Minister gets a taste of local hops in George

GEORGE NEWS - Celebrating the beginning of the the hops harvesting season in George, Minister of Agriculture Thoko Didiza visited farms in the area on Friday 3 March.

During her visit at Rob Roy South African Breweries (SAB) in Blanco, Didiza spoke about the impact of load-shedding on the agricultural sector, and said the department is still in talks with Eskom to protect this sector.

The harvesting season has started, but due to load-shedding and farmers not being able to irrigate when the power is off, the yield is less than usual.

In January this year, after a meeting between Didiza and leaders of the agriculture sector and food, fibre and beverages value chains, a task team was established to continuously monitor the impact of load-shedding in the sector and its ability to ensure food security going forward.

The task team comprises government representatives, industry participants in the agriculture sector and energy specialists.

Job creation

Didiza said the industry is a major contributor to revenue for the country and jobs for its citizens. About 1 500 people are employed by hops farmers in the area during the six weeks of harvesting.

Besides these, a number of people are also employed throughout the year to look after the plants, harvesting and removing alien vegetation. During the harvesting season nearly a hundred million rand is being ploughed back into the local economy.

Hops is one of the main contributors to the beer-brewing industry and in South Africa it only grows on 409ha in the George and Waboomskraal areas. Nine hops varieties are produced in George, that are used to make beer for the local and export markets.

"SAB has been critical to the success of the economy and the industry exists to sustain many livelihoods across the value chain. It has also been successful in making inclusivity meaningful for its people. The company continues to find new ways to unlock value for their producers, and progression of this scale is admirable," she said.

History

It is reported that the first hops gardens were planted in the Cape in 1652 and the first commercial hops fields were established under the Union of Hop Growers, which had a name change to South African Breweries Hop Farms in 1966.

In 1979 the first privately owned farms were established and in the 90s peak production of 730ha was reached. Between 2012 and 2019 a variety of new flavour profiles - Southern Passion, Southern Aroma, African Queen, Southern Sublime and Southern Tropic - were released.

The group with Minister of Agriculture Thoko Didiza, who went on a tour of the hops farms in the area.

Women in agriculture

South Africa's first black female hops farmer, Beverley-Anne Joseph, spoke to the audience about her journey to becoming a successful hops farmer in George. Her farm, Zelpy, is a 50ha farm that produces about 20ha of bittering and flavour hops used in beer.

Funded by Dr Paul Cluver, Joseph went on to complete a Bachelors in Agriculture (viticulture and oenology), followed by an Honours in Oenology and an MScAgric in Agronomy at Stellenbosch University.

During this period she received a call from South African Breweries (SAB) with an offer to join their hops breeding programme.

"I'm proud to have been part of a team that released three new, highly sought flavour varieties - a first in South Africa, since the industry had until then only focused on bittering hops," she said.

It was through the SAB Thrive Fund that she was eventually able to become the owner of Zelpy.

Plant manager at Rob Roy SAB Lauren Steytler gave a brief overview of the hops industry in George. Photos: Kristy Kolberg

Local hops farmer Beverley-Anne Joseph has been adding colour to the local hops spectrum since she first assisted Gerrie Britz in developing the internationally acclaimed J17 hops variety in 2006. Joseph is the owner of Zelpy farm just outside George.