How might future climate impact returns on tart cherry investment?
The objective of the investment model is to determine whether an investment in a perennial tree crop will generate sufficient return to recover all expenditures. These expenditures include land acquisition, site preparation, tree purchase and planting, and tree maintenance until the age is reached at which it becomes economic to harvest product for sale, and tree maintenance and harvest expenditures for the balance of the life of the orchard. The concept is one of covering all costs including a target rate of return on investment and a charge for unpaid family labor. There is considerable flexibility in how the user treats the cost of land. The "default" is to treat the land as purchased at the beginning of the investment, permit annual capital gains over the life of the investment, and treat the land as sold at the end of the investment period with the with the cumulative capital gains; the annual "carrying costs" are the interest costs less than the capital gains. Alternatively, users may enter a value that best represents their annual cost.
*For Pileus team use only: tc yield circle