RECENT wet and humid conditions may have not have been to many people's liking, but they're helping the district's multi-million dollar hops industry thrive.

Hops Products Australia (HPA) Victorian farm manager Aaron Bailey said the season in the Alpine valley has been a good one so far.

“We’ve just finished training the hop plants around the coir strings with the help of 35 casual staff, and the hops are now in a stage of rapid growth, and on track to reach the top of the wire trellis prior to Christmas,” he said.

“The dry and cold winter created the perfect conditions for dormancy which is exactly what the plants need to yield cones in spring/summer.

“Up until a few weeks ago, it’s been reasonably dry which has allowed us to complete all farm operations as scheduled.

“We started irrigating three weeks earlier than normal, but have since received over 200mm of rain in the past few weeks.

“Fortunately, we haven’t experienced any flooding as yet, and the hop plants are loving the wet and hot conditions.

“This has resulted in rapid growth that will result in better resistance to pests and diseases, which will allow us to supply high-quality hops to the domestic market from May 2025.       

 “We now need some hot summer days in the coming months to really maximise yield and quality, ideally with some intermittent rain events so we don’t have to rely too much on irrigation.

“There’s always a risk of high winds, hail or flooding adversely impacting yield as we get closer to hop harvest in March, so fingers crossed we continue to have the weather on our side.”

Vignerons, orchardists and berry growers have also been faring well.