Welcome to the Sod Financial Calculator
The online financial tool is designed to make turfgrass financial assessment easier.
About
The SodCalculator is a HortCalculator module built for sod growers, designed to make turfgrass financial assessment easier through costs and returns, profitability projections, and break-even and sensitivity analyses. Reports include profitability per acre/farm, cost structure, sensitivity analysis, and break-even price and yield analyses. It was developed by the HortBusiness team, led by Dr. Ariana Torres, in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the Department of Agricultural Economics. The calculator is free for anyone in the United States — just enter an email address, answer a few easy questions, and you’re on your way.
What information do you need to gather before starting?
SodCalculator, a module of HortCalculator, works like an interview: we ask easy-to-answer questions about your turfgrass operation, particularly about the inputs and resources used in your general operational procedures, processes, and practices.
Before starting, it helps to have general information on acreage, yield, and selling price by turf species, along with:
- Capital invested in buildings, power equipment, and implements
- Variable costs such as seed, pesticides, fertilizers, and fuel
- Labor costs for full-time and part-time employees, machine operators, and H-2A workers, if applicable
- Fixed and overhead costs such as marketing, taxes, and benefits
You will be able to list the buildings, machinery, and implements used in your turf operation, along with their purchase price and useful life. You will be asked about the cost of inputs such as seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and fuel, and about those in your employment and their salaries. Lastly, we ask about fixed and overhead costs, including communication and advertising, insurance, and employee benefits.
SodCalculator derives from a larger project, “The Purdue Sod Project,” which aimed to fulfill a critical need for diversifying sod production with sustainable turfgrasses. The team was formed by researchers from Purdue University and the University of Minnesota, including Dr. Ariana Torres (torres2@purdue.edu), Dr. Aaron Patton (ajpatton@purdue.edu), and Dr. Eric Watkins (ewatkins@umn.edu). Please do not hesitate to contact them with any inquiry.
This project was funded by the USDA-AMS Multi-State Specialty Crop Program, award number A337-19-SCMP-18-001.