Wood Chip
In 2017 when developing the Motuere Farm we were searching for a more sustainable heating source. Wood chip has completely slashed our carbon emissions and delivers a clean, consistent and reliable heat source.
Wood Pellets
Due to the success of the wood chip fired boiler, in 2018 we converted our coal fired boiler at the Motueka Farm to wood pellets. Further slashing our overall Mac Hops Ltd carbon footprint, therefore producing the same clean, consistent and reliable heat source across both farms.
Earth Twine
In 2017 Mac Hops began trialling an innovative new Hop Compostable Twine. We were lucky enough to work closely with Joe from Extrutec and our Motueka farm was 100% converted in 2020 closely followed by the Moutere farm in 2022. Hop Compostable twine is durable and breaks down completely in 60 days under heat from our compost.
The conversion to Hop Compostable Twine has eliminated the use of plastic twine in our farming practices.
Compost
We compost 100% of our plant material. We don’t call it waste as we consider it such an important part of completing our nutrient cycle. Once the composting process in complete it is spread back out into our fields, reintegrating many nutrients and soil binding properties.
Sheep
Having sheep grazing in our hop gardens helps to reduce the use of chemical weed spray applications. They also help to keep the bottom of the plants clean which makes harvesting and processing a little more efficient and what they do consume, gets returned back to the soil.
