Development and Innovation from EAS Group in France
EAS Group colleague Lionel Wendling attended “Symposium du Houblon” at Nancy, France from 19th - 20th October 2022.
This specialist French event provides a platform to demonstrate the results of research and development conducted in hop crops, the plants that produce hop cones required in the brewing process.
EAS Group were present as a partner in the development of a new hop sprayer, see the photo below!
Alsace, a region in northeastern France, is a major hop growing area. Our local team has worked in partnership with a local cooperative and sprayer manufacturer since 2020, who collaborated on the design of a hop sprayer that improves spray quality and reduce drift.
This sprayer prototype was designed for field trials with EAS Group experts supporting its development, evaluating it in field conditions during summer 2021. They assessed the spray quality according to the equipment settings (pressure, nozzle direction…). Following their feedback, some adjustments were made prior to the 2022 season and the sprayer could then be used to spray hop trials, under GEP or GLP compliance as needed.
Eurofins Agroscience Services are now able to offer superior field trials in hop, with an optimum spraying quality to deliver better crop protection against pathogens. The drift reduction means that the number of buffer rows between treatments can be decreased, resulting in a more efficient compact trial design.
