Focus on Minnesota's fledging Hops Industry

The first I heard of them was last week or so when I saw an ad saying they were hiring. Is it just me or is the brewing industry (and its ancillaries, like hop farms) a really low paying market in comparison to other, similar ventures? They were offering full time positions at $10-12/hr. When I was in high school 10 years ago I made $15/hr working on a farm and had friends that made $20/hr for the less enjoyable tasks like baling hay.

 

I don't think the industry is a way to make tons of money, and certainly not quickly. Sure, a few people do, but I think it takes years and tons of hard work.
Brewers work crazy hours for probably $50, servers bad hours for less, owners work all the time and profit if the business profits.
I think it's an industry you need to LOVE to stay working in.

I can swing over and actually read the article for you. Some of the words are long. If I recall from the article, they hope to actually turn a profit in 5 years with hops. Not sure what other job they have, but hopefully it pays more than $0. Also, the other hopyard is done after all of their regular jobs and on weekends.

I think I'd rather bale hay for $30 hour than many other jobs....

 

Nearly $50k/yr and no college debt? Where do I sign up!

 

Non necessarily. More and more wise men and women are going to brewing school at places like Siebel Institute, and UC Berkeley.

But, as your avatar indicates, you change jobs on a weekly basis so any career at $50K probably sounds appealing to you.

 

You need to go to brewing school to bail hay?

 

You'll change your mind once you stack a loft full of hay on a 100* day. I swear I've been in barns where it's 140* and humid. Every time you toss a bale you kick up all the dust and inhale it if it doesn't all stick to the sweat on your face first. I wouldn't stack hay even if someone offered me $50/hr for it.

But growing hops.. now that's something I might do for $10!

 

I guess it's just surprising that an industry in such high demand gets by paying so little. Like you referenced, a head brewer at a successful brewery might make less than $40,000.

Meanwhile an executive chef at a successful restaurant (I think the best analogue we can get) makes double that or more.

And like you say, starting out driving delivery trucks or filling kegs (or farming hops) for $10 is a rough way to make a living also. Can't say I haven't thought about trying to break into the industry that takes up so much of my free time, but for barely more than minimum wage that's just not realistic to anyone with a family or mortgage.