Estimate usable growing area, marketable harvest, gross revenue, and annual revenue per usable square foot from your greenhouse crop plan.
Crop timing and harvest
Sales estimate
Planning assumption: annual results use 365 planned growing days unless you change it in Advanced options. Replace this with your greenhouse operating calendar.
Advanced options
Harvest and calendar assumptions
Table of contents
How to use our Greenhouse Crop Yield, Revenue and Space Productivity Calculator
- Enter the inside length and width of the greenhouse, then enter all aisle, work, and equipment space in "Walkway and service area (sq ft)."
- Enter "Marketable yield (lb per sq ft per crop cycle)" from harvest records or a crop plan, plus the crop and turnaround time.
- Enter "Average selling price ($ per lb)" that matches the same crop, grade, and sales channel as your yield estimate.
- Open Advanced options if needed. Enter plant density to check layout capacity, lower "Marketable share (percent)" only when yield is before losses, and change "Planned growing days per year (days)" for a seasonal schedule.
- Click Calculate, then compare "Annual gross revenue per usable sq ft" between crop plans. Check that usable growing area matches beds or benches and that annual gross revenue is being treated as revenue before costs.
Definitions
Total inside floor area: Inside greenhouse length times inside greenhouse width, before any space is removed.
Usable growing area: Floor area left for this crop after walkway and service space is subtracted.
Marketable yield: Saleable crop weight per usable square foot for one crop cycle. It should match the crop grade and sales channel used for price.
Marketable share: The percent of pre-loss harvest expected to be saleable after culls, damage, and unsold crop. Use 100 percent when the entered yield is already marketable.
Crop cycle: The period the crop occupies the growing area through the harvest point used in the yield estimate.
Turnaround time: Days between crops for removal, cleanup, and reset.
Gross revenue: Estimated sales before production, labor, utility, packaging, overhead, and other costs are subtracted.
Annual gross revenue per usable sq ft: Annual gross revenue divided by usable growing area, used to compare crop plans or layouts of different sizes.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering total floor area instead of only aisles and work zones in "Walkway and service area (sq ft)."
Fix: Enter the measured non-crop space only. The calculator subtracts it from the greenhouse footprint.
Mistake: Using a yield per plant or an annual yield in "Marketable yield (lb per sq ft per crop cycle)."
Fix: Convert the estimate to saleable pounds per usable square foot for one crop cycle before entering it.
Mistake: Reducing "Marketable yield (lb per sq ft per crop cycle)" for culls and also entering less than 100 in "Marketable share (percent)."
Fix: Use a 100 percent marketable share when the yield is already saleable, or apply the share only to a pre-loss yield.
Mistake: Leaving out cleanup and reset time in "Time between crops (days)."
Fix: Include removal, sanitation, reset, and other empty days so "Planned crop cycles per year" is realistic.
Mistake: Treating "Annual gross revenue" as profit.
Fix: Subtract labor, supplies, utilities, packaging, overhead, and other costs in a separate crop budget before making a profit decision.
Mistake: Comparing crops only by "Gross revenue per crop cycle."
Fix: Compare "Annual gross revenue per usable sq ft" when crop cycle lengths or turnaround time differ.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- All results are planning estimates based on the entered layout, yield, price, crop timing, and marketable-share assumptions.
- Annual results use fractional crop cycles. A value such as 5.21 cycles is a planning average and does not promise five completed harvests plus part of another harvest.
- "Annual gross revenue" is not profit. It excludes labor, seed or transplants, nutrients, media, packaging, utilities, repairs, rent, interest, taxes, and overhead.
- The calculator assumes the same usable growing area, yield per square foot, marketable share, and selling price for every planned cycle.
- Plant capacity is shown only when "Plant density (plants per sq ft)" is entered. It rounds down to whole plants and does not change the yield calculation.
- Use a separate crop budget when costs differ by season, crop cycle, sales channel, or greenhouse space and time in use.
Methodology
Calculation method
The calculator first finds the inside floor area and removes aisles and service space. It then applies the per-cycle yield and optional marketable share to usable growing area. Annual production is based on the planned growing days divided by crop cycle length plus time between crops.
total inside floor area = greenhouse inside length * greenhouse inside width
usable growing area = total inside floor area - walkway and service area
marketable harvest per crop cycle = usable growing area * marketable yield * marketable share / 100
planned crop cycles per year = planned growing days per year / (crop cycle length + time between crops)
annual marketable harvest = marketable harvest per crop cycle * planned crop cycles per year
annual gross revenue = annual marketable harvest * average selling price
annual marketable yield per usable sq ft = annual marketable harvest / usable growing area
annual gross revenue per usable sq ft = annual gross revenue / usable growing area
Worked example
A 100 ft by 30 ft greenhouse has 3,000 sq ft of inside floor area. With 600 sq ft of walkway and service area, usable growing area is 2,400 sq ft. A pre-loss yield of 1.5 lb per sq ft per crop cycle and a 90 percent marketable share give 3,240 lb per cycle. With a 60-day crop cycle, 10 turnaround days, and 365 planned growing days, the plan has 5.214 crop cycles per year. Annual marketable harvest is about 16,894 lb, and at $4 per lb, annual gross revenue is about $67,577.
Cost treatment
Gross revenue is kept separate from profit because a crop budget must account for direct and indirect costs, including costs allocated by production space and time in use. [1]
Planning assumptions
A blank marketable share is treated as 100 percent. A blank plant density does not affect yield or revenue and hides plant capacity. Plant capacity, when entered, is usable growing area times plant density, rounded down to a whole plant.