Profitability is personal. Enter the return the owner needs, the surplus the business must earn, the capital available, and the payback period you will accept—then stress-test the yield, price, and cost assumptions on paper.
Editable enterprise budget
Put the farm on paper first
The opening numbers are an illustrative corn example, not a recommendation. Replace every value with a quote, farm record, insurance document, lease term, or deliberately conservative assumption.
Use evidence, not an optimistic single year
Build at least three versions: a conservative case, the most defensible case, and a strong case. Use your own records and written quotes first. For a U.S. reference point, compare the result with AgriAuditor’s USDA crop-cost and break-even report, which explains exactly what the national and regional benchmarks do—and do not—measure.
The USDA Economic Research Service also publishes Commodity Costs and Returns. Local Extension enterprise budgets can be more relevant for machinery, labour, rent, and yield assumptions in a particular region.
What still needs verification
Production: use a multi-year marketable yield, not a trial plot or best season.
Price: match grade, packout, buyer deductions, transport, timing, and contract volume.
Cash timing: check when expenses are paid and when revenue actually arrives.
Risk: model crop failure, price decline, cost inflation, and delayed establishment separately.
It is a plan for one crop or farm enterprise over a stated period. It keeps expected production, price, variable costs, overhead, owner compensation, capital, and required profit visible so an attractive gross margin is not mistaken for a viable business.
Why is owner wage separate from profit?
The owner’s labour has a cost even when no payroll cheque is written. Separating a required owner wage from profit shows whether the enterprise pays for the operator’s work before claiming a surplus.
What does the break-even price include?
It is the sale price required to cover variable costs, overhead, contingency, owner wage, and the profit target you entered, after other enterprise revenue. It uses the yield and area you supplied.
Is the CSV an Excel workbook?
It is an Excel-compatible CSV containing every input and calculated result. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice, but it is not a protected or formula-driven XLSX model.
