DeepSeeded’s Year-1 Financial Picture

In keeping with the theme of this week’s Freshman Farmer Blog postings, I want to share with you a picture of DeepSeeded Farm’s financials.  It’s a lot of information to portray in a short posting, so I’ve attached a spreadsheet to provide more detail (on next page).  In short, however, I’ll summarize costs and revenues below.

Funding:

$33,000 - Eddie’s Savings

$25,000 - Economic Fuel Competition Prize Money

$45,000 - 5-year infrastructure loan from California Coastal RDC

$11,000 - 1-year operating loan from California Coastal RDC

$9,500   - Fixed rate credit card debt

$5,000   - Private Loan

Total Capitalization: $128,500

Start-up Costs:

$33,100 - Farm Buildings (CSA distribution shed, tool/packing shed, greenhouses, etc

$27,700 - Leashold Improvements (Irrigation Pump & Hook-up, Fencing, Road Gravel)

$49,200 - Equipment and Supplies (Tractor, Implements, Irrigation parts, Hand Tools, Misc.)

Total: $110,000

Annual Costs:

$41,900 - 2008-09 Cost of Goods Sold (Labor, Seeds, Fertilizers, etc.)

$23,600 - 2008-09 Fixed Expenses (Rent, Fuel, Loan Interest, Licenses, Vehicle Registration, Equipment Repair, etc.)

Total: $65,500

Annual Revenues (Though the year is not up, the farm is on track to meet or exceed these revenue goals):

$56,200 - Main-season CSA

$14,400 - Wintertime CSA

$9,400 - Farmer’s Market Sales

$1,000 - Restaurant Sales

Total: $81,000

What all this means is that the farm is making enough money to cover it’s costs & make loan repayments, but not pay me much at all.  Even as soon as next year, however, this picture should begin to change.  In the longer term, I feel confident that this farm will provide me with a good income ...enough to allow me to keep doing the work I love to do!

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