Southwest British Columbia
Small-Scale Farm Enterprise Budget:
Carrot
Technical Bulletin 2015-014
Institute for Sustainable Food Systems
kpu.ca/isfs
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Ermias Afeworki, Wallapak Polasub, Caroline Chiu and Kent Mullinix
This enterprise budget presents costs and returns for a 0.5 acre of carrots grown on a small-scale mixed
vegetable farm in southwest British Columbia, Canada. The sample values are typical of small-scale root crop
production using low-input growing methods and selling directly to consumers through venues such as
farmers’ markets. These values were derived from data gathering sessions with representative farmers from
the region, but do not represent any particular farm, and should be used only as a guide. The actual costs of
production may vary from farm to farm depending on production method and scale, machinery use and other
input costs. This budget is also available as a dynamic MS Excel spreadsheet to facilitate more detailed
planning for your own operation. Please refer to the “Institute for Sustainable Food Systems Enterprise Budget
User Guide for assistance in tailoring the spreadsheet to your own farm.
Assumptions:
1) The carrot crop area is half an acre, consisting of 54 beds, each measuring 4’ x 100’ (400 square feet
per bed) grown on a small-scale mixed-vegetable farm.
2) Carrot takes three months from seed to harvestable maturity.
3) An annual land rent of $400 per acre is included in overhead charges.
4) Physical farm labourers (regular labour) are paid $12 per hour.
5) Equipment operators (operator labour) are paid $15 per hour.
6) The proportion of sales of carrot to the total annual sales of 20 crops, grown on a 3.85-acre mixed
vegetable farm, is used to allocate marketing costs to the carrot enterprise.
7) The proportion of the farm’s total cultivated acreage used to grow carrots is used to allocate fixed
costs to the carrot enterprise.
8) Fuel cost is $1.30 per liter.
9) The interest rate is fixed at 5%.
10) The annual fixed cost is estimated using the straight-line depreciation method.
11) Management time is not included as a cost. The net return over total cost may be considered as the
return to management time.
ANNUAL FIXED COST
Item $ per $ per
0.5 acre 100' bed
Machinery
Tractor 224.03 4.15
Rototiller 47.62 0.88
Discer 22.73 0.42
Manure spreader 64.94 1.20
Van (for delivery) 285.71 5.29
Pick-up truck (for farming 95.24 1.76
operations)
Equipment and tools 321.32 5.95
Irrigation 183.73 3.40
Building 195.89 3.63
Overhead charges
Land rent 210.00 3.89
Soil test 13.64 0.25
Farm liability insurance 81.82 1.52
Motor vehicle insurance 279.55 5.18
Office expenses 136.36 2.53
Electricity 95.45 1.77
Water 136.36 2.53
Telephone and internet 68.18 1.26
Bookkeeping fees 818.18 15.15
Professional fees (accountant, 95.45 1.77
lawyers, etc.)
TOTAL ANNUAL FIXED COST 3,376.20 62.52
TOTAL COST $ per $ per
0.5 acre 100' bed
TOTAL FIXEDL AND VARIABLE COST 10,042.88 185.98
NET RETURNS
$ per $ per
Item
0.5 acre 100' bed
Returns over Variable Cost 13,333.31 246.91
Returns over Fixed Cost 16,623.80 307.85
Returns over Total Cost 9,957.12 184.39
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