Agriculture & Farming health calculator

A farm can have a strong harvest and still fail the operating loan if input costs moved or the off-season cash was already spoken for. This calculator puts revenue per acre, cost of production, break-even price, and debt coverage on one page — the conversation an operating lender already knows.

Who this is for

Crop and livestock operators who can name acres (or units), a year of sales, and a stack of input invoices. It is not a crop-insurance model.

What to enter first

Revenue, acres or production units, input costs (COGS), operating expenses, and debt service. Yield estimates sharpen per-unit break-even. Cash on hand matters between harvests.

Worked example: 220 acres of mixed cash crops

Original example. One crop year.

  • Gross farm revenue: $418,000
  • Acres: 220
  • Seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, hired harvest: $246,000
  • Other operating (repairs, insurance, rent on 40 acres): $71,000
  • Operating line interest + term equipment payments: $48,000 / year
  • Units sold: 18,400 (whatever your unit is — bushels, bags, cwt — keep it consistent)
  1. Revenue per acre = 418,000 ÷ 220 =
  2. Input-to-revenue = 246,000 ÷ 418,000 = 58.9%. A common conversation band for many crop operations sits roughly 45–65%; this year is heavy on inputs.
  3. Cost of production per unit = (246,000 + 71,000) ÷ 18,400 =
  4. If the market offered
  5. NOI proxy before debt ≈ 418,000 − 246,000 − 71,000 =

Do not let a “good DSCR” talk you into selling below cost of production. Per-unit break-even and coverage ratios answer different questions. The page shows both when you enter units and debt.

How to read the results

Revenue per acre is land productivity. Input ratio is cost pressure. Break-even price is the bid you cannot go below without paying for the privilege of farming. Off-season runway is whether January is survivable. DSCR is the lender’s coverage question.

Mistakes that make the math useless

  • Mixing inventory sold this year with production from last year without saying so.
  • Omitting family labor because “we do not pay ourselves.” The break-even is then a hobby.
  • Using list commodity prices instead of the check you actually received (basis, drying, trucking).

When to re-run the check

After input-cost shocks, a new lease, equipment financing, or a crop-mix change. Treat Tier 3 estimates as directional. Wrong-but-honest beats false precision.

Livestock vs. crops?

Use units that match how you sell (head, cwt, dozens). Acres can be pasture acres or left blank if they do not drive the story.