The growth of local food movements offers small farmers economic opportunities to access attractive, high-value markets for sustainably and locally grown leafy greens. Still, farmers face a myriad of decisions regarding what markets to sell into and which technologies to invest in. Access to costs and financial information can hinder farmers’ ability to set the right prices and secure profit margins—an issue that, coupled with increasing input and technology costs, has impacted controlled environment operations in the country.
As consumers demand greater transparency regarding how and where leafy greens are produced, producers commonly invest in biological control technologies and use sustainability labels to convey sustainable farming practices. However, these technologies tend to incur additional costs and risks.
Our team at Purdue Horticulture Business, led by Dr. Ariana Torres, has developed an online tool, HortCalculator, to provide crop- and farm-specific financial analyses to help farmers monitor profit and expenses, plan proper financial management of investments, and judge the risk reduction of an integrated pest management technology compared to its benefits.
HortCalculator will help leafy green growers in several ways:
- Increase recordkeeping with a TurboTax-like Q&A format
- Increase financial knowledge (via guidebook, workshops, and webinars) by mastering profitability, sensitivity, breakeven, BCR, and ROI analyses
- Increase informed decision-making towards leafy greens investments
- Assess the economic feasibility of adopting integrated pest management strategies
- Increase market access for LGs through the setting of profitable pricing strategies based on breakeven analyses
Join Us!
Join us for a series of webinars designed especially for growers cultivating (or considering) leafy greens in high tunnels. These webinars will guide participants using our online tool (HortCalculator), designed to evaluate the economic impact of adopting integrated pest management strategies. Join the mailing list to access upcoming webinars and workshops by signing up using the link below:
Link: https://bit.ly/PurdueHortCalculator
Topics Covered:
- Easy recordkeeping tools for growing leafy greens in high tunnels
- Using an enterprise budget to understand profitability and track performance
- Financial ratios to help your decision-making for high tunnels and other growing technologies
- What beginning farmers need to start growing leafy greens: an economic analysis
- The return on investing in biological controls for leafy greens in high tunnels
- Using the HortCalculator, a tool to assess your farm’s financial resilience
- Making sense of financial ratios from HortCalculator
- Investing in high tunnels using the HortCalculator tool
- Using the HortCalculator tool for an urban farm to sell local leafy greens
The webinars include videos on financial concepts and Q&A sessions with specialists to demonstrate how to use the financial tool.
Registration
Access to webinar videos and participation in the Q&A sessions is free. If you are interested in participating in this project, join the mailing list to access upcoming webinars by signing up using the link below or scanning the QR code in the attached flyer. https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3xhJgHu7XtfJKTQ
Download the flyer HERE
Figure 1. HortCalculator webinar series flyer
Funding
This event and the material are based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2023-70027-40444.