Blueberry Farm Business Plan: U-Pick, Pints and Wholesale

A blueberry field takes three or four years to bear well, so a new farm either plants and waits or leases a mature field, which is what this plan does. Once bearing, the money is in how the berries leave: u-pick costs the farm almost nothing per pound because customers do the picking; market pints pay for the farm's own picking; grocer flats earn the least per pound but take a lot at once; and frozen bags sell the berries after the season. The plan turns on picking labor, the field lease and a short season. In the example, a North Carolina blueberry farm starts with $44,000, ends its first year about $34,800 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $5,000 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the farm in a paragraph: the field, the varieties, who buys, the goals.
• Cost each pound: picking labor, the container, the card fee.
• Plan sales by product: u-pick, market pints, grocer flats, frozen bags.
• U-pick keeps the most per pound; grocer flats the least.
• A new planting takes three or four years; a leased mature field starts now.
• The season is short: plan the year around it.
• TaroStack keeps each harvest as a lot, and each order's lots on record. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Bladen Bluff Blueberries, a made-up blueberry farm in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, writes:

Bladen Bluff Blueberries leases a mature six-acre field of highbush and rabbiteye blueberries near Elizabethtown, opens for u-pick in June and July, sells picked pints at two markets, flats to a regional grocer, and frozen five-pound bags through the winter. In its first year it aims to average about $10,900 a month across the year.

Part 2: what a sale costs

U-pick's container is the bucket liner and bag; the customers pick. Picked berries carry the crew's wages by the pound. How a farm stand sets prices is in farm stand prices.

Part 3: the season and the picking

U-pick opens on weekends in June and July and brings families from an hour away; a crew picks for the markets and the grocer on weekdays. Berries for the freezer are picked at the end of the season and frozen in the farm's walk-in. The fixed costs run all year: pruning in winter, fertilizer in spring, netting against birds before the berries color. How u-pick works on other crops is in u pick farm business plan.

Part 4: what each product earns

At full speed the business sells $10,880 a month and keeps $7,595, 69.8%; u-pick bring $3,975 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $2,550 every month: field lease ($800), pruning and fertilizer labor ($900), irrigation and power ($200), bird netting and upkeep ($150), insurance ($150), market fees ($100), ads ($100), and other costs ($150). Sales start at 35% of full speed:

The year's sales are $93,690, and the business ends it $34,802 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $3,650 of sales a month, in the first month. The lowest cash point, $108 in month 1, never goes below zero. Blueberries come in six or seven weeks; the plan spreads the year's berries as monthly averages, so the real year has two big months, a freezer to sell from, and fixed costs every month.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $36,000 before working cash is earned back in about 7 months at full speed. A vegetable farm's version is in market garden business plan, and a farm shop to sell from in farm store business plan.

Get the template

Download the blueberry farm business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products, each with its price, variable cost and units a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan uses one yield an acre. A late frost, a wet June or a flock of birds changes the year, and by the end of the season nobody knows how many pounds went to the grocer from which day's picking.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps each harvest as a lot, counted where it's stored, and each order's lots on record.

Each harvest a lot. Each day's picking of blueberries goes in as a lot with its date, so every flat on an order leads back to the field and the day.

Orders by customer. Market, restaurant and grocer orders are sales orders, with a picking list and the lots each one took.

Counts with no signal. The walk-in can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the oldest lots go out first by default.

Lots, sales orders and counts are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much does it cost to start a blueberry farm?

The example budgets $44,000, including $8,000 of working cash; the walk-in cooler is the biggest item.

Is a blueberry farm profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $5,000 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, and ends its first year ahead.

How much does it cost to pick a pound of blueberries?

In the example, about $1.10 to $1.20 a pound in the crew's wages; u-pick customers pick their own.

How long until a blueberry farm makes money?

A new planting takes three or four years to bear well; the example leases a mature field to start selling in its first season.