Flower Farm Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A flower farm business plan sets out what you'll grow and who buys it, what a stem and a bouquet cost, the land, cooler and tunnel it needs, and the first year month by month. Two things make a flower farm plan different from most. The cost of a stem is mostly time, planting, weeding and cutting, so a plan that counts only seed makes every bouquet look profitable. And in a cold climate the year has a hole in it: four or five months of rent and power with nothing to cut, which the working cash has to carry. In the example below, a flower farm in Michigan sells 280 market bouquets, 200 florist bunches, 160 subscription bouquets and 8 wedding buckets a month at the height of summer, makes a profit from May, and ends the year about $25,800 ahead on $62,600 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for every hour of field work and arranging. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the winter gap, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: what you grow, where you sell, the land, the goals.
• Cost a stem with your field time in it; seed is the small part.
• Sell four ways: markets, florists, subscriptions and weddings each pay differently.
• Plan for the winter gap: months of costs with no sales.
• Budget for the cooler: cut flowers that aren't cooled don't last to the market.
• The working cash has to cover the seed you buy in February.
• TaroStack keeps stems, bouquets and every harvest counted, by site. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Moonfield Flower Farm, a made-up flower farm in Michigan I use in these examples, writes:

Moonfield Flower Farm grows cut flowers on half an acre of rented land outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, with one caterpillar tunnel for early and late stems. We sell bouquets at two farmers markets a week, bunches to local florists, a 40-member summer bouquet subscription, and buckets of stems for DIY weddings. In our first season we plan to cut about 47,000 stems.

Part 2: what a stem and a bouquet cost

A grown stem costs about $0.45: roughly $0.12 of seed, plugs and fertilizer, and about a minute of field work, planting, weeding and cutting, averaged over the season, at $20 an hour. Then each product adds its own:

A market bouquet is 15 stems and five minutes of arranging; a subscription bouquet 18 stems and six; a wedding bucket 100 stems, conditioned and packed in half an hour. Leave the field minute out and the stem costs $0.12, the market bouquet looks like it leaves $15, and the farm can't work out why the money is never there. The arithmetic of putting time into a cost is in how to compute labor cost in baking: it's the same in a field.

Part 3: customers and prices

Each channel earns its place differently. Markets pay the best per stem but cost a day each. Florists take straight bunches with no arranging and order every week, so they use up the stems markets don't. A subscription is sold before the season, often with a deposit, which is cash in spring when the farm needs it most; the table counts it as each bouquet goes out. And a wedding bucket moves 100 stems in one sale. How to set a wholesale price a florist will accept, and one that still pays you, is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Part 4: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $595 a month: the land lease ($150), market fees averaged over the year ($160), the vehicle ($100), water ($50), cooler power ($50), insurance ($40), and the website and software ($45). January to March sell nothing; April's first stems from the tunnel are the first sales, full speed is July and August, and November and December sell only a few dried bunches and bouquets:

The year's sales are $62,550 and the profit $25,841, on top of $20 an hour for the work, which at full speed is about 50 hours a week. Perennials like peonies take two or three years to give a full cut, so the second and third years should do better than this one.

Part 5: the winter gap

The table counts seed and plugs as each stem sells, which is how the profit works out. The bank account sees it differently: about $2,500 of the season's seed and plugs is bought in February and March, before the first bouquet, on top of three months of fixed costs. So the low point isn't the table's −$2,068 but closer to −$4,500, and the plan holds $5,000 of working cash to carry it. November's money has to last until April, so the plan should set aside part of every summer month for the next winter; how buying ahead of a season ties up cash is in seasonal inventory.

Part 6: the startup budget

The tubers and roots come back each year, and dahlias multiply, so this line is an investment rather than a cost of this season's stems. Cut flowers usually need only an ordinary business license and sales tax registration; selling live plants, plugs or tubers can bring a nursery license in some states, so check with your state's agriculture department.

Get the template

Download the flower farm business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month from January, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. Change the monthly percentages to match your own season. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

In July, a flower farm cuts thousands of stems a week and every one has a few days to sell. The cooler holds Monday's zinnias and Thursday's dahlias, the florists' standing orders compete with Saturday's market for the same buckets, the subscription bouquets need 18 stems each on Wednesday, and nobody knows which buckets went out first or how many stems were composted. The cost per stem stays a spring guess.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack starts when the stems are cut. It doesn't plan plantings or keep field maps.

Harvests as lots. Each harvest goes into stock as a lot with its date, so the cooler is counted by what was cut when, picking takes the oldest first, and lots close to their date show in your alerts. Counting works on a phone with no signal, in the cooler or the field.

Bouquets as recipes. A market bouquet is a recipe of its stems, sleeve and band, so making 35 for Saturday takes the stems off stock from the lots used. Florists' standing orders are sales orders for their delivery day that show whether the stems to fill them are in the cooler while you're still typing.

And what each channel earns. Every adjustment carries a reason, so composted stems are reported by reason and item, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so you can see whether the florist or the market pays better.

Lots, recipes, sales orders, counting and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month; a market stall as its own site, beside the farm, is on Standard at $99. 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

Is a flower farm profitable?

It can be. In the example, a half-acre flower farm selling at markets, to florists, by subscription and for weddings ends its first year about $25,800 ahead on $62,600 of sales, with $20 an hour paid for the work.

How much does it cost to start a flower farm?

In the example, about $11,800: $6,800 for tubers and roots, a caterpillar tunnel, irrigation, a walk-in cooler, seed starting, tools, sleeves and a market setup, and $5,000 of working cash to carry the winter and the spring seed order.

How many acres do you need for a flower farm?

Less than most people think. The example cuts about 47,000 stems in a season from half an acre, which is about as much as one person can plant, weed and cut.

How do you price flower bouquets?

Count the stems at what they cost to grow, with your field time, then add the sleeve, arranging time and card fees. In the example, a 15-stem market bouquet costs $9.52 and sells for $20.