Who would not want to earn? The question is rhetorical. We rush about in search of a profitable place, collect education (second, third ...), try to get a little warmer place. And someone at this time has long been his own boss. Own business is the key to success, and you can open it in absolutely any field - from writing articles for breeding thoroughbred cats.
Giving a business idea!
The idea of a business such as growing nuts in Russia will not occur to everyone. And by the way, this is a pretty profitable business. Let us list all the advantages of this project offhand: firstly, investments, of course, will be required, but they will not be too heavy. The main and largest expense item is the acquisition of a land plot. If this is an agricultural territory, its price will not be too prohibitive.
Other smaller items of expenditure are the purchase of cleaning equipment, fertilizers and, of course, seedlings. All this is no longer so expensive compared to the land. If we consider the whole business idea, then cultivating a walnut garden will cost an order of magnitude less than, say, arranging and promoting your own beauty salon.
If you live in a rural area, and your own site is already available, you can start a nut business completely cheaply. Sometimes the villagers practice home growing nuts - for their own needs. This is done in the garden, in the garden or even in the summer cottage. In this case, it is possible to grow nuts from seeds or from seedlings.
Besides...
Another important advantage is that walnut trees are quite unpretentious. They begin to bear fruit five to seven years after planting. In the case of selection of the desired variety, a good harvest and the absence of special care efforts are expected. Some varieties of nuts tolerate winter frost pretty well, and birds can also do less damage to them - the scourge of orchards. This is explained simply - hard shells most often reliably protect nuts from bird beaks.
In addition, nuts are easier to store than the same fruits or vegetables. The main requirement for the room allocated for the warehouse is sufficient dryness. Even at a relatively low temperature in an isolated dry room, their shelf life will be at least a year.
An additional advantage is that competition in this niche is not so great. Growing nuts at home is one thing, but the business is not too widespread for them, mainly because of the long payback period. In addition, Russian farmers do not trust the domestic climate and fear in the conditions of our frosty winters to invest in such a long-term project. But such a situation will not prevent a savvy entrepreneur from establishing nut cultivation - a business in which he may turn out to be a monopolist in his own region.
Nuts are always in high demand. Their deficit in the countries of Europe, on the territory of which they are grown very little, is about 100,000 tons every year. That is, there are always buyers for such products.
Now about the shortcomings
Well, what are the disadvantages of the proposed business idea? As always and everywhere, the main one is the need to invest quite serious funds at the initial stage. Although the nut plantation is not an expensive boutique in the center of the capital, it still requires start-up costs. You may have to take a loan or save for a long enough time to buy a land plot.
Another serious drawback is the specifics of a product such as walnut.Growing and caring for it will give the first results no earlier than after 4 years. Your plantation will reach its peak yield in only 10 years. Thus, this business belongs to projects with a rather long payback period. Not every entrepreneur agrees to wait for such a considerable period.
To partially offset costs on the territory of a nut plantation, you can plant an apiary or try to plant shade-tolerant varieties of cucumbers and tomatoes in between the trees.
What to consider
You will need a storage room where the nuts will be stored until they are sold. It will be necessary to take care of the vehicle for delivering the crop to the customer (buyer), cleaning equipment and drainage system.
With severe limited funds, all of these costs can actually be minimized by taking some action. For example, picking fruits is possible without special harvesting equipment - with your own hands. Renting a warehouse can be undertaken for a short time - if you can quickly sell off the entire crop. As for transport, a supply contract can be concluded on a pick-up basis.
Thus, you should think carefully, calculate all the pros and cons and decide for yourself what exactly outweighs.
Let's get down to business
On what area can walnut be planted? Growing and caring for it with a view to sale requires a minimum area of at least half a hectare. If the site is completely modest, the meaning of the enterprise is lost, since it will not be possible to recoup the costs of renting, hiring labor and purchasing equipment.
If you take the figure of planned profit in the amount of $ 10,000 per hectare, the farmer should seriously think about calculating the amount that he can afford to spend on the purchase of the plot and on the costs of the first stage until he makes an initial profit.
Walnut: growing and care in different regions
A lot, if not all, depends on the choice of soil. Sandy or loamy ones are not suitable for nuts; these plants prefer its super sandy, light loamy or soddy varieties. Growing them requires good lighting, with a constant stay in the shade, these plants may well die.
They love and warmly. Although some frost-resistant varieties are able to withstand short-term frosts reaching up to -30⁰. But nevertheless, breeding them in conditions, for example, in Siberia, is a completely hopeless occupation. But growing walnuts in the middle lane is a very real thing. These days, enough frost-resistant varieties have appeared. It’s not a wonder for a long time - a walnut in the Moscow region. The cultivation of varieties specially bred for the climate of the middle strip is successfully practiced by gardeners in this region. And not only in it.
Is it possible to plant, for example, walnuts in Belarus? Part of gardeners resolutely does not welcome its cultivation there - they say, the idea is hopeless. But actually it is not. It is important to choose the right variety. Breeders have bred several varieties adapted to local conditions, so this is no longer exotic - walnut in Belarus. Growing it only requires compliance with certain rules of planting and care.
Features of agricultural technology
Fertilizers are also an important issue. The soil for walnut trees must be saturated with minerals and salts, it should be regularly fed. The quality of fertilizers directly affects its fertility and, as a consequence, productivity.
Growing walnuts requires a drainage system, which usually consists in laying a network of water grooves along the entire territory of the site with access to each individual tree. Their trunks are surrounded by earthen rollers, each on a separate square with a side of about one and a half meters. Periodically, these areas should be abundantly moistened until they are completely flooded.
How are nuts collected? This is seasonal work, and for it you can hire temporary workers whose task will be to collect all of them manually. And you can buy a cleaning mechanism for work, reminiscent of the principle of its action, a vacuum cleaner on wheels. Such an aggregate shakes off trees from which all ripe nuts are poured, then the fruits are picked from the ground according to the same principle as an ordinary vacuum cleaner. Thanks to the hard shell, the nuts do not break and do not deteriorate when dropped.
You can sell the crop in the shell, but if the nuts are dried, then the profit will be much higher. For this procedure, you can also resort to hired force, or you can acquire special equipment.
Growing nuts in the middle lane: what you need to know
The main questions - how to choose the right variety? And what seedlings to buy? It’s worth navigating when choosing taking into account the main factors, and the main one is frost resistance. In our climatic conditions, acquiring varieties for which cold is contraindicated means knowingly throwing money away.
One should inquire about the relative size of the kernels of the selected variety and the thickness of the shell. The thinner it is, the more space a useful core occupies. But if the shells are too fragile, birds with strong beaks can damage the crop.
Another point to pay attention to is the ripening period. For individual varieties, it can be from 3-4 to 7 years. If your business is growing nuts in the Moscow Region, choose varieties that are always popular. This is "elegant" - quite resistant to drought, pests and other troubles, "dessert", characterized by early ripening, "ideal" with large kernels weighing up to 20 grams, high-yielding and frost-resistant. In another variety - the "giant" - kernels can weigh 30 grams. Variety "Aurora" is characterized by a fast pace of ripening, "fruitful" - frost resistance and the ability to bear fruit already in the third year.
Do not buy seedlings of nuts from your hands or at markets from unverified sellers. When starting such a serious business as growing walnuts for sale, contact one of the specialized nurseries that provide services for the sale of seedlings you need. Their products are provided with quality certificates.
Landing technology
Growing nuts begins with planting that requires preliminary preparation. This should be done in a few months (best in the fall). For each of the seedlings, a pit should be prepared, the depth of which is from 60 to 100 centimeters, depending on the fertility of the soil. The poorer it is, the deeper the pit should be.
The earth that was taken out of the pit should be mixed with humus and peat, then potassium chloride (800 grams each) per kilogram of dolomite flour and three kilos of superphosphate are added there. With this mixture, the pit is refilled.
After waiting for the planting time, from each pit the nutrient mixture should be removed and placed in the center of the seedling, reinforced with a three-meter pole inserted into the ground. Then part of the mixture is filled up, watered abundantly, and, after waiting for good moisture, fill the hole completely. To ensure maximum illumination, rows should be planted in a direction from north to south.
Care and Harvest
How to care for trees? Growing nuts requires constant care. In the summer they need to be watered, in the spring - to fertilize, in the fall - to plow the land. The soil must remain fertile, breathable and moist so that the crop is successful.
If you involve hired workers in the collection of nuts, then casual people can damage trees with a careless attitude. That is why it is recommended to invest in the purchase of special equipment. A sign of nut ripeness is a cracked green peel of the fruit. Through the cracks, the familiar wrinkled walnut shells should be visible.
Where to sell grown?
Through which distribution channels can a farmer sell such a product? There is practically no excess supply on the walnut market. Therefore, the implementation of problems should not arise. Confectionery factories may be among the wholesale buyers (they need kernels of nuts for the production of cakes, chocolate and cookies). Another option is marketing in the field of pharmacology. Prescription drug manufacturing requires the addition of ingredients derived from walnuts.
By tradition, nuts can be sold in grocery stores, there are also points of reception from where the nuts are exported abroad. But there they are taken only in purified form.
From a sales point of view, it is most profitable to plant a walnut in the suburbs. Growing it in other regions may require additional transportation costs, and the circle of consumers there is not so wide.
Calculate income and expenses
What profit can we talk about? Count: the price of a kilogram of peeled nuts is 4-5 dollars. From each hectare of the plot, the size of the crop can be about two tons, but half of this weight falls on the useless shell. Simple calculations allow you to reach the profit figure of up to $ 10,000 per hectare. That sounds impressive!
Now let's talk about the costs of growing nuts. As already mentioned, their biggest article is the acquisition of a land plot. If you have the status of a farmer and acquire land for agricultural purposes, then you can count on a discount from the state. Then - the cost of buying seedlings. Each of them costs about 200 rubles. Having bought 100 units of trees, you will accordingly pay 20,000 rubles.
Another considerable expense item is the installation of a water supply and drainage system, as well as the purchase of fertilizers. You will have to spend money on protection during the ripening and harvesting season. The collection equipment already mentioned above is a one-time cost.
According to preliminary calculations, the payback of this business occurs within 5 years after the first harvest. In the future, everything earned can be attributed to net profit, and this process will take place over many years and even decades, because walnut bears fruit for 100 years or more.
More about nuts
What other nuts besides walnuts can I grow? There are up to 30-40 populations of them all over the globe. This almonds, and cashews, and hazelnuts, and pistachios, and peanuts with pine nuts, and even coconut. Not to mention the many other species, far from being so famous. People consumed nuts as early as the Stone Age. You can talk about their beneficial properties ad infinitum. This is a real storehouse of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, light protein and carbohydrates.
Such a useful product has been consistently used and continues to be in great demand at all times. Its selling price is very, very worthy. That is, this business can be quite cost-effective, and even if you can’t afford to plant a plantation and grow nuts with long-term care, you can consider another version - wholesale purchase of various types, cleaning with subsequent roasting, packing in bright elegant bags and subsequent sale .
The profitability of this type of business is at least 30%. In addition to the shops, pharmaceuticals and pastry shops mentioned above, nuts can be delivered to restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and markets. You can organize your own small retail outlet or online store. If you are planning a business of a larger scale, it is quite possible to consider the option of exporting this valuable product to European countries.
Walnut business in the southern regions
In addition, you can buy nuts at low prices from the population or collect wild ones. Best for those who live in the southern regions of the country. Walnuts, which are not particularly frost-resistant, are easiest to grow and collect there. This business can also be developed in Central Asia or Ukraine.
Walnut trees in the southern regions of the country often grow on their own, in forests or along roads. Of course, it is not possible for one person to collect a decent crop in the slightest degree. But you can work out with the involvement of local residents. To do this, you need to organize a reception point and give an ad to the local newspaper.
On average, unpeeled nuts can be purchased in bulk at 50 rubles. per kilo, but this price can be much lower if there is an abundance of this product in the region. Having hired those who want to earn extra money on shelling nuts, you will recoup the cost of their labor. Peeled nuts are quite possible to sell an average of 250 rubles. per kilogram, and the output by weight will equal approximately half of the raw material received for processing.
How beneficial is it?
Here is an example of calculating the payback of such an activity: by purchasing 50 rubles each. for a kilo a hundred kilograms of nuts and paying 15 rubles to clean them per kilo, you will spend about 7000 rubles. (add here about 500 rubles for packing). Out of 100 kilograms of unpeeled nuts at the exit, we have about 50 kg of nucleoli, which can be sold for 200 rubles. As you can see, the income from the mentioned 100 kilograms will be about 3,000 rubles. If you peel nuts yourself, this number will become even higher.
If you want to sell roasted walnut kernels, you should consider that a frying oven will require additional costs. But at the same time, fried nuts are much more expensive.
As a side income, we can consider the sale of membranes and shells to beauty salons and pharmaceutical companies.
About the size of investments
But we digress from our main theme - growing nuts as a business. So, what can be the figures of income and expenses in this case? Let’s try to roughly determine the investment per hectare of mortgaged walnut orchard.
The procedure of plowing the land will cost you about 6,000 rubles. Add 3,000 more to prepare the wells for planting. We buy seedlings for 200-300 rubles, a total of 100 pieces will cost us 30,000. We add here two and a half thousand for transportation costs for their delivery and subsequent planting.
The cost of care with watering during the year will be from 15 to 20 thousand rubles. If a piece of land is leased, the cost of it also needs to be added here.
Do not forget that the garden will require protection. When the seedlings reach a fruitful age (about 5 years later), they will no longer need to be protected in a constant mode. Such expenses will be needed only a couple of months for each year, when the garden bears fruit.
When is the harvest?
The first results can be expected in three to four years, but a full crop - not earlier than the fifth or sixth year after laying. An approximate collection of it from the same hundred seedlings is from 2 to 4 tons, taking into account the ripening conditions and the selected varieties. The yield of walnut trees annually increases by about 20%.
If your walnut plantation is located not in the southern region with a warm climate, but in the middle lane, then some trees may die in case of severe frosts.
With all the shortcomings and difficulties of growing and caring, the walnut orchard is capable of generating sustainable profits over a long period of time.
Note to the Siberians
But what about those who live in the north? Imagine a nut business is possible there! In this case, you should forget about growing walnuts and focus on pinecones. Such wild plants are rich in taiga. Cedar fishing has long been a good source of income for local residents who collect cones of cedar trees from September to deep snow.
The peeled nuts are then handed over to the purchasers, and up to 50 kg are allowed to be collected free of charge, and over this amount - already for money. To engage in such activities requires the purchase of special "forest tickets".
Having decided on a business with pine nuts, you can start buying cones with the subsequent processing and sale of wholesale lots of pure walnuts or pack and sell roasted nuts or nucleoli.
Summary
Becoming a "nut" entrepreneur, do not forget about the necessary documents. As in any type of business, you will need to register an IP and take care of the availability of certificates of conformity for your product.
Any business plan requires compliance with basic laws - constant quality control, the widest possible range of products, an attractive form of sales, including packaging with a bright design.