ABSTRACT

This report is a summary of five years of grape cost data collected from Lake Erie Region grape growers. "Concord" and "Niagara" grapes utilized for juice accounted for over 90 percent of the survey acreage. About three-fourths of the participating growers were from New York and about one-fourth were from Pennsylvania. In the most recent year, the number of participants had increased to 43 and acreage in the survey to more than 4,300.

Labor accounted for one-third of total costs per acre (22 percent for paid labor and 11 percent for unpaid family labor). Yield per acre tended to be closely related to total cost per ton, and hence, to profitability. The five-year average yield was 6.7 tons per acre. High yields (7+ tons per acre) are needed to generate profits and provide funds for family living expenditures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are Barry E. Shaffer, Area Viticulture Extension Educator (Business Management) and Gerald B. White, Professor, Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics, Cornell University. The authors express their appreciation to Jim Hoge, Marlene McCombs, Brian Monckton, and Tom Obourn for data collection form design and other input. Thanks also to Tim Weigle who helped to transfer files to Cornell after Barry’s departure for the Ukraine. Our appreciation is expressed to each grower who participated in the survey.