I think he said per kilo of Alpha Acid, not per kilo of hop.
Actually, he said (or at least implied) both ... as follows ...
AU$1100 per kilo of alpha acid. For a 15% variety, $165 per kilo TO THE GROWERS.
... which I believe clearly means $165.00 per kilo of HOPS, and not alpha acid ($1,100/kilo for 100% AA) ... and then, in another post, he said ...
Just out of interest, each string of this season't Tassie high alpha varieties will be earning the hop growers $400+ That's $1200 per plant (three strings is the norm) at the farm gate.
Gives you an idea of a) Yield and B) the effect of the shortage.
So, given that 15% is high alpha acid (I can't recall ever seeing anything higher), and at a price of $165 per kilo, to have a PLANT worth $1,200 works out to 7.27 kilos.
Now, Lochy has raised the possibility that Australian growers might be using their land more efficiently, and he rightly discusses that there would naturally be an optimum number of plants per hectare and that overplanting would reduce yield. I have no problem with any of that. The reasons I was using per "plant" rather than per hectare is that 'mfdes' used the "$1200 per plant" figure, and also because as homebrewers/home-gardeners, I think we all probably think in terms of "per plant" rather than per hectare (or acre). I would also like to add that I'd imagine that U.S. farmers, as business men, are probably aware of advancing techniques in both Europe and other hop growing areas, and if Australia is able to achieve many times the yield for a given area, they would quickly adopt the same growing techniques. And the figure that I've used for crop yields in the U.S. are based both on government statistical records that I've seen, as well as virtually every article about growing hops that I've read so far. This thread is the first time I've ever heard of any claims of yields exceeding much more than a kilo per plant, and while I would be
very impressed at a mere doubling of that yield due to better spacing, growing conditions, and techniques, etc., I am absolutely at the point of disbelief at any claims of increasing yield by a magnitude of EIGHT times. I think that we are just somehow miscommunicating. So, again, I ask ... how many kilos of dried hops are typically harvested from a hectare?
Finally, I hope that my persistence is not offensive to anyone. I don't mean to be argumentative; I'd just like to be sure that I understand what is being said.
Thanks.
Bill Velek