Ingredients | Hops Brook House Hops on soil analysis technology

PUTTING IN THE GROUNDWORK

BROOK HOUSE HOPS IS THE ONLY HOP FARM IN THE UK TO HAVE A FULL-TIME AGRONOMIST LOOKING AFTER ITS 400 ACRES OF HOPS. HERE DAVIDE COMPAGNO DISCUSSES HIS ROLE AND HOW HE’S USING THE LATEST SOIL ANALYSIS TECH TO GET DETAILED INSIGHTS INTO THEIR ENGLISH HOP CROPS.

INGREDIENTS

Growing hops isn’t easy. Growing hops that are bursting with the amazing range of aromatics and subtle flavours that the best brewers demand, is harder still.

We pride ourselves on the quality of the hops we grow and are fortunate that our natural Herefordshire terroir provides an excellent starting point. However, ensuring that our hops continue to deliver consistent quality year after year requires careful daily monitoring of the various pests and diseases that could undo all of our hard work as well as a detailed knowledge of the health and condition of our soil.

Recent research has shown that the local soil biome (the microorganisms present in soil) has a significant effect on the flavour in hops. We hope that building up a strong natural biome, rather than rely purely on imported mineral fertiliser, will translate into more aromatic oils for the brewer’s beer, and will be significantly more sustainable in the long term. Achieving this balance is good news for our customers and for the local environment.

To help us work towards this we have invested in the latest high resolution soil mapping technology and equipment and our very own agronomy expert to give us a detailed understanding of soil and crop health. We believe we are the only UK hop farm to have our own full-time agronomist looking after over 400 acres of hops across our two farms.

Part of my role involves actively managing the health and condition of our soil and to ensure that wherever possible we are introducing more sustainable farming practices.

This means increasing the use of organic rather than artificial fertilisers where we can and improving long term soil condition by enabling it to build up its own natural defences.

Many of the historical disease problems associated with English hops are likely to have been caused by unbalanced soils short of organic matter that would stress hop root systems. Our experience has shown that consistency in hop yield across an entire hop yard can fluctuate significantly due to the wide variation in soil fertility. This leads to some areas having healthy productive plants and others with skinny and pale ones. Understanding the detail of what is going on below the surface is key to fixing this issue and improving the overall hop harvest. The TerraMap data provided to us via Hutchinsons shows up to 800 reference points per hectare covering information relating to pH, soil texture, percentages of clay, sand and silt as well as elevation and plant available water. This complete analysis of the properties of our soil and the nutrient concentration in different parts of our hop yards, quickly helps identify the ‘weak areas’ in need of attention. But this data on its own is not especially useful if we continue to distribute fertilisers in the traditional flat rate arbitrary way. Used in combination with our two new GPS controlled fertiliser spinners that can interpret the data within the maps allows us to take full advantage of this technology and ensure that the fertiliser we do use is applied at the correct concentration levels for that part of the hop yard. The soil gets the nutrients it needs to support consistent hop growth across a whole hop yard and fertiliser is not overused in area where it is not required. Although this is a more expensive method, it is more efficient and clearly better for long term soil health with improvements being seen in as little as two years. More precisely controlled distribution within the hop yard also means we are minimising our use of imported artificial fertilisers, reducing soil disturbance, and laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future at both of our farms. Will Kirby, founder at Brook House Hops adds; “Ever since we joined the industry, we’ve continuously looked for ways to innovate to maximise the quality of our hops or to fine tune our levels of service to breweries. Often this involves adopting and sometimes adapting new technology to work in harmony with traditional farming methods. By scouting hop health above the ground on a daily basis, and overlaying this with insights from TerraMap system we now have the best of both worlds. “This is a pioneering move in the world of hop growing and will allow us, and most importantly our customers, to be even more confident in the quality and consistency of our next hop crop.” Brook House Hops is a hop farm and producer based in Herefordshire, UK, established in 2015. They grow their own hops which are truly unique thanks to the rich, red, Herefordshire soil. They also sources niche hop strains from around the world and are meticulous about quality.

Brook House Hops has invested in high resolution soil mapping technology and equipment to give them a detailed understanding of soil and crop health.