Recession Chickens Can’t Beat Recession Wine
Date: 08/05/2009 Author: Dan PrescherA recent news story made me sit up and take notice over my breakfast eggs… backyard chicken production is at an all-time high.
It seems that during hard economic times, folks try to hedge their bets by converting garden sheds, vacant lots, and roof-top corners into chicken coops.
They figure that if they lose their jobs tomorrow, they can still go out back and get dinner.
It may calm anxiety, but the math doesn’t quite work out. Large chicken operations benefit from economies of scale on feed and livestock costs. For backyard growers, however, the cost of retail chicken feed and of the chicks themselves can add up to $8 chickens when all is said and done. (And you can buy a rotisserie bird, ready to eat, for $5.)
Much better, I think, to follow Ronan McMahon’s advice: Grow your own wine on your own Argentine vineyard.
The Mendoza area of Argentina is one of the few places in the world suitable for quality wine production. And it offers amazing value. An acre of good vineyard in Napa Valley or the Loire in France can set you back up to $200,000. By comparison, good Argentine wine land in Mendoza is incredibly cheap.
Ronan tells me that $5,000 will buy an acre of raw vineyard with irrigation rights in Mendoza, and it's common for small vineyards to come with a house on the property, making it a perfect money-making homestead.
Here’s a deal Ronan recently saw in the heart of Argentine wine country…a property that included 6.1 acres of mature Malbec vines and six acres of Cabernet vines, along with 3.7 acres of d'Agen plums. The caretaker's house has been recently renovated. Production in 2007 was 52,000 kilograms of Cabernet and Malbec grapes and 1,900 kilograms of d'Agen plums.
The asking price for the property? Just $160,000.
If you’re looking for a way to beat the recession and put your “yard” to productive use, that has a chicken coup beat by a mile in my book.
Stay happy and healthy,
Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living
P.S. Whether you’re interested in chickens, wine, or simply living well… you’ll find an in-depth report in the current issue of International Living Magazine on where, today, you can buy in Latin America for less than $212,000.
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