaka, Rakau, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and NZ Cascade. Challenges have included securing sufficient capital funding to plant the hops and growing structures although the plants will last for 25-30 years, making it a good return on investment.
Hops can also be a labour-intensive crop at certain times of the year and finding staff in a small town can be difficult. Lizette says some of their best workers are sons Owen, 13, and James, 10.
Hops are grown on a trellis system 4.5-5 metre high. Crops 30% yield in the first year and 60% in the second year before reaching their full potential. In Garston, the crop starts growing in October and is ready to be harvested in March.
The vines are then cut at the bottom and top and taken to a bespoke harvesting machine to separate the stalks and leaves from the cones – the part used to make beer. Inside the cones is the valuable lupulin, a naturally occurring substance in hops that plays a huge role in giving the plant its characteristic scents and flavours.
The cones are then dried in a kiln, pressed into bales and sent to Nelson to be palletised. The hops can then last for five years but brewers generally like to use it within a year, says Lizette.
The family favours sustainable farming, for example, using biodegradable string for tying the hops plants and putting waste from hops processing back onto the land as fertiliser. “We look at things we can do to add to the land rather than take away from it,” says Lizette.
Demand for their distinctive hops mainly lies in the craft beer market. They sell New Zealand-wide and also to Australia and the USA. “New Zealand hops are quite different to the rest of the world and the more we get the New Zealand name out there the more demand there will be.”
The family eventually plans to expand their hops plantings to 40 hectares and encourages other farmers to join the journey.
“We had an open day in January and there was good interest. We can help other farmers with the processing side with our machinery and knowledge if they decide to plant hops. We would love to see a Southern hop community, providing jobs, commercial opportunities in multiple areas, having fun and presenting a uniquely flavoured product that we can all be proud of together.”
© Waterford Press Ltd 2023 – Independent Print Media New Zealand
