Who we are
Wert-Berater, Inc. has prepared independent feasibility studies for lenders, certified development companies, and federal agencies since 1998 — more than four thousand engagements representing $40.2 billion in evaluated project value across all fifty states and international assignments. Our fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never to the sponsor’s optimism: fees are fixed, quoted up front, never contingent on findings, and a determination is never changed under pressure.
What we do
Seaweed culture — sugar kelp longlines, edible nori and wakame, industrial carrageenan and alginate feedstocks, and microalgae systems for spirulina and nutraceuticals — is the lowest-input aquaculture and the least-developed domestic market, which inverts the usual analysis: production is rarely the constraint, offtake is. The study builds the revenue case from executed or pipeline offtake — food processors, nutraceutical buyers, agricultural amendment markets — and prices the drying and stabilization step that stands between wet harvest and salable product, because wet kelp is a logistics problem, not a commodity.
How we do it
Lease-acreage yield modeling against regional demonstration data, seasonal harvest concentration and its labor spike, processing and drying capex treated as core rather than optional, and an offtake-concentration stress, since most domestic seaweed revenue today flows through few buyers.
How we can help you
Coastal lease operations fit USDA rural frameworks; processing-integrated ventures suit B&I; microalgae systems are industrial credits underwritten on equipment and contracted offtake. The firm's value-added producer practice supplies the processing-premium analysis seaweed ventures need, and its renewable-energy work covers the algae-biomass crossover where it is genuinely contracted.
How to engage us
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from complete project data. Rush delivery for deals already in underwriting is accepted case by case for an additional fixed fee, quoted up front and committed in writing. Engagements are typically initiated by the borrower, with lender or CDC confirmation obtained before work begins — institutions differ, so confirm the procedure with your lending contact.