Growers who have more than one acre will want to consider adding some degree of mechanization. Hand harvesting is an option, but it’s relatively inefficient and the value of the crop is less than the value of the hand harvest. These low yields can be due to poor siting, disease, insects, irrigation issues and varieties.Īfter the initial trellis design, the biggest capital investment is harvest. Martin said that low yields in the range of 300 to 400 processed pounds in the fourth or fifth year isn’t unusual, but the industry continues to work on increased yields. “While we’re targeting that, we aren’t all getting there,” said Martin, adding that yield figure is for the varieties that are easiest to grow. With 3-foot plant spacing, target yield should be one half ton per acre. You can reduce costs by making rows 200’ to 300’ long.” Average trellis costs determined in Michigan, Vermont and New York is about $11,000 per acre. “Constructing rows becomes cost-prohibitive as the rows get too short because of all the construction that goes into the anchors on the end. “I like to see row lengths maximized to the extent that is practical for the site,” said Martin. Low trellising is probably best for breweries that want to grow a small amount of hops as part of brewery design and promotion. Trellising is one of the major start-up costs, and although there has been some interest in a low trellis design that costs less, that model isn’t economically viable in the long run. will help spread capital costs over acreage.” Tools such as equipment for construction of trellises, herbicide sprayer, etc. If you have some of the tools that are required for growing hops, you’re ahead.
“Then we have smaller, part-time growers with fewer than 5 acres or even less than one acre. “On the east coast, anything between 10 and 150 acres is quite large,” said Martin. The key to growing hops is to start in a manner that will mitigate risks. What that means is that hops growers are relying on future growth and development in the hops industry to turn this into a profitable venture.” “We’re on the continuum toward a growth investment nearing speculation. “It isn’t a value-oriented investment,” said Martin. Martin says that New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont will likely continue as the primary hop-growing states in the northeast because hops yield well in those states and are in close proximity to craft breweries. At the same time, it’s a value-added product because processing is typically done by the grower or a group of growers.” There are a lot of parallels to field crops such as corn because there are a lot of large farms in Oregon and Idaho. “It isn’t like any other agricultural commodity. “Hops is an interesting market,” said Martin, associate extension educator with the Penn State Extension Lake Erie Regional Grape Program. Although Kevin Martin’s primary experience is with the grape industry, he has found that much of what he knows can be applied to growing hops.
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