Excel Files for Hop Growing? Also Life Expectancy and Depreciation

[StG44]

Does anyone have any excel files that they are using when growing hops for resale? I'm interested in anything: inventory, fertilizer application, expenses, revenue, break even analysis, "What If" scenarios regarding planting rhizomes VS. plants, to opportunity costs associated with planting hops as opposed to other commodities. Basically, what are you using?

Also, what is the life expectancy of a hop yard; plants, poles, wire and irrigation. Can the trellis system and irrigation be depreciated?

Please PM me if you have any excel files that you are willing to share and I will PM you my email address. If there is anything you need, let me know and I will see what I have. I'm starting to wonder what is the most work, growing hops or managing the backside of it!

Thanks

 

[StG44]

Btt.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

U of oregon or vermont has it figured out from soup to nuts on growing. My biggest problem was harvest without a picker figure 15-25 min per plant to harvest the cones. GVH I believe came up with a reasonably priced picker for small scale farms.

 

[GVH_Dan]

You're asking very specific questions without providing sufficient detail. For example, I've seen poles and cable that only lasts a season or less but if you do it right, you should be talking 10 to 15 years or more. Depreciation depends more on how you are running your operation (business-wise) and your state tax laws. Expenses depend on what you are using, local costs, etc. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just pointing out that its going to be significantly different for everyone. We see that among our growers. Even though they are all located in the midwest, water/nutrient costs vary a bit, labor varies a lot and they all have different surprise costs when a certain weed or pest decides to attack their yard.

Take heart, if you realize all ready that the backside is as much or more work than actual hop growing, then you are covering your bases.

If you have specific questions, let me know and I'll answer as best I can. There is a lot of information out there but take it all with the understanding that it won't be exactly the same for you.

 

[GVH_Dan]

My biggest problem was harvest without a picker figure 15-25 min per plant to harvest the cones.

Wow, when we did a number of timed runs on mature bines (1.5 to 2 lbs dried) we were coming in at 45 minutes to 1 hour/bine. That doesn't include cutting and transport time but did include hand picking and sorting. Hence why we built the pickers...

 

[StG44]

Thanks for the good advice Dan, I very much appreciate it. I was hoping to find a template that allowed a user to record the initial costs, yield and revenue as it occurs. For example, costs associated with building the hop yard, annual fixed and variable costs, yields (by species), sale dollars. With this, I could determine the cost per plant (by species), cost per row, cost per pound harvested, cost per acre, and payback period. This would also allow me to build graphs to visually determine the major expenses and decide what areas need to be addressed first and at what point should I switch to some form of mechanical harvesting. If someone had something already established, I could add to it and share it. Basically, I'm not looking for information on other growers cost and revenue, but rather a template that I could record my own (although I did ask about life expectancy, after reading what you wrote, there are too many variables to account for without more information).

You make a good point. I would have to factor in the life expectancy into the cost also. If the hop yard and plants will last 15 years, but the irrigation system has a life expectancy of 3 years, I will have to factor that in. So basically, I need to do a little more research into the systems that I decided to go with. At this rate, I'll never get in the field, lol.

 

[GVH_Dan]

This would also allow me to build graphs to visually determine the major expenses and decide what areas need to be addressed first and at what point should I switch to some form of mechanical harvesting.

This part I can answer without the use of a single graph. When you get to the end of day 3 harvesting by hand in year 2 and it suddenly dawns on you that next year you may have 2 to 3 times more...you seriously look into mechanical harvesting. Actually, we started looking at the end of day 2, year 2 and had prototype Micro-mangler 0.01 pulled together by day 6 of year 2.

Some of the information you seek is out there, just not pulled together and free at this point. Some of the life expectancies matter more than others. lets use your example...true, some drip lines don't last as long as the trellis and wire, especially when you hire an over-eager teenager with a weedwacker. That's why we hang ours from a wire 1 foot off the ground. Its easy to replace and service without disturbing the rest of the system. This keeps the life expectancy of one mostly independent of the other. Sorry to throw another twist in your plans but its good to think of this all ahead of time instead of after everything's in the soil. Actually, this is the year for you to run soil test, amend the soil with a lot of organic matter and get a cover crop growing so your soil is "weed free" when you are ready to plant.

 

[StG44]

You really know how to make a guy look forward to hand harvesting!

Soil test are done, I sent the results to 4 different local suppliers to get quotes, 90% of the land is cleared, just waiting on the ground to dry (snowed today) before removing the last few tress as I want to minimize soil compression. Turkey manure may show up as early as next week. I've cleared enough land and will apply enough lime and turkey manure for this years hop yard and next years new yard. I've had good luck with rye and clover in the past, so hopefully that will be all I need to suppress the weeds. I will be a little behind this year as I initially was planning on growing soybeans or corn, but I should be ahead next year. We'll see.