Organic Enterprise Budgets

There are very few enterprise budgets for organic crops, particularly for fruit and vegetable crops. We feel these organic enterprise budgets are an important tool in helping organic producers make decisions about what crops to grow, how much to grow, and how to allocated their resources to meet their production goals.

CFSA has created organic enterprise budgets for 10 organic fruit and vegetables, with production specific to the Carolinas. These budgets were created in 2014 and most recently updated in 2019 for better performance and utility.

 

How to Use the Updated Organic Enterprise Budgets

The budgets have been developed in two formats, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.  The ones developed in Microsoft Word provide a general overview of the costs (variable and fixed) and returns for growing an acre of that crop on a 10-acre farm.

 

In Microsoft Word:

  • Select the budget for the crop you are interested in.
  • Open the file and save it to your computer.
  1. Broccoli
  2. Cabbage
  3. Cucumber
  4. Greens
  5. Leaf Lettuce
  6. Potato (Irish)
  7. Summer Squash
  8. Sweet Potato
  9. Tomato
  10. Watermelon

These 2019 Organic Enterprise Budgets developed in Microsoft Excel enable users to calculate their own projected costs and returns. This is where you get to develop enterprise budgets specific to your operation.

 

To use the budgets developed in Microsoft Excel:

  • Open the Excel file and select the budget for the crop you are working with from the tabs across the bottom of the screen.
  • Enter the numbers for your farm.
  • Save your work to your computer.
  • All values are locked, other than those entered for “Your Farm $/Ac. “.

Download: CFSA’s Interactive Organic Enterprise Budgets (v.2019)

 

Want to learn more?

Learn more in the video with Randy James below about how CFSA’s organic enterprise budgets can help you predict how much you can spend on a specific crop, as well as how much you are likely to make on that crop.

 

Organic Enterprise budgets were created for CFSA by Randy James, Ph.D. and Kathy Folsom, Ed. and funded through a grant from Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.

 

Questions? Contact:

Email Karen McSwain, CFSA’s Farm Services and Food Systems Director