New Zealand’s next hop model takes shape on former dairy farm

Nelson Lakes Hops director Richard Wong has spent the last two and a half years boldly growing where no man has gone before, establishing what is planned to be New Zealand’s largest hop garden in a secluded valley on the fringe of the Nelson Lakes National Park.

Mount Ella Station, near Murchison, previously ran more than 3000 milking cows. But they’re now all gone, replaced by rows of tall trellises on which the aromatic beer-flavoring vines grow.

Nelson Lakes Hops took over part of the 1000 hectare farm in 2021, after doing extensive soil, water and climate analysis on the property.

Wong said that when the company was looking for a location for their hop farm development, they sought far and wide. Even Central Otago was a consideration, before “stumbling upon” the current site.

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The venture defies conventional wisdom – a previously held view that hops could only be grown commercially further north in the Tasman District.

Because no one had grown any commercial horticulture in the area, it was a bit of a “leap of faith”, Wong said. But the data stacked up.

The garden had its first commercial harvest in March. Wong said they were fortunate to have plenty of United States brewers visit at that time, who hadn’t been able to experience a New Zealand harvest since Covid.

They got out in the field, sampled the hops in person, and did hop sensory anaysis on hop pallets, the finished product, and the feedback was “really positive”.

“I think it’s a really good validation of what we’ve been hard at work at for the past two and a half years,” Wong said.

The garden’s unique geography “resonates” with US and international brewers too. At 400 metres above sea level, it’s hotter in summer and colder in winter than traditional hop farming regions.

That sharper change in temperature could potentially impart different aromas and flavours from those regions, Wong said.

So far, around 130 hectares of the gardens have been constructed. Once it is fully developed, which Wong estimated would take around three years, at 370 hectares, the garden will be the single largest contiguous farm in the country.

It will also have two multimillion dollar high-tech processing plants on site, imported from Idaho, in the US.

Having sufficient workforce to harvest is a challenge given the farms’ remoteness, Wong said.

But most of the 15 full time staff come from Murchison, about a half hour drive away, and there’s “excitement and buzz” in the community about the development.

Combined with the short growing season, from October until March, and the use of drip irrigation, Wong said the farm will have a significantly reduced carbon footprint and impact on the environment from the previous dairy operation.

Most of the power needed for the hops processing plant can be taken from a neighbour’s hydro-electric scheme.

Ultimately, the proof is in the drinking, as beer consumers become more discerning – with breweries such as the Garage Project showcasing the source of their hops.

Wong said he hoped the concept of terroir, the unique growing conditions to each site, gained traction in the hop space.

“That’s where we see New Zealand at a competitive advantage and distinct, relative to the all the other regions in the world,” he said.

“That’s certainly something that we want to help promote.”