Vegetable cost per acre in Kentucky

In today's prices: about $20,394–$21,014 per acre.

• Labor$8,900
• Other inputs$5,830

Staked, trickle-irrigated. The profile rounds total expenses to about $14,980/acre; the $250 difference from the two printed subtotals is not itemized. Price not printed, so no revenue figure is assumed.

Planning budget from University of Kentucky Extension crop budgets (Vegetable and Melon Budgets), summarized in a CCD crop profile. Not a random-sample farm survey. Open the source.

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In today's prices: about $21,100–$21,735 per acre.

• Labor$8,750
• Other inputs$4,815
• Fixed and land$1,035

Fresh market, trickle irrigated. Fixed cost is the printed ~$14,600 total minus the two printed subtotals.

Planning budget from University of Kentucky Extension crop budgets (Vegetable and Melon Budgets), summarized in a CCD crop profile. Not a random-sample farm survey. Open the source.

Open these line items in the calculator →

In today's prices: about $9,969–$10,275 per acre.

• Labor$4,080
• Other inputs$2,215
• Fixed and land$605

Fresh market green cabbage. Fixed cost is the printed ~$6,900 total minus the two printed subtotals. Price not printed.

Planning budget from University of Kentucky Extension crop budgets (Vegetable and Melon Budgets), summarized in a CCD crop profile. Not a random-sample farm survey. Open the source.

Open these line items in the calculator →

In today's prices: about $7,983–$8,240 per acre.

• Labor$3,165
• Other inputs$2,365

Trickle-irrigated plasticulture, mostly fall crop. Fixed cost not printed.

Planning budget from University of Kentucky Extension crop budgets (Vegetable and Melon Budgets), summarized in a CCD crop profile. Not a random-sample farm survey. Open the source.

Open these line items in the calculator →

In today's prices: about $5,184–$5,366 per acre.

• Labor$2,040
• Other inputs$1,200
• Fixed and land$505

Drip-irrigated on black plastic. Fixed cost is the printed ~$3,745 total minus the two printed subtotals. At $0.12/lb this budget loses money.

Planning budget from University of Kentucky Extension crop budgets (Vegetable and Melon Budgets), summarized in a CCD crop profile. Not a random-sample farm survey. Open the source.

Open these line items in the calculator →

$7,527 per acre

All vegetables, melons and potatoes sold in the state, divided by the acres harvested for sale, 2022. This is sales, not cost — compare it with the budgets above.

Source: USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture, Table 1 state highlights (vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes: value of sales / acres harvested for sale, 2022).

University budgets are planning budgets: extension economists price a typical acre from grower panels and dealer quotes. They are not surveys of what farms actually spent. Your own invoices are always better.

Older budgets also show a range in today's prices, using the USDA index of prices farmers pay for supplies (2025 average to August 2026). That index leaves out farm wages, so each budget's labor lines are brought up separately using USDA's farm wage rates (newest annual figure: 2025).

We never fill a gap with another state's budget. If Kentucky has no budget for a crop, the tools show none.

Every figure is transcribed from a published land-grant enterprise budget for that state. These are planning budgets built from grower panels and dealer quotes, not surveys of what farms actually spent — your invoices override them everywhere they exist.