Vineyard Tractors?

Robert_in_NY · Sep 7, 2011

zonta223 said:
A recent survey in Australia showed that only 25% of grape growers can make a full time living from their vineyards. More than 50% "Support" their vineyard with outside income. Today's prices for wine grapes are terrible mostly at or below the cost of production. If you grow Chardonnay grapes it's a case of paying wineries to take them away. Whats the situation like in your part of the world??

Bob

I keep with a more stable market, juice grapes. Mainly Concord and Niagaras. The Concord market is very strong, they don't pay high dollar by any means but the market is consistent so there is less risk. The Niagara's on the other hand are a little tougher as that market is smaller and as such if you don't have a contract for your grapes you might as well tear them out. The local plants are trying to get rid of some of the Niagara vineyards as they can't get rid of the juice as easily as Concord juice. Their reasoning is that they are having trouble getting Niagara's to go to a concentrate and then be reconstituded without any negative effects.

With wine grapes here its very risky which is what you guys are seeing. When the wineries want a particular variety then everyone plants it to get the high prices but actually they flood the market and the prices tank. Its very common to see 3-4 year old vineyards tore out and replanted to a different variety here because the market is no longer there. Thats the joys of trying to predict the market 3-4 years in advance and the reason I am staying away from the wine market. Too much risk and a lot more work then juice grapes.

Also, I figured from my own experience that the minimum I would want to try to live off of would be 50 acres of Concords. That gives you a little buffer if you have a bad year you can still get by and if you have a great year you can stash the money away for the next year that will most likey be bad :-D 100 acres is where I want to be though, its about the max I feel I can handle without having too many headaches and workers. I can handle the majority of the work myself with one part time hired man or family member helping out checking and changing posts. I will still hire out all the trimming as I physically can't do that work, my back won't let me stand for long periods of time. I max out at 2 hours and then I am in need of a break :-(

ayelvington · Sep 8, 2011

I strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of Fruit Grower News, or a wine grower magazine and look at the specialty ads. I own a BX tractor for my very very small orchard, and I can't see you using it on a 25 acre vineyard. Just the weight of a loaded air blast sprayer would overwhelm it.

Go to a professional trade magazine and check out the ads. What you're asking for is a specialized machine (narrow with non-snag surfaces to get through the rows at full crop).

zonta223 · Sep 9, 2011

Hi
Sorry if I missed it but did the original poster state his vine row spacings???
Be a big help on recommending something if he would. Also is the terrain hilly??

Bob

flusher · Sep 9, 2011

ganodave said:
Greetings!

New to Tractorbynet here and I am specifically interested in finding a tractor that would be suited for vineyard work as well as the usual bush hog, backhoe loader, tiller and cultivating work for a 25 acre property in South Eastern Ontario... Had an Old Massey Ferguson 165 for a few years but looking for a smaller, narrower and more maneuverable for the vineyard.

Any insights, opinions and collected wisdom would be much appreciated from all of you folks here on TractorbyNet.

Thanks for looking in...

GanoDave