Why crop planning is paramount for success

If you don’t know where you are going, how will you ever get there? This is precisely why crop planning is one of the most important success factors for greenhouse farmers.

Crop planning involves creating a program for your greenhouse before the start of the season.

This includes the number of plants, the expected weather and sunlight, and your forecasts for growth and production.

While some farmers say unpredictable weather makes crop planning irrelevant, they are completely wrong. Read on to learn why.

The value of a good crop plan

In farming, what’s more important: total yield or consistency? If you said total yield, then you haven’t thought about your customers—the distributors that are purchasing your crops and selling them to consumers. Your customers are not looking for the highest yield, they are looking for a consistent supplier who can supply them a steady stream of quality crops week after week.
If your focus is on total yield, you might oversupply one week, and then undersupply the next. When this happens, distributors may not want to buy your oversupply, leading you to scramble if you want to sell your crops instead of wasting them. When you undersupply, distributors must source from other sellers. This inconsistency, in turn, can lead to price volatility for your crops.
A good crop plan helps farmers achieve consistent production. When you plan at the beginning of the season, you have a good idea of how to allot your resources and labor workforce, and can make educated predictions about growth and yield. Your customers love this. They rely on your forecasts to help them make their own business decisions. When you provide this reliability and stability to customers, you create long-term relationships that will continue to support your greenhouse season and after season. All of this starts with crop planning.

What a crop plan means in daily operations

A crop plan makes a farmer more proactive rather than reactive. Farmers with successful crop plans are more aware of what is happening in their greenhouse and can plan ahead. They use the plan to figure out if they need to order new accessories or equipment, how to organize their workforce, and to control production.
The plan also helps farmers understand if they are on track according to forecasts. If something is not going to plan, adjustments can be made early on so that there are no surprises at the end of the season.
To effectuate a good crop plan, you also need to analyze crop registration. Your plan includes your expected registration, including growth speed, pollination, fruit development, leaf length, and other indicators of plant health. Throughout your season, you will measure and analyze crop registration and compare it to your projections. If you are on target, great job! If your growth is behind or ahead, see what adjustments can be made to ensure optimal production.
For example, if your plants are growing better than expected due to optimal lighting and weather conditions, you might need to adjust forecasts for additional production. Maybe you need to find more laborers or even more customers for your additional crops. On the other hand, if growth is behind schedule, find out why and see what can be done to provide your plants with additional support. The earlier you obtain these insights, the better equipped you’ll be to make any necessary pivots.

What to include in a crop plan

Your crop plan includes all the different parameters that affect plant growth. Here are several items:

• Number of plants: This helps you understand spacing in your greenhouse and is the basic data point for expected growth.
• Expected light: Light significantly affects growth. The number of daylight hours or any artificial light will impact your forecasts.
• Expected growth speed: You can benchmark this from previous seasons or from what other farmers in your climate experience.
• Pollination speed: This is based on plant variety and environmental conditions.
• Forecasts: You should include weekly production forecasts for at least six to eight weeks.

Each crop variety needs its own plan. If you’re growing five tomato varieties, you’ll create five different plans.

Planning for success

A crop plan is your guideline for measuring the development of your crops. Once you’ve effectuated crop planning over several seasons, you’ll have more data and benchmarks to improve future planning. This is the foundation for operating a successful greenhouse business.

You’ll find that having a plan improves the overall quality of your production while strengthening your relationships with your customers. The more customers rely on and appreciate you, the more successful you will be.

The best production is stable and reliable. Just ask your customers.