Growing hops for profit

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Wulfonce

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Me and a friend were considering growing hops. I noticed on Ebay hops generally sell for around $25 CDN per 16oz, sound about right? We have about 650 square feet to work with most of which receives full sunlight. We live in southern Ontario and from what I understand hops can be grown in southern Ontario? I have access to free wood at work so building some sort of structure to support the vines would cost nothing.

Could this plan make us some money or not enough to make it worth while?

Your thoughts please?
 
Most hops yield a maximum of 2000 lbs per acre. Your potential is around 30 lbs/year.
 
Im putting in 200 plants in the coming weeks,

You are vastly underestimating the amount of work involved.
 
Orangevango said:
Im putting in 200 plants in the coming weeks,

You are vastly underestimating the amount of work involved.
Click to expand...

Well I'll be honest. I haven't researched how to take care of them. All I really found out is they grow like weeds, probably not unless you know what your doing? If it involves spraying and trimming like grape vines do, then I probably wont bother. I figured I could build some kind of wooden support for the vines and pretty much let them do the rest.
 
The cost of getting a lab analysis of their alpha acid content alone would probably wipe out your profits. Right now hops are around $10-$15 per pound, dried and pelletized. Hops are not a cash crop.
 
If you are a homebrewer,plant them.If you have a local brew pub,that will work out a trade for some beer,plant them.If you just need to become obsessed with a very unique plant,plant some.If you have some friends that are home brewers that are always looking for hops ,plant some.If you are looking for profit only,forget about it.To small a space.Cheers Glen
 
I'm with Glen on this one. 650 square feet is around 1.5% of an acre. 30 lbs dried would be very ambitious and you wouldn't see that until year 3 or 4.

Assuming you get $20/lb...that's $600. Annual lab testing will run $50 to $100 per variety. You'll need to buy a vacuum sealer and packaging materials, there are shipping costs, nutrient costs, etc.

Grow them for fun in that small of an areas.
 
Fun? The money and hours of work and bug destruction was not much fun. Seeing the prices drop for commercial hops while in the end phase of first year growing made me cry with tears of joy and pain.

Ok it's pretty cool to watch them grow, beyond that I'd rather brew with known AA values and leave that to the pro's.
 
badman said:
What is the cost of 1\2 acre of start up for growing hops for beer
Click to expand...

1/2 acre may seem small but if your planning on doing it by hand (meaning no serious investment in farm equipment) I would say at minimum you would need (not including rhizomes):

  • A tiller (1/2 acre you may be able to get a hand one, but prepare to get pretty beat up--those things are kidney busters)
  • a back-pack sprayer or auto-sprayer for insecticide concentrate (you will have to order the concentrate through an agriculture site for the best price)
  • insecticide or soap
  • Chickens - best fertilizer money can buy hands down and you get the added benefit of eggs. They also control grasshoppers and powdery mildew which is a serious issue
  • PH testers for your soil
  • Verticillium Wilt-this will destroy your crop. Sulphur-based fungicides applications every now and then will help
  • a drip system for watering and a viable water source for irrigation. I wouldn't depend on mother nature for this one.
  • trellising - You will have to study this on your own. It's far too much to get into here and depending on what you plan on doing can be pricey.
  • a Baler
  • Hop Oast
  • Crown Cutter/ Trimmer
  • Mobile hop picker - about 52k. Now you can harvest the old-fashioned way with a ladder and removing the vines by hand. But you will need a group of folks willing to help. 1/2 acre is much more than you think it is with rows of harvest ready cones.
If your serious and you have the acreage. Talk to your local farmers and join a co-op
 
I think you should go for it!

It will be....educational! :)

TeeJo
 
Hops-and-pots said:
1/2 acre may seem small but if your planning on doing it by hand (meaning no serious investment in farm equipment) I would say at minimum you would need (not including rhizomes):

  • A tiller (1/2 acre you may be able to get a hand one, but prepare to get pretty beat up--those things are kidney busters)
  • a back-pack sprayer or auto-sprayer for insecticide concentrate (you will have to order the concentrate through an agriculture site for the best price)
  • insecticide or soap
  • Chickens - best fertilizer money can buy hands down and you get the added benefit of eggs. They also control grasshoppers and powdery mildew which is a serious issue
  • PH testers for your soil
  • Verticillium Wilt-this will destroy your crop. Sulphur-based fungicides applications every now and then will help
  • a drip system for watering and a viable water source for irrigation. I wouldn't depend on mother nature for this one.
  • trellising - You will have to study this on your own. It's far too much to get into here and depending on what you plan on doing can be pricey.
  • a Baler
  • Hop Oast
  • Crown Cutter/ Trimmer
  • Mobile hop picker - about 52k. Now you can harvest the old-fashioned way with a ladder and removing the vines by hand. But you will need a group of folks willing to help. 1/2 acre is much more than you think it is with rows of harvest ready cones.
If your serious and you have the acreage. Talk to your local farmers and join a co-op
Click to expand...

Well said,

I HAVE A 1/4 ACRE THAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR AROUND 5 YEARS. The growing part is easy, just remember the weeding, trimming of the bines, training, soil testing and nutrients, insect control and that is the growing part

The harvesting included cutting the bines down, picking the cones (figure 1-020 minutes each by hand, pickers are really not economical until you get over a few acres unless you build something, Drying to standards with the low temps, no a food dehydrator really does not work for quantity, Packaging, and storing. A decent vacuum sealer is a few hungered and the cost of the bags for plastic ones, mylar need a different style. Also figure out the cost of the beer consumed to rehydrate after all the work.

I just keep up with it myself, and you really do not make any money until the harvest is in. I am always very satisfied doing it but plan on spending quite a few hours each week maintaining it.
 
HALIFAXHOPS said:
Well said,

I HAVE A 1/4 ACRE THAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR AROUND 5 YEARS. The growing part is easy, just remember the weeding, trimming of the bines, training, soil testing and nutrients, insect control and that is the growing part

The harvesting included cutting the bines down, picking the cones (figure 1-020 minutes each by hand, pickers are really not economical until you get over a few acres unless you build something, Drying to standards with the low temps, no a food dehydrator really does not work for quantity, Packaging, and storing. A decent vacuum sealer is a few hungered and the cost of the bags for plastic ones, mylar need a different style. Also figure out the cost of the beer consumed to rehydrate after all the work.

I just keep up with it myself, and you really do not make any money until the harvest is in. I am always very satisfied doing it but plan on spending quite a few hours each week maintaining it.
Click to expand...

How many plants do you have on a .25 parch?
 
My wife bought me a birthday present last year.....she bought me a spot at an all day seminar in Chautauqua, NY for growing hops. (Cliff Claven style) UHhhhhh, it's a little known fact, that, theeeee ahhhh, hops capital of the world Normy, was ahhh the state of New York in the early days. After a blight wiped out the whole she-bang the capital transferred to the Pacific northwest. The sole purpose of this seminar was for NY to try to regain the #1 spot.
I stayed all day - free beer at the end - but I learned after 10 minutes that you need 10 acres of hop plants to START thinking of making a profit.
I have (8) plants of (4) varieties. After 3 years, I finally harvested enough to freeze a decent amount (about 3 lbs) and just brewed my first SMaSH using fresh hops.

Do yourself a favor and grow because you can..... not to make money - because you won't.
 

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