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BRITISH HOP GROWER: TOM PROBERT
British Hop Grower
PATRICK WHITTLE
Charles Faram & Co Ltd
FOLLOWING IN THE FAMILY FOOTSTEPS - British Hop Grower TOM
WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN FOR THIS BRITISH HOP GROWER?
What do you think of when someone says the word hops? It is easy to picture vast sprawling fields, bright green bines at the top of the wire work and fragrant juicy hop cones. But behind these delicate plants lies a rich history and a dedication to hop growing that runs deep within
family roots.
An example of this is the story of Tom Probert. Tom’s a 4th-generation hop grower based within the Frome Valley, Herefordshire, a once-thriving centre of British hop farming. Today, only a handful of farms remain, with Tom growing your favourite hops such as Bramling Cross, Goldings, Progress, and being a pioneer in growing the first commercial UK grown yards of
Willamette and Hersbrucker.
A CENTURY OF HOPS AT CHURCH FARM
Tom’s grandfather first moved to the farm in 1928, and the Probert family have grown hops there ever since, with hop growing being more than just a job. For Tom, hop growing is a connection to his family’s legacy, history, experience and knowledge. In fact, he has kept records from the early days that show traditional methods and highlight how older farming practices are
re-emerging on his farm, for example, the use of sheep in the hop yards and cover cropping.
Evolution from Hand Picking to Mechanisation
Traditionally, swarms of people would descend into the hop yards every harvest to pick the hops by hand. This was all until the introduction of the ‘hop-picking’ machine, and Tom’s farm was one of the first in the Frome Valley! In the 1950’s the Bruff Picking machine arrived, a local tourist attraction among other hop farmers. This marked a new era for hop growing and the end of hand picking by intensive labourers. The Bruff transformed the hop industry from a manual to a more mechanised, efficient process. The most impressive part? It’s still going strong after 75 years, the Bruff picking machine is working as hard as ever. With Tom putting this down to its impeccable build quality, “that never became obsolete”.
British Hop Grower | The Struggles and Rewards
Despite the move away from labour-intensive farming, hop growing is no easy feat. “Every aspect of hop farming is difficult,” Tom admits. “It’s a fast-moving plant, constantly changing.” Each year brings new surprises, with pests, diseases, and unpredictable weather patterns creating challenges that keep us farmers on our toes.
This is not unique to farming hops, but that doesn’t make the two weeks before harvest any less nail-biting. Tom describes that a heavy crop puts huge amounts of stress on the wire work, and a large amount of rain increases this even further! The anxiety for all farmers is huge within these weeks, but even more so for Tom, who historically has had not one, but two hop yards fall within August, with both occurring on the same day each year! What are the chances?
But despite these challenges, Tom loves his work as a hop farmer, with each challenge comes even more reward, producing high-quality hops for brewers worldwide, and bringing great flavours from British soil. Even though Tom didn’t first set out to be a hop farmer. He wanted to join the RAF, but after not quite making the cut, turning to hops was the natural way to go by following his families’ footsteps. As they say, once you are scratched by the hop, it is forever in your blood, a saying never truer for Tom and his family.
If you want to learn more about our growers, you can check our podcast Spreading Hoppiness available on all major platforms or click the button below!
