Market Garden Business Plan, With a First-Year Projection

A market garden business plan sets out what you'll grow on how much land, who buys it, what each way of selling costs and earns, the tools and infrastructure, and the year month by month, which on a vegetable farm means a few months of spending before anything is picked. Selling is split three ways: a CSA, where members pay for a weekly box for the season, a farmers market stall, and weekly orders to restaurants. The CSA is the backbone, because members pay before the season starts. In the example below, a one-acre market garden near Olympia sells 40 CSA shares, a Saturday market and two restaurants, starts making money in May, and ends its first year about $8,600 ahead on $48,200 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for harvest and market hours and a seasonal helper; the grower's own field hours come out of that profit. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the season, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the land, the crops, the CSA, the markets, the goals.
• Cost each way of selling: a CSA box, a market day, a restaurant order.
• The CSA pays up front and leaves the most a dollar of sales; market days leave the least.
• Count harvest, washing and market hours as costs; the grower's field hours come from the profit.
• Plan the cash: three months of spending before the first harvest.
• A walk-in cooler and drip irrigation are the infrastructure that pays first.
• TaroStack keeps the harvest counted and the CSA boxes and orders straight. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Mud Bay Market Garden, a made-up market garden near Olympia, Washington, I use in these examples, writes:

Mud Bay Market Garden grows salad greens, roots, tomatoes, herbs and flowers on one leased acre with drip irrigation and a caterpillar tunnel, for 40 CSA members from June to October, a Saturday farmers market, and two restaurants. In our first year we plan to fill every CSA share and keep both restaurants supplied weekly.

Part 2: what each way of selling costs

A market day sells about $700 but takes a day of harvest and a day at the stall; a CSA box is harvested and packed with the rest in about 15 minutes. That's why a CSA box leaves 64 cents of every dollar and a market day 33. How much a market stall really costs to run is in cost to sell at a farmers market.

Part 3: customers and prices

Forty members at $28 a week for 20 weeks is $22,400 a season, paid in late winter or in two installments, which buys seeds and compost before the first planting. The market finds new members and moves the surplus; restaurants take the greens and herbs the CSA has too much of. How to track what sells at each market is in farmers market sales tracker.

Part 4: the season, month by month

Fixed costs are $1,385 a month, averaged over the year: a seasonal field helper ($800), the land lease ($100), water and irrigation ($80), insurance ($70), market fees ($120), equipment upkeep and fuel ($100), cooler power ($40), the website and CSA software ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Month 1 is January; the first boxes go out in April, and July and August are full speed:

The year's sales are $48,182 and the profit $8,637, on top of $20 an hour for harvest and market hours and the helper. Cash falls to −$5,108 by April in the template, which counts each box's money when it's delivered; in practice CSA payments arrive in February and March, so the members' money covers the spring and the $5,200 of working cash is a cushion. A first year on new ground is a learning year; a second year on the same beds can do better. How to keep the harvest counted is in farm inventory template.

Part 5: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the market garden business plan workbook. Four sheets: your ways of selling with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash, and month 1 set to January; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. Change each month's share to match your season. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Forty crops harvested two or three times a week, a cooler that's full on Friday and empty on Sunday, 40 CSA boxes with substitutions, two restaurants ordering by text, and a market where the surplus has to go. A notebook can't say what's in the cooler, how many pounds of salad mix are promised this week, or which restaurant paid best.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the harvest counted and the CSA boxes and orders straight.

The harvest as stock. Each crop is an item, received from the field by weight or bunch with its harvest date, counted on a phone even at the far end of the field, and units convert: lettuce harvested by the crate, sold by the head. The cooler's stock shows what's oldest, so it goes into the boxes first.

Boxes and orders. The CSA box is a recipe of what goes in it this week, and restaurant orders are sales orders for their delivery day that show whether the greens are in the cooler while you're still typing. The farm and the market stall are sites, with transfers for what goes to the market and what comes back.

And what each outlet earns. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so the CSA, the market and each restaurant can be compared.

Recipes, counting and sales orders are on every plan, from $49 a month; up to three sites, the farm and the market stall included, are 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 market gardening profitable?

It can be, though the first year is lean. In the example, one acre with 40 CSA members, a Saturday market and two restaurants ends the year about $8,600 ahead on $48,200 of sales, after paying for harvest, market hours and a helper.

How much does it cost to start a market garden?

In the example, $19,300 for one leased acre: a walk-behind tractor, drip irrigation, a walk-in cooler, a caterpillar tunnel, tools, a market setup, the first season's seeds and compost, and $5,200 of working cash.

How many CSA members do I need?

Start from what the land can grow and what you need to earn. In the example, 40 members at $28 a week for 20 weeks bring $22,400, paid before the season, and each box leaves about $18 after its costs.

How much can one acre of vegetables make?

In the example, about $48,200 in the first year, from CSA boxes, market days and restaurant orders. A second year on the same beds, with the planting plan settled, can do better.