New Hop Yard Setup

[DJ-Farmers]

Hello Everyone,

First I would like to thank everyone that is posting, all the information is great. Let me know if this is the wrong place to post and I will repost in proper thread.

Getting to the question of the day. I am setting up a new Hop yard in Central Valley of California near Los Banos and was looking for individuals that have grown hops on a commercial level or just have experience in growing hops and would like to help in the setup of the yard. In short a Hop Farmer.

 

[GVH_Dan]

...In short a Hop Farmer.

Then you need to talk to Glen: forum name "Hop Farmer".

Actually, there are a number of us here. Ask your questions.

The first concern I would have is do you have enough water? I haven't been up to your area but I've spent a lot of time down around Tullare and McFarland and it is dry.

 

[DJ-Farmers]

GVH_Dan, Thanks for your reply. I will definitely reach out to Glen "Hop Farmer"

The situation is Horrible here in CA, but this property is on Ag Well. Thanks to God.

Looking to acquire all the equipment for a small scale commercial operation. Having done all the feasibility studies it seems you either need to go big or go home. Trying to start with about a 5-10 acre test yard. Now looking for someone that can help full-time to part-time to make sure the venture is a successful one. Any advice is taken as the weigh of Gold, meaning Valued A-Lot.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Depending on the labor you find, 5-10 acres will require more than 1 extra. Looking at 1 to 2 full time, year round and 3 to 5 full time seasonally. That also depends on if you are just growing or also plan to do the processing, if you need a food processing license for CA, etc.

Growers in our program start out at a minimum of 1 acre but its rare they put in more than that the first year. you are looking at 20+ hours per week of labor for that acre from March until harvest. A lot of that will be weeding unless you take other measures for weed control.

Get trellis, water, soil amendment, etc. all done before you throw rhizomes in the ground. You'll regret going in the other direction. Its hard to gently drop a 20' pole among new plants.

MSU (michigan State) has a page on the costs for a single acre field. Of course if you are putting in 5 acres, there are some economies of scale but certain costs are linear (like rhizome/plants, irrigation tubing, twine...) so it will be linear.

My suggestion is to go through this forum and look at previous posts by myself, Hopfarmer, Halifax hops (you'll enjoy those) Pleasant Valley and others that you will come across that are doing it commercially and then come back to this thread with your questions.

 

[DJ-Farmers]

Thanks I will definitely look into those threads. Yes I have tried to gather as much information as possible. Including documents from Univ. of Vermont, Univ. of Michigan, and Hops Union, USAHOPS.org, Univ. of Minnisota and website that offers information from growing to processing. But you know there is always a difference between text and actual. Now I just need the support system of individuals to make sure this venture is successful, and with any product its the end result that matters, primarily the quality. People always respond to quality.

The farming on a commercial level is not a major concern, but a minor one as I currently farm 350 Acres of other permanent crop, so I already own some of the basic equipment and infrastructure to grow the project. Just like you said the economics of scale is what matters to make sure a person can recoup costs.

In regards with growing to processing, I do not mind setting everything up, as most packers are out of state, but my experience tells me it is better to grow, process, pack, and give it to the marketing guys or big processors that are in the market place everyday to sell. Let me know if I am wrong. Alliance is the key to success.

Initial Test Hop Varieties: Let me know if I should add or subtract any varieties that Brewers might be looking for.

AlpAroma vf 1151-2013
Amallia
Willow Creek
Brewers Gold
Cascade
Cashmere
Chinook
Late Cluster (Pacific Coast Cluster)
Columbus (CTZ)
Comet
Galena
Lawton (trail)
Mackinac
Michigan Copper
Neo 1
NewPort
Pacific Gem
Teamaker
Tettnanger
Willamette
Zeus

 

[GVH_Dan]

Thanks I will definitely look into those threads. Yes I have tried to gather as much information as possible. Including documents from Univ. of Vermont, Univ. of Michigan, and Hops Union, USAHOPS.org, Univ. of Minnisota and website that offers information from growing to processing. But you know there is always a difference between text and actual. Now I just need the support system of individuals to make sure this venture is successful, and with any product its the end result that matters, primarily the quality. People always respond to quality.

This reminds me, if you do decide to do your own processing, here's a link to the Hop Processing Best Practices Guide the FDA paid us to put together. Its not about processing but on food safety, documentation, recall procedure, etc. Just something else for you to read.

And yes, quality is key to sustained success.

In regards with growing to processing, I do not mind setting everything up, as most packers are out of state, but my experience tells me it is better to grow, process, pack, and give it to the marketing guys or big processors that are in the market place everyday to sell. Let me know if I am wrong. Alliance is the key to success.

Wow, most people getting into this have the opposite opinion. They want to do everything themselves. Its fine...but economies of scale as you said. It takes a lot of acreage to feed a pellet mill.

In the past, the big guys in the PNW didn't want anything to do with us small growers. In fact, we process a bunch of stuff for growers from CO that used to send it out to Washington but got told to pound salt. They certainly didn't want to sell it for them.

That seems to be changing. Some of the commercial growers in the Midwest have been bought by bigger guys. We've also had some of the big guys ask to buy some of our hops so they could offer a "local" product to area brewers. They only wanted a couple thousand pounds so not really worth our effort, especially if it undercut our sales. That said, you need to offer a consistent supply on top of quality to your brewers. After a while they get tired of dealing in 5 to 20 pound increments and want enough to last them the season.

As far a variety, the best advice we got from a brewer was, "Grow what grows best in your field and I'll find a way to brew with it." They adjust recipes all the time. If you come out with something they like and you can grow a lot of it, you will find a market.

 

[DJ-Farmers]

Thanks I will read that to. Any thoughts on equipment purchase and proper processing to ensure quality.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Harvesting: We make a unit but its too small for 5 acres. Get a used Wolf. If it comes from Europe, there will be a lot of work to do on it, though I've seen a number up for sale by farms that have failed.

Drying: Nothing commercially for sale, yet, except new from Wolf but that's the same process of high heat. Read the gvh drying method thread for my take on improving quality. We're working on a dryer that could be sold commercially but I'm guessing its still 3 or so years out.

Processing: Glen and a few others will tell you flat die is best. We use ring die for speed and quality. We use a blanket of nitrogen from the hammermill through to reduce oxygen contact and to cool the die. Take everyone's word with a grain of salt because at this point there's very little data to back up anyone's claim. If you want to talk about this more, PM me.

Packaging: gas flush, vacuum pack in UV and gas proof bags. There is plenty of used equipment on ebay.

 

[DJ-Farmers]

Thanks for Everything I will PM you probably after reading all the threads you recommended.