11 questions to ask about Setting up a Wasabi Farm
Over the years a number of people have asked me to provide a price for setting up a Wasabi Farm.
That though is like asking me how long a piece of string is! LOL
My wife has a saying; the family call them Jennyisms. “You don’t know how long a piece of string is until you measure it”.
Some of the questions that you need to ask (and get answers for) are:
1. Now big an area do you have to put the farm on?
2. How many plants do you want to grow?
3. What is cost of construction in your area?
4. Do you have access to sufficient power and water?
5. Are there any local, state or federal restrictions on building, water usage and disposal, etc?
6. Where is your market? (This is the most important question).
7. How big is your market? (This is the second most important question).
8. How much is your market prepared to pay?
9. What is my break-even point?
10. Is the Wasabi to be sold fresh or processed?
11. Do you have yearly weather records for where you want to put the Wasabi Farm?
As you can see there are a number of things that require answers before your question about price can even be addressed.
I can tell you that the last 40,000 plant Wasabi farm we set up covered 1600 sq. metres and cost in the region of NZD500,000. This farm was built in New Zealand.
At the moment we are setting up a Wasabi Farm on the Equator, but we don’t expect the costs to be too much different. 🙂
We have a Wasabi Homework Course which goes through some of the above in detail. You can enrol for that here at no cost.
Hopefully you found this article interesting and useful. If you would like more information on growing Wasabia japonica, then go to http://wasabigrowers.com/ and sign up for their FREE email Wasabi Growers Homework Course. This will give you more ideas about what you need to concentrate on if you really want to become a Wasabi Grower.
More information about joining the Wasabi Growers Club can be found here.
I live in Hawaii on the Island of Maui. I’m seriously thinking of growing wasabi commercially on a small scale. I realize that we are not in the ideal location to grow wasabi, but I’d like to know what it would take to make that happen. I saw the mention of a farm being done on the equator right now, but no other information other than that it is still being put together.
How small could a farm be using your methods and still be viable? I believe it there was a farm on 1600 square meters with 40000 plants costing about 500k NZD, how small can that be scaled down?
Jonathan Leialoha
Jonathon,
You can grow Wasabi on any size piece of land. The only limitation is the number of plants that land can support and what sort of technology you are prepared to use and pay for. If you are just going to plant Wasabi in the ground then the limitation is the ground area. If you are prepared to use some or all of the technology we have developed over the last two decades then land area becomes less of a restraining factor.
The more plants you have then potentially the more money you can make, but also the more it will cost to set up.
Before you start getting ahead of yourself though, PLEASE check that you have a local market who will purchase your product at a price where you can make a profit. Relying on overseas markets is likely to put your farm at considerable risk as transport costs are completely outside your control and subject to change on an almost daily basis.
Read some of the free information we have on the Wasabi Growers Club site to see what you need to find out about before setting up a Wasabi Farm. Don’t think I am trying to put you off (because I am), but if you do go ahead then we want to make sure your eyes are wide open to potential problems.