Market Garden Crop Plan and Yield Projection

Start by using conservative, industry-standard yields for bio-intensive systems, such as Jean-Martin Fortier's benchmarks, and reduce those numbers by twenty percent for your first year. This buffer accounts for the natural learning curve of your soil's unique drainage, nutrient levels, and weed pressure. As you gather actual harvest data throughout the season, you can adjust your projection models for year two.

The standard industry benchmark is a bed that is thirty inches wide and either fifty or one hundred feet long, with twelve-to-eighteen-inch pathways. This standardized sizing allows you to easily calculate seed requirements, fertilizer applications, and row cover lengths across your entire farm. It also matches standard walk-behind tractors and hand tools, saving you immense physical labor and calculation time.

For a continuous harvest from spring to fall, plan to sow quick-growing salad greens and radishes every seven to ten days. For slower-maturing crops like carrots or head lettuce, a two-to-three-week planting interval is ideal. This steady rotation ensures you have a consistent supply for weekly farmers' markets or CSA shares without experiencing sudden harvest gluts.

Yes, a professional crop plan paired with a detailed revenue projection serves as a core component of your farm's business plan for lenders and grant committees. It proves to financial institutions that you understand your operational capacity, market prices, and expected profit margins. Providing a clean, data-backed plan demonstrates high professional competence and significantly increases your chances of funding.