Future of Czech hop industry: students of Czech University of Life Sciences
In April we welcomed a group of students from Czech University of Life Sciences, department of Agroecology and Crop Production, who are the participants of the course “Hop growing”, currently the only of it’s kind in the country.
The group was led by Ing. Pavel Procházka, Ph.D., who keeps bringing his students every year, so they can experience first hand what a modern hop growing and processing company of 21st century looks like.
All the students radiated their strong interest in the field of their studies, and what is even better news, all of them reported that their intention is to stay in agribusiness once they finish the studies and become agronomists.
And quite naturally, despite the current trend among young people, all of them admitted that they love beer!
What sparked their interest the most?
For example how are we tackling current droughts in the countryside and what percentage of our hop gardens is under irrigation. How many people are necessary to run a typical hop growing farm, what volumes of hops we harvest and process each year, or what is the ideal temperature in our warehouse and how do we maintain it. Lastly, what are the markets where our hop ends up.
We’re delighted that we can share our experience and motivation with those, who might eventually become the future of Czech hop growing business.