North Hobart, AUS — Hop Products Australia (HPA) today launch their 2018 harvest season at their Victorian farm, Rostrevor Hop Gardens. To be followed closely by their Tasmanian location, Bushy Park Estates on Monday 5 March.
HPA’s farms have been growing hops since 1864 in Tasmania and for more than 120 years in Victoria. HPA is Australia’s largest hop grower, accounting for 90% of total hop production in Australia. One of only a handful of growers around the world committed to ongoing hop research and development of their own cultivars, this allows HPA to bring diverse and unique hops to brewers.
HPA Hop Harvest Fast Facts:
- 2018 Harvest will span five weeks
- Seven Australian grown varieties will be harvested, consisting of GalaxyTM, EllaTM, EnigmaTM,
Super Pride, TopazTM, Vic SecretTM and Cascade
- 300 seasonal workers will be helping with boots on the ground over this peak time
- 560 hectares are under trellis and to be harvested
- Almost 20,000km of Coir twine has been deployed this season
HPA are expecting the 2018 harvest to yield an estimated 1,445 metric tonnes, which enables HPA to continue to supply proprietary flavour hops to the growing domestic and international craft beer markets. This forecast production represents an increase of 21% from the 2017 harvest and 100% increase over the last four years.
On the 2018 HPA harvest, Managing Director, Tim Lord says, “This is a very exciting time for us on farm and as a business, as HPA has recently invested heavily in order to see the operation and yield grow year upon year.”
“As Australia’s largest hop grower and supplier, we own and manage each step of the supply chain, from new variety development in the breeding garden, growing the crop, all the way through to final packaging and distribution. We’ve created the shortest path possible between farm and brewer, to deliver the highest impact in beer.”
About HPA
HPA is a privately owned and independently managed Australian company, part of the Barth-Haas Group of companies; the largest hop trader in the world, founded in 1794.
The farms, Bushy Park Estates (TAS) and Rostrevor Hop Gardens (VIC), are amongst the oldest continuously operating hop farms in the world. They’ve both been dedicated to growing hops since the late 1800s. Today, these farms and selected growers handle around 90% of the hops grown in Australia, about 1% of the world’s production.
Through HPA’s dedicated hop breeding program and incessant drive to bring brewers the best hops; a number of proprietary flavour hops have been introduced, in addition to the aroma and bittering varieties.