Growing hops for profit

Northern Brewer General
1

I live in the south metro of Twin Cities with .5+ acre of flat, sunny, water sourced land. Has anyone grown and sold hops to local breweries? I’m retired and could either grow/harvest, or just rent the land to a brewery. Does any one have any leads, ideas, interest? Is growing hops even profitable, or is it too labor intensive to actually make money.
Thanks!

2

1/2 ac. is too small to be profitable.

3

How much land do I need? I have 3.5 acres, 2 of it in full sun, but on a sloping hill.

4

I know a guy who grows 4-5 acres of organic hops and he’s barely making it. Took him several years and a financial backer before he could even afford a hop dryer. His partner/backer runs a small brewpub, so he has a built in market for the hops. even with that, he barely breaks even and works his butt off.

5

Thanks. Appreciate honest information. Where is he growing? Twin Cities, MN has a robust microbrewery culture

6

Check into this. http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/charter_grower.php

7

Denny lives in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon which is one of the world’s premier hop growing areas. Oregon also is one of the country’s preeminent brewing states with over 50 breweries in Portland alone. Assuming his friend is local than you can be assured that his struggles are not attributable to where he is growing his hops.

8

Sounds like a Noble idea. Bravo.

Being on a hill, you would have to be a Warrior to climb to the Summit to harvest. Imagine a heavy rain and you slip and Cascade down the hill like a Comet! That would just be a Cluster #%*@!

From the sounds of the other comments, a profitable venture is nowhere near the Horizon. It might take a Millenium to find your golden Nugget!

You might be better off making and selling Crystal…Breaking Bad style.

9

Just outside of Eugene OR. Can’t get a much more “robust” beer culture than that! Here’s the website, although it hasn’t been updated since 2010. They’re about 3 mi. down the road from me.

http://www.ploughmonday.com/about.htm
10

Here is the hop farm up by Forest Lake MN there was a big article about them a couple weeks ago in the Pioneer Press.

http://hippityhops.wordpress.com/