It all started on a plantain farm in Ecuador. Ariana Torres, motivated by the financial challenges of running a small farm in her home country in 2007, decided to pursue graduate school at Purdue University.
Torres’s goal was to develop innovative and accessible marketing and horticulture research-based tools for on-farm applications. She has fulfilled this goal, as an associate professor of horticulture and landscape architecture and agricultural economics at Purdue University.
Her new tool – the HortCalculator – will provide leafy green farmers running small operations in the U.S. Midwest region with the tailored financial information necessary to be profitable and adapt to evolving market trends. These farmers produce single crops like spinach, collard greens and green leaf lettuce, among others. “They often sell direct-to-consumer, at farmer’s markets or restaurants, and have a fast crop rotation,” Torres said.
Modern consumers prefer pesticide-free greens, given the rising industry push for more environmentally friendly produce. On the growers’ side, this push requires investment in alternative methods such as biological control agents, or a use of predator insects to prevent greens from pest damage.
For small operations, financial, labor and capacity constraints make it difficult to conduct market research to assess the feasibility of adopting this type of alternative method. Torres explained, “The HortCalculator will address this barrier to sustainable agriculture, as the first tool of its kind.”
The agricultural economist, and Purdue Extension specialty crops marketing specialist, has been developing the tool with her horticulture and landscape architecture students, Jean Pierre Zavala, a master’s student, and Juliano Marques, a postdoctoral researcher. Currently, the calculator tool lives in a series of spreadsheets.
They are working with BoilerApps to transform these spreadsheets into an online application that features a Q&A format, like Turbo Tax. The application will lead farmers through a series of questions about revenues and expenses associated with growing single crops, including crop yield and technology investments.
The tool will then provide farmers with key indicators such as projected profitability, breakeven and sensitivity analyses and return on investment. These analyses will not only help them determine the economic feasibility of implementing alternative farming technologies, but also improve their record-keeping ability.
Before introducing the HortCalculator tool, Torres and her students will launch an online curriculum to educate leafy green farmers on these measures. They will then host webinars and workshops, offering attendees hands-on training to effectively utilize the calculator tools. The idea is to reach farmers through multiple avenues. Torres also plans to publish the financial curriculum in an Extension guidebook, in English and Spanish.
In the future, she plans to apply for grant funding to expand the HortCalculator into a tool that can capture an entire farm, beyond individual crops. Torres particularly wants to connect with beginning and underserved farmers, to lower barriers to profitable and sustainable farming.
“My mission is to serve others, so this project is very rewarding,” she said.
The HortCalculator app will be live next spring. For updates on the tool and upcoming events, sign up online.
