Farm Economic Analysis

Published Feb 4, 2001

This has been our second season using Washburn’s economic analysis tool with our data. This tool was shared in a 1998 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference Workshop. The workshop was presented by two farms – Spring Hill Farm and Common Harvest (identified as SHF and CH, respectively, in the charts below). These two farms’ data provide us benchmarks for comparing to our own data from One Step at a Time Gardens (OSTG in the charts below). Both SHF and CH farms serve larger population centers, are larger scale (SHF data was based on farming 3.5 acres and CH, 7 acres), and have a longer history of operation than our own farm. Our OSTG farm is located in a very rural part of northcentral Iowa, we farm 1.5 acres, serve 33 CSA families and two small farmers markets. The 2001 season will be our sixth