Abstract
This resource list contains Internet-based sources of enterprise
budgets and production cost information for organic production
of horticultural and agronomic crops and for organic livestock
enterprises.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Enterprise budgets are an important tool for planning and for
ongoing farm financial management. While many producers develop
their own budgets, some producers choose to start with existing
budgets and adjust them for their own enterprises. These budgets
represent only one set of many possible cultural and management
practices, and they do not account for geographic differences.
They serve as a starting point for individual producers to adapt
to their own specific enterprises and situations.
Budgets generally include variable operating costs, fixed costs,
and expected production returns. Labor is under the operating costs
in the two-part system. If costs are divided into three parts,
the third part is labor. Labor is sometimes treated separately
to show a return to labor and management, in addition to a return
over operating costs. This is especially important for enterprises
in which all the labor is supplied by the enterprise’s owner
and the owner’s family, since the owner needs to understand
what his or her labor is being “paid” in terms of returns.
Returns on an enterprise often look attractive, but when calculated
as returns on your labor, may well be below minimum wage. When
returns are not specified as “return to labor and management”,
you should calculate your per-hour returns for your labor and management.
Simply divide returns after costs by the number of hours of labor
that you put into the enterprise. This can clarify whether the
enterprise is worthwhile for you or whether your labor can be put
to more lucrative uses elsewhere.
The budgets and production costs listed below represent many
different enterprises in different parts of North America ; some
are quite recent while others are quite old, but still useful.
If you don’t have access to the Internet, contact Cooperative
Extension for the state listed, or call ATTRA for paper copies
of the budgets you would like to have. In many instances, your
local Cooperative Extension Service specialist for farm management
(typically located in the Agricultural Economics department of
your local land-grant university) should be able to assist or recommend
someone to assist in adapting enterprise budgets to reflect your
individual enterprises, and show you how to use the budgets to
improve your farm financial management. Since resources vary widely
from state to state, no single route exists for local assistance.
For conventional production, the Agricultural Risk Budget Library
at www.agrisk.umn.edu contains budgets for a very wide range of
crops and livestock. In developing a budget for organic production,
in many cases, a budget for conventional cropping or livestock
may be the best starting point. The budget can then be tailored
to specific individual situations, including organic production.
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Transition to Certfied Organic Budgets
British Columbia (2002)
Available
budgets: dairy (fluid milk), spelt, potatoes, oat, apple, sweet
corn, carrots, winter squash, spinach, salad greens, and cauliflower. www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/budgets/specialty_organic.htm
Horticultural Crops: Vegetables
British Columbia (1992-1996)
Available
budgets: garlic, carrots, celery, corn for processing, peas for
processing, whole beans for processing.
www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/budgets/specialty_organic.htm
California (1996)
Available
budgets: processing tomatoes, mixed vegetables. www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/outreach/cost_and_return.php
California , Central Coast (1994)
Available
budgets: cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, garlic, leaf lettuce,
romaine lettuce, red onions, yellow onions, non-staked snap peas,
non-staked snow peas, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, sweet
corn, large variety winter squash, small variety winter squash,
barley cover crop, vetch cover crop.
Included are yield and return
ranges for selected central coast organic vegetable crops, whole
farm annual equipment, investment, and business overhead costs
for a diversified organic vegetable operation, and hourly equipment
costs for a diversified organic vegetable operation. http://vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/topics/prodcosts/organiccosts.html
New Jersey (1996)
Available
budgets: bell pepper, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, leaf lettuce,
yellow onions, pumpkins, sweet corn, fresh market tomato, and
processing tomato. http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~farmmgmt/ne-budgets/organic.html
North Carolina (2002)
Available
budgets: fresh market broccoli, kale, tomatoes, sweet corn, salad
mix, leaf lettuce, peppers, and summer squash.
www.ag-econ.ncsu.edu/AgBudgets/vegetable.htm
Wisconsin (1990)
Potatoes:
brief comparison of costs and returns of organic and conventional
potatoes.
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/archives/1992/10/01/
organic_potatoes_they_can_be_grown_but_can_they_be_profitable/index.php
Horticultural Crops: Fruits and Nuts
California (2003)
Available
budgets: strawberries.
www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cost_return_articles/strawborgcc03.pdf [PDF
64 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
California (2002)
Available
budgets: almonds.
www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cost_return_articles/almondorgvn02.pdf [PDF
3.3 mb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
California (1996)
Available
budgets: almonds, apples, wine grapes, raisins, lemons, oranges,
walnuts.
http://www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/outreach/cost_study.php?archive=1&subject=
New Jersey (1996)
Available
budgets: fresh market apples, mature trees.
http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~farmmgmt/ne-budgets/organic.html
New York (no date)
Available
budgets: strawberries (greenhouse production).
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/faculty/pritts/straw.html
Herbs
Washington State (2003)
Available
budgets: goldenseal.
http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/crops/organicGoldenseal.html
British Columbia (2002)
Available
budgets: calendula, American skullcap, catnip, dandelion root,
lavender, lemon balm, licorice root, nettle, passion flower,
marshmallow root, chamomile, red clover, shepherd's purse, and
yarrow.
www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/budgets/budget_pdf/small_scale/small_scale_Mixed_herb_Win.pdf
[PDF
120 kb] Download
Acrobat Reader
Wisconsin (1999)
Available
budgets: echinacea.
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/archives/2000/01/02/echineacea_as_a_tobacco_crop_alternative/index.php
Agronomic crops
California (1996)
Available
budgets: cotton, rice.
www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/outreach/crop/cost.htm
Illinois (2003)
Available
budgets: food-grade soybeans, food-grade corn.
http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/value/
Illinois (2001)
Available
budgets: pasture (red clover, red mammoth clover, alfalfa, timothy),
cereal rye grain, blue corn, soft red winter wheat, soybean.
www.aces.uiuc.edu/~asap/research/stew_farm/Appendix-rep-02.html#Production%20Buds,%20Conv
Kansas (2003)
Available budgets:
corn, blue corn, sweet corn, wheat, Austrian winter peas, alfalfa,
clover seed. www.kansasruralcenter.org/publications/Organic%20cropping.pdf [PDF
36 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
Michigan (2001)
Available
budgets: grain corn, soybeans, and oats.
Includes downloads
of Excel budgets so you can do your own calculations.
www.aec.msu.edu/agecon/aecreports/budgets01.htm
New Jersey (1996)
Available
production costs: grain corn, silage corn, soybeans, alfalfa
(new seeding), alfalfa (established stand).
http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~farmmgmt/ne-budgets/organic.html
North Dakota (2003)
Available
budgets: spring wheat, durum, feed barley, corn grain, oil sunflower,
confectionery sunflower, soybeans, oats, flax, field peas, millet,
buckwheat, rye, and rotational green manure fallow.
Has an
excellent overview of organic production, crop rotation, and
machinery used in organic production. There are also organic
crop budgets from 2000 available.
www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/agecon/ecguides/2003org.pdf [PDF
156 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
Livestock
British Columbia (2002)
Available
budgets: free-range laying hens.
www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/budgets/budget_pdf/poultry/organic_eggs_2002.pdf
[PDF
44 kb] Download
Acrobat Reader
California (2002)
Production
costs for organic and conventional milk.
http://californiaagriculture.ucop.edu/0205SO/pdfs/orgmilk.pdf [PDF
120 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
Iowa (2003)
Available budgets: pork (two-litter
pasture farrow-to-finish).
www.ipic.iastate.edu/reports/99swinereports/asl-1679.pdf [PDF
28 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
Iowa (2003)
Available cost
information: pork.
www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/livestock/html/b1-80.html
New Jersey (1996)
Available
budgets: dairy goat, spring lamb.
Budgets for dairy goat include
scenarios of production levels of 1500, 1800 or 2100 pounds of
milk per doe.
http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~farmmgmt/ne-budgets/organic/DAIRY-GOAT-1500LB-MILK.HTML
Pennsylvania (1999)
Available
budgets: egg production (small-scale).
http://agalternatives.aers.psu.edu/livestock/small_scale_egg/small_scale_egg.pdf [PDF
44 kb]
Download
Acrobat Reader
By Holly Born
NCAT Agriculture Specialist
August 2004
©NCAT 2004
Edited by Paul Williams
HTML Formatting by J. English
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