KPIs for Farms and Agriculture Businesses
These are the KPIs a farm or agricultural business tracks for yield, cost and margin per crop or animal. Seasonal timing means comparisons need the same point in each cycle.
The KPIs to track
Yield per hectare
The quantity harvested divided by the area planted.
Cost of production per hectare
Total costs of seed, fertiliser, labour, fuel and machinery for a crop divided by its area.
Gross margin per crop
Crop revenue minus its directly attributable costs, often shown per hectare.
Input cost per unit of output
The cost of inputs divided by the quantity produced, such as fertiliser cost per tonne harvested.
Feed conversion ratio
The weight of feed given divided by the weight gained by livestock.
Stock mortality rate
Animals lost divided by animals held in the period.
Inventory turnover shows how many times a business sells and replaces its stock in a period.
Formula and SQL query on the Inventory Turnover page.
Working capital is current assets minus current liabilities: the short-term resources available to run the business.
Formula and SQL query on the Working Capital page.
Where the data usually lives
Farm management software, machinery and weather logs, supplier invoices, sales records and the accounting system.
Measurement mistakes to avoid
- Compare the same crop and the same stage of the season; a harvest and a planting month are not comparable.
- Allocated overheads can hide which crop earns money; show margin before and after them.
- Weather swings year to year mean one season is a weak guide to the next.
Questions to ask your data
You can type these as plain questions. SchemaChat turns each one into SQL against your connected database or uploaded file, runs it, and shows the SQL and the figures it used so you can check the answer before you share it. Check that the result matches how your business defines each KPI.
- What was gross margin per hectare by crop this season?
- How did yield per hectare change compared with last year?
- What is our feed cost per kilogram of weight gain?
- Which fields had the highest input costs?