500grm for 3800 Euro…a way to make money.

As a farmer we can sell a 550 gram added value chestnut product for $15 and believe we are making good money. Okay we have to wait 7 years for a chestnut tree to fruit, but that is part of the game rules.

On a recent visit to the farmers market in Helsinki we discovered a farmer making 3,800 Euro for a 500grm added value jar of product made on his farm. Now that is worth investigating.

His sales assistant advised us that most of his products went to France and top restaurants around the world and he could not keep up with demand.

The product? … Beluga Sturgeon caviar

This farmer is one of only a handful of farmers that fish farm this largest of the sturgeon family. The fish can grow to 5 metres in length and live for over 100 years.

So why is it so expensive?

Firstly, to get the caviar you have to milk the sturgeon, but you do not get a “crop” for the first 50 years. Then once you have milked the fish you have to wait another 15 years before you can milk it again. This means you on average each fish provides you with 3 “crops” over 100 years.

Perhaps this is why caviar is so expensive.

Some farmers have to wait a long time to get a return for their efforts, sometimes a lifetime.

Perhaps we should go back to crops like sweet chestnuts that take 7 years to get the first crop and be pleased at the added value prices we get.