Budget Grant-ready Farm-in-a-Box

Farm-in-a-Box Project Budget Calculator

Build a project budget (capex + opex), estimate cost per lb and cost per serving, and generate a simple funding gap summary for sponsors and grant applications.

Inputs

Production assumptions
Total pounds grown per year.
Default 0.50 lb per serving.

CAPEX (one-time)
Enter estimates per project. Use $0 for items you don’t need.
Infrastructure (beds/containers, irrigation, shade)
Tools & equipment (hand tools, storage, basic processing)
Water system (tank, pump, filtration)
Site prep (grading, fencing, access)
Training & launch (setup + initial training)

OPEX (recurring)
Monthly costs (we annualize).
Labor / stipends (monthly)
Inputs (seed, soil/compost, amendments) (monthly)
Water / power / fuel (monthly)
Maintenance & replacement (monthly)
Distribution (transport, cold storage, packaging) (monthly)

Funding
Pledges, grants, sponsor commitments.
For annualized cost per lb.
Use case: paste the copied summary into a grant narrative. It gives cost per lb, cost per serving, annual budget, and funding gap in one paragraph.

Results

CAPEX + annual OPEX; optional annualized CAPEX for cost per lb.
Total CAPEX
Annual OPEX
Annual budget (OPEX + amortized CAPEX)

Cost per lb (annualized)
Cost per serving
Funding gap (CAPEX + first-year OPEX)

Budget breakdown

Category Annual
CAPEX (one-time)
OPEX (annual)
Amortized CAPEX
Total annual budget
 servings/year  $/lb CAPEX (amortized)

How we calculate

  • Total CAPEX sums one-time installation costs.
  • Annual OPEX = monthly recurring costs × 12.
  • Amortized CAPEX = CAPEX ÷ amortization years (for annualized cost comparisons).
  • Cost per lb = (Annual OPEX + Amortized CAPEX) ÷ annual lbs.
  • Cost per serving = cost per lb × lbs per serving.
  • Funding gap = (CAPEX + first-year OPEX) − funding secured.