Dylan Morris

Hops Manager at Kono

To make a beautiful beer, you need quality hops. 

And to get the best aromatic hops, you need the right land and a grower who knows it like the back of his hand.

Dylan Morris was born and raised here in Nelson. He’s been immersed in farming and horticulture since childhood, developing a deep knowledge and sharp instinct for growing the very crop his hometown is famous for.

Today, Dylan leads the Kono Horticulture team as they grow, train, maintain and harvest hops for the Hop Federation brewery. 

Hop Federation is one the first brewery in Aotearoa, New Zealand, that grows its own hops. This year, thirty seven acres of our hops went straight down the road to the brewery. The journey from the ground to the kiln takes just minutes.

Dylan works closely with Simon, Hop Federation’s Chief Brewer – and when hop grower meets beer brewer, great things happen. 

Together, they innovate and finetune growing practices to perfect the taste and quality of Hop Federation’s craft beer.

Being part of a vertically integrated business sets Hop Federation apart from other craft breweries in the country. This connection between the people and the land is what makes Dylan’s job special.

“We’re growing on ancestral lands here. This land has been entrusted to us to be the guardians of, and look after for future generations. Land wellness is a big subject for us. We strive to be more conscious and do better for the land as kaitiaki, so we leave it behind in a better condition than when we came.

Kono is deepening its commitment to land and water wellness through the Whenua Ora programme. 

This means honouring Papatuānuku with sustainable practices. This means creating a synergy with the land that is reflected in the harvest.

It also means that Dylan’s horticultural knowledge is put to the test.

There are small wins, like switching to compostable twine to eliminate plastic when training the bines. 

But there are challenges ahead, too. When we caught up with Dylan, he was working tirelessly to develop the process of eliminating synthetic fertilisers. 

For Dylan, it’s an exciting challenge.

“The thing I look forward to most is change. Innovation. A new technique, piece of machinery, or practice to improve the quality of our work.”

But cutting-edge technology can’t stop a storm. 

Dylan’s on the pulse of industry innovations, but sometimes all he and his team can do is hope for good weather – and be humbled when the sky turns dark.

“I guess the dependency on weather makes you quite superstitious. Like in all horticulture, you become very sensitive to bad weather. After 10 months of hard work, a freak storm can destroy everything in 20 minutes.”

As he leads the team of growers, Dylan must be agile and adaptable throughout the seasons. Four times per year, the tight-knit team must grow to complete the labour-intensive tasks of hop topping, hop stringing, hop training, and hop harvesting. 

This impressive role is nine years in the making. Fresh out of high school, Dylan began working for Kono as a piece worker in the orchards. Like many kaimahi, workers, in the Kono whānau, Dylan’s role grew and evolved with him as he learned more about horticulture and developed a skill for growing hops. 

When the opportunity arose, Dylan grasped it – though he modestly insists he “just kept turning up to work.”

His deep respect for te taiao, the environment, continues beyond the hop gardens. When he’s finished work for the day, Dylan heads straight to the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park. 

While the exercise offsets day-to-day stress, the stunning scenery of the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve is a constant reminder of why protecting Papatūānuku, the Māori mother earth figure, is so important.