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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 18 11:52 pm Post subject: Commercial hazel orchard info |
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If, hypothetically speaking, I were thinking of planting a small, commercial hazelnut orchard, where might I find out more about starting such a venture?
I’m thinking of things like how nuts are sold and in what sort of quantities, yields per acre, what sort of acreage might be a viable venture, what sort of man hours are needed and how are they distributed, (ie will I need staff and is it going to work for us to living offsite) is harvesting usually outsourced or is machinery bought or hired, and for how much. Not so much ‘how to plant trees’, because I can figure that out later, if the whole project is viable (although I have just watched a very informative video on Oregon Hazel orchards, which suggested, among other things, planting the trees with the roots pointing downwards!) I’m specifically looking for info about UK Hazel production, not Oregon.
It will be a small ‘working retirement’ sort of affair. I don’t need to make a living off it, but I’d like it to make a reasonable return on my investment. |
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45612 Location: Essex
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 9:01 am Post subject: |
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tahir wrote: |
we have 226 hazels, the year before last we had s huge crop so thought about selling them, I could get 3.40 p/kg, it takes about 15-20 mins to pick a kilo.
don't do it thinking it'll bring in any income unless you're going to get a crew of eastern Europeans in to pick. |
You mean I can’t get one of these?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8QSM2D_KZ0
How much ground do you have your trees on, Tahir? I was thinking (vaguely) of 5-10 acres. You pick by hand, rather than waiting for nuts to fall and raking? (I’d wondered if it was generally too wet here to do that)
I was thinking of a specialist nut variety, not coppice. Nuts are grown differently, with a ‘tree’ shape instead of a coppice stool. I’m aware it will be a long term venture, and I’m definitely planning on controlling squirrels. What I don’t know is what sort of size it would need to be viable, how much time it might take, what sort of market there might be and whether harvesting can be outsourced (as is common for hay or wheat). I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t be viable by hand.
If it turns out you need 200 acres and 600k of machinery to even think of making a profit, then it obviously won’t be for us. If you need to harvest in August or Hand pick, it probably won’t be for us. But if you can hire harvest kit in September, and make a small profit selling wholesale from 5-10 acres it might be something that works for us. It needn’t be a living, but it also won’t be a hobby.
I’m just kicking around ideas at the moment, but one has to start somewhere, with something. |
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45612 Location: Essex
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45612 Location: Essex
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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gregotyn
Joined: 24 Jun 2010 Posts: 2201 Location: Llanfyllin area
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buzzy
Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 3708 Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 18 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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Mistress Rose wrote: |
A way of making even a relatively small hazel orchard viable might be to have truffle trees. Not sure if the varieties available are suitable for nut production, but truffles are worth a lot more than hazel nuts. |
They’re a different variety, and are pruned differently. I don’t say you wouldn’t get nuts, but not commercially. Also, the harvesting issue remains, and you can’t use automated harvesting, because soil compacting is not optimal for the truffles. All in all, it’s one or the other in any practical sense.
Unless I’m missing something (which is possible, because this is really only a vague idea at the moment) I don’t think there is the infrastructure to support it in this country. There is smaller scale harvest equipment available, but it would need to be imported and I’m anticipating actually selling the things to be a headache, which I really don’t need. These little ventures don’t need to make me a living, but they’re not hobbies either, so while I can be indulgent to some degree, I can’t completely throw money at them. |
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Bodger
Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 13524
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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