GoFarm Hawaii

GoFarm Hawaii

What is your production plan?

A production plan is an essential planning tool for farmers.  Developing a production plan can help you plan for/determine the following:

  • Harvest yield and duration
    • Depending on your customer needs, you may need to plan for steady production (i.e. a specific number of pounds every week). A production plan can help you determine how much to plant every week in order to ensure that you have enough product for your customers.
    • Knowing your expected harvest yield allows you to plan for sales and marketing efforts.
  • Placement of crops you plan to grow and rotation (if any)
    • Planning can help you determine rotations, fallow periods, and capacity.
  • Timing for inputs
    • The plan can help you determine when you need to purchase inputs and how much money you will need.
  • Planning for tasks and labor requirements
    • Planning can help you focus on specific activities and determine labor needs. This will allow you to plan for extra help at certain times.
  • Revenue projections and cash flow impact
    • Knowing your expected harvest can help you estimate when you have the potential to earn money.
    • Refer to the Developing a Cash Flow Projection Section
  • Cost projections and cash flow impact
    • Knowing your activities can help you estimate when you need to purchase supplies and inputs and will help you plan for expenses.
    • Refer to the Developing a Cash Flow Projection Section

The production plan is a planning tool – it will never be 100% accurate.  However, it will allow you to plan activities, labor hours, input requirements, costs, yields, and revenues.  The more experience you get, the better your estimates will become.  To get information for a production plan, many farmers will:

  • Use prior data
  • Research using online resources from university publications and seed producers/suppliers
  • Ask others
  • Use a best guess estimate

Before You Start

You should know the following before developing a production plan:

  • What do you plan to grow?
    • Ensure there is a demand/market for the crop you are planning.
    • Realize that more crops will lead to a more complex production plan.
  • Who do you plan to sell to and do you need to grow a specific amount to achieve your financial or production goals?
    • Who is your market and what kind of consistency is required (i.e. when you sell at the Farmers’ Market, you can take what you have when you have it; if selling to certain restaurants or wholesale accounts, they may rely on a consistent supply.)
    • Are you committed or wanting to achieve a specific volume?
    • Are you growing for market or planning to market what you grow?
  • What are your land and growing restrictions?
    • How does land size, condition, location, season, etc. impact your plan?
  • How much money will you make?
    • Do a high-level financial and market analysis to validate your business idea and goals.
    • Refer to Determine Financial Feasibility Section
  • What kind of production schedule makes sense for your business and personal needs?
    • Will you take a break during certain times of the year?

Production plans can be simple, very detailed, manual or computerized.  Determine the data points that are important, the best data collection method for you.  Some farmers write everything down on a piece of paper and input it into a spreadsheet, some document photos and notes on their phones, and some use online applications (see the additional resources at the end of this section).

The following is a simple example to help conceptualize the process. For ease, all crops are assuming plantings of 100 bed feet.

Design or Document Your Field Map

What is the shape or dimensions of your plot, how many beds will you have and what is the length of each bed?  Your farm size, type of selected crops, placement of long term crops, and infrastructure may factor into your layout.

For this example, the plot size reflects a 10,000 square foot growing area with 24 100’ beds.  Each bed is 3’ wide with 1.5’ spacing in between:

field map

Document Information for Each Crop You Plan to Grow

Document the information you want to track for each crop you plan to grow.  This may include the number of plants/bed, general activity, labor hours, inputs, and yields.  Based on the types of crops and level of activity, you can do this by week or by month.  For example:

Salad mix 2 bush beans 2

In the example above, non-harvest weeks in the field are reflected in a lighter color and harvest weeks are reflected in a darker color.

Some crops may also require non-field, nursery time (reflected below in the lightest color):

bunching greens 2

Document a Production Plan

Based on your crops needs, schedule when crop will be planted and harvested.  Consider the following as you plan:

  • Think about consistency or CSA needs.
  • Seasonality of crops.
  • Need for rotations and your plan to cover crop in certain areas.
  • Do the crops you are growing require a rotation?
  • Think about breaks in production. Do you plan to grow year round or take breaks/vacation?

The following reflects an example of a detailed production plan.  The crop, the type of activity, labor, and harvest expected is shown by week and by bed:

Det Crop Plan

The following reflects crop and expected harvest by week and by bed.  The darker colors show where harvest is expected.

Full crop plan

Documenting a crop plan can help you:

  • Calculate harvest yields per week.
  • Plan production so you will have enough product to satisfy your customer needs.
  • Determine if you will need to identify additional customers in weeks where supply exceeds regular customer demand.
  • Notify customer early when you won’t have enough product to satisfy their needs
  • Calculate labor hours per week.
  • Determine upcoming activities.
  • Determine if you can manage all labor and activities on my own or will I need to get assistance.
  • Determine the amount of crop inputs (i.e. seeds, fertilizer) you will need and when you will need to purchase them.

Additional Resources for Developing Your Production Plan

Developing a production plan should be an ongoing farm activity.  Explore some of the following resources to determine which tools can help you get started:

Online/Electronic-Based Tools

Other Resources