Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA RD Instruction 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. More than 4,000 studies since 1998 covering $40.2 billion in evaluated project value.
Permanent-crop feasibility carries development-period risk no annual crop faces: the years to commercial bearing financed without crop income, establishment cost per acre against regional benchmarks, water security across the planting's life, and price assumptions tested against the marketing channel — winery contract, packer relationship, or estate production. Estate winery projects add the hospitality and direct-to-consumer economics of the firm's event-venue methodology.
Methodology uses extension establishment and production budgets, water-right and district review, channel and contract assessment, and development-period cash-flow modeling with coverage tested from first commercial harvest.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Agricultural engagements are the heart of the USDA practice: B&I for rural enterprises, Value-Added Producer Grant studies to RD Instruction 5001 where producers integrate forward, and Farm Credit and conventional structures otherwise; job creation, producer benefit, and rural economic impact are documented to the agency standard.
The firm's agricultural and food-system record includes USDA-compliant processing, cold-chain, and winery engagements nationwide, including a $10,066,000 vineyard and winery estate in Temecula, California. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
Qualify a project. Tell us about the project and the program. We will tell you the truth about it — scope, timeline, and fee confirmed before work begins.
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