New Zealand Hops Ltd

New Zealand Hops Ltd is a grower-owned cooperative based in Nelson, New Zealand. Hops have been grown in this region for more than 150 years and co-ordination of the industry was facilitated with the inception of the New Zealand Hop Marketing Board in 1939. The company has supported a professional plant-breeding programme since the 1950s and, in 1986, became the first country in the world to commercially produce hops from triploid hop cultivars in response to international brewers' demand for seedless hops.

During the last decade, the breeding programme of new hop cultivars has focused on the development of quality aromatic hops utilising traditional European noble hop cultivars for selected development. Commercial production of selected aroma cultivars has been a major factor in the most recent growth of the New Zealand hop industry. This is reflected in the demands by international brewers for these quality aroma hops, with their reliable yields of alpha acid.