South Africa: A hop farm on a rooftop in the heart of Joburg? This 32-year-old built that.
In the heart of Johannesburg, a vibrant civil engineer and entrepreneur is showing off his science skills to visitors with his successful hydroponic hop farm on the rooftop of Constitution Hill.
By Tsikwe Molobye
WN
23 September 2022
Excerpt:
“There’s only 402 hectares of hop yards and all hop growers supply to one major conglomerate. That didn’t sit right with me” Says Khaya.
Most craft brewers in South Africa import their hops. Khaya came up with a four-season hop yard concept and is now able supply the need for locally grown fresh hops in an eco-friendly and sustainable way at a reasonable price.
There are many positive implications for food security by growing hops hydroponically. There has been an increase of the price of barley and wheat in June as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Those two countries export nearly a third of the world’s barley and wheat.
Khaya can set his own price for his harvests as he cuts out the middle man and does not rely on imports. In addition to Craft Brewers, Maloney also supplies local chefs in Joburg, as well as cosmetic companies.
Maloney says that he was able to approach state-owned entities for collaboration to scale the business on a farmyard in George within the region of 10 to 40 hectares. He says there are greater opportunities to scale the business further by exporting hops via hydroponic farming.
