Cost per acre calculator

Pick your state and crop to start from a published university budget, line by line. Change any number to match your own farm — your numbers replace theirs.

University of Delaware Staked tomato budget — 2026 — University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, 2026. Open the source. 2026 Delaware budget. Variable total shown includes harvest and packing at the expected yield. Printed total $10,493.86/acre. Labor priced at the H-2A wage.

Line items per acre
Fertilizer$266
Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Potassium
Boron
Lime and amendments$33
Lime (prorated over 3 years)
Sulfur
Seed and transplants$2,350
Seed
Transplant Production
Crop protection$309
Herbicide - Devrinol
Herbicide - metribuzin
Herbicide - Gramoxone
Herbicide - Prowl H2O
Insecticide - Sniper
Insecticide - Assail
Insecticide - Radiant
Fungicide - Mancozeb
Fungicide - Kocide
Fungicide - Quintec
Fungicide - Bravo
Water and pumping$311
Irrigation (fixed costs) · fixed
Irrigation (operating costs) · fixed
Labor$5,080
Labor - Planting
Labor - Staking and Tying
Labor - Removing Mulch, Stakes and Twine
Harvest and packing at expected yield
Fuel and machinery$502
Mulch Disposal
Applying Fertilizer Broadcast · fixed
Applying Chemicals Ground · fixed
Hooded Sprayer · fixed
Tillage / Chisel · fixed
Transplant Operation · fixed
Disk & Harrowing · fixed
Laying Mulch · fixed
Lifting Mulch · fixed
Other inputs$1,493
Plastic Mulch
Stakes (4 ft) prorated over 3 years
String
Interest on Variable Costs
Land and overhead$150
Land Charge · fixed
Your totals
Variable cost / acre$9,631
Fixed cost / acre$863
Total cost / acre$10,494
Total for 1 acre$10,494

Sales / acre$11,000
Left after costs / acre$506
Breakeven price$9.54 per 25-lb box

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.

Planning several crops? Use the crop profitability planner. Want profit against your state's real sales figures? Open the profit per acre calculator.

Pooled farmer benchmark: Staked tomato in Delaware

Built from real yield records of Delaware farms that chose to share their data. A figure only appears once 5 or more farms have logged the same crop and season, so no single farm can be identified.

Loading…

Farm in Delaware? Add your records to these benchmarks in Settings → Privacy → Data sharing. It's off unless you turn it on.