Submitted by Sandy on Thu , 03/22/2018 - 07:01 PM

If it ever gets to be a sizable crop you're gonna need a lot of interns or volunteers. IIRC, UVM did some studies on this 18-24 months ago. Assuming coupe grade (the highest) saffron at $8.50 per gram (retail price) divided by 150 flowers that makes each flower worth roughly 6 cents. Each stigma would be worth about 2 cents. At $10/hr labor cost (VERY optimistic) the break even number on the highest possible retail price saffron means each worker needs to harvest 500 HUNDRED stigmas per hour, or roughly 167 flowers. That means about three flowers/nine stigmas a minute for the entire hour. This scenario also assumes best case on the number of stigmas per flower, labor cost and final price, as well as leaving out labor and costs for drying and packaging, never mind the cost of bulbs, fertilizer, land lost to other crops, etc... It's not entirely hopeless though. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270916668_Autonomous_Vehicle_f… gives some hope and more accurate numbers than mine on the realities of saffron harvesting. Then there's always the potential for "value added" products such as saffron oil, saffron shallot pickles, saffron cocktails, saffron crocus bulbs in the gift store, and so forth. Still, without new technology, I would guess it will be financially unsustainable, even if it is a boon to the folks who dine at the inn.