Diversifying crops across seasons enables farmers to generate incomes from multiple sources and reduce vulnerability against extreme weather events and threats that threaten crop production (Meinke et al., 2017).
Goal setting and crop selection must reflect seasonal market trends and local demand. Tracking timelines by week numbers helps target sowing, transplanting and harvesting dates easily.
Planting Dates
Planting dates are an integral component of crop planning, as they determine when a crop will reach maturity and become ready to harvest. A planting calendar must account for its specific requirements such as growth requirements, frost dates and regional weather patterns to provide maximum accuracy in planting dates that avoid stressing, reducing pest pressures and optimizing nutrient use.
An effective crop planning calendar must also address how to time harvests for maximum marketability. Farmers should stay abreast of local market trends and demand periods, to time their harvests at times when customers are most likely to purchase them. It is also crucial that information regarding germination and transplanting requirements for different varieties be included as this varies considerably amongst them.
Crop planning spreadsheets can streamline this process by organizing all planting and harvesting details in one convenient document. Arranging data by week makes it easier to track progress during the season as well as calculate target date math; since many wholesalers operate with week-based systems, tracking harvesting harvests in this way helps farmers work more closely with them.
Crop management software programs that enable farmers to integrate their calendars with weather APIs can make crop scheduling much simpler, providing greater flexibility for responding to climate change. Such a tool could make harvesting times dependent on predicted conditions based on an automatised planting and harvesting schedule that automatically shifts planting and harvesting dates based on predicted weather forecasts, thus providing farmers with greater adaptability when adapting planting/harvesting dates to predicted weather patterns.
Agrivi is one of many crop management software applications that automates planting and harvesting schedules using weather API data, farm information, crop performance predictions based on weather conditions, planting dates adjustments as needed, soil health monitoring, tracking temperature/moisture levels as well as providing recommendations for pest management/watering needs.
Add GDD calculations to a crop planning spreadsheet can further strengthen its effectiveness. GDD measures how much warmth plants need in order to develop, which allows farmers to accurately predict sowing and harvesting dates regardless of regional weather patterns. With such precision in place, farmers can minimize risks while optimizing yields while simultaneously maximizing returns from their crop investments.
Frequency of Plantings
Crop planning is an integral component of market garden management systems. It provides the basis for scheduling deliveries to florists and farmers’ markets or offering CSA shares to customers and DIY brides; recordkeeping systems; organizing seed and transplant inventories.
Organization of data in an accessible spreadsheet makes planning and tracking seasonal harvests much simpler. You’ll be able to calculate easily how many seeds and transplants each crop requires based on its timing, needs, space availability in growing beds, as well as advanced features like germination rates and succession planting numbers.
If you already have a general crop rotation plan in place, the spreadsheet can accommodate that as well. For instance, if an MU has had history with soil-borne diseases, it would make sense to rotate crops of differing susceptibilities on that MU or allow longer between planting of similar diseases crops. A general crop rotation with three to five distinct crops is generally recommended to ensure sustainable agriculture.
Once your MUs and general plan have been determined, it’s time to assign specific crops to individual MUs. Use previous yield records as a gauge for how many plants per acre you can cultivate; or consult Appendix 1’s table on pages 101-103 to help identify adequate quantities for each MU.
As part of your crop rotation plan, it is also important to consider how different crops will interact with each other ecologically and financially. For instance, including legumes in your crop rotation is recommended because this will increase soil nitrogen levels while decreasing the need for fertilizers inputs; conversely corn will remove nitrogen from soil supplies, necessitating additional replenishment via legumes in later rotations.
Spreadsheets become indispensable tools throughout the season as you monitor progress and record actual harvest dates against estimates. They’re also invaluable resources for documenting any issues such as pest pressure or weather changes that might hinder production, while being an invaluable source for planning next year’s crop rotations.
Harvesting Dates
Harvest season can be a tense period for farmers as they rush to bring in all their crops before winter sets in. Proper planning can help minimize delays during this crucial phase and ensure their products reach market in good condition.
An early crop plan can help farmers understand greenhouse and field schedules more clearly, from sowing, transplanting, harvesting dates to sowing again the following week. It is particularly crucial for Community Supported Agriculture farmers who must deliver diverse selections of seasonal vegetables each week of their growing season to their customers.
One of the key elements of a successful harvest season is having enough staff and equipment available to handle its workload, which can often prove challenging in rural areas where labor is limited and costly. Equipment breakdowns also pose a problem; keeping up-to-date with local weather forecasts and climate trends is beneficial in helping predict when bad weather may hit their fields and adjust harvest schedules accordingly.
First step of creating a seasonal crop plan: Determining how many gallons of water will be necessary for washing and disinfecting harvesters/harvesting equipment after each use. Setting an acceptable water quota helps avoid running out of clean water for washing/disinfecting processes while making these operations as effective as possible. Once known, growers can calculate how long it will take them to wash/sanitize all harvesting machines prior to their next use.
Utilizing a spreadsheet can make tracking sowing, transplanting and harvesting dates for each crop easier than ever before. Arranging the data according to week numbers makes succession and rotation management simpler while making coordination with wholesalers much simpler; they often work off this system rather than on calendar dates alone.
Succession Planning
Succession planting is essential if you want to provide your local market with an abundant selection of fresh vegetables throughout the season, and keep yields as high as possible (Good & Good, 2013). Each vegetable has an ideal production lifespan beyond which they begin slowing down and eventually losing their ability to produce new growth (Good & Good 2013). Succession planting allows you to harvest your favorite produce at its prime by stagger sowing dates, transplanting intervals and harvest times so as to optimize yields by taking advantage of each plant’s growing cycle while also optimizing yields (Good & Good 2013).
Succession planting is essential to maintaining healthy garden soil and minimizing synthetic fertilizer use, which can deplete essential soil nutrients and harm crop roots. By interplanting nitrogen-fixing cover crops between each harvest cycle, succession planting helps replenish these levels and keep your garden looking its best for future seasons (Good & Good 2013; Volk 2011).
Attracting maximum yield from your vegetable and herb gardens requires creating a strategic master crop plan, taking into account cultural requirements and varietal characteristics of individual crops. Begin by compiling a list of your desired garden crops this season; consult gardening books, websites and seed packages for important details such as when sowing/transplanting should take place or transplanted dates; harvest dates as well as space needs when sowing/transplanting certain seeds/crops.
Once your master crop plan has been developed, use a spreadsheet in your CSA management system to keep track of important details by including pre-filled columns for key tracking information such as crop name, sowing date, transplant date harvest date and germination rate. Additional fields can be used to record advanced tracking details like growing bed assignments and succession numbers to make informed decisions throughout the season.
As much as creating a farm business plan may seem intimidating, it is absolutely vital for its long-term viability. A plan will enable you to address key farm management issues like transitioning ownership of the farm from generation to generation and protect your estate against unexpected incapacitation or death of family members who play active roles in its daily operation (Dargis 2015).
