Estimated Equipment Needs for Various Sizes of Vegetable
Farms |
| Scale |
Seed Starting |
Power Source & Tillage |
Direct Seeding |
Production Equipment |
Cultivation |
Harvest |
Post-
harvest Handling |
Delivery |
| 1-3 acres |
Small hoop house, grow lights, planting
trays |
Rototiller or walking tractor, custom work |
Earthway seeder, Cyclone seeder |
Back-pack sprayer, irrigation, tools |
Wheel hoe, hand hoes, digging forks,
spades |
Field knives, hand boxes, buckets, carts |
Bulk tank, canopy, packing containers |
Pickup with topper or van |
| 4-6 acres |
1000 sq. ft. greenhouse, cold frames, field
tunnels, planting trays |
35-40 hp tractor, with creeper gear, power
steering, high clearance |
Planet Jr. plate seeder |
1-row transplanter, irrigation, more tools |
Cultivating tractor (IH Super A or IH 140) |
Potato digger, bed lifter, wagon, more boxes,
buckets |
Roller track conveyor, hand carts, walk-in
cooler |
Cargo van |
| 7-10 acres |
Additional cold frames, planting trays |
40-60 hp tractor, chisel plow, spader |
Stanhay preceision belt seeder with belts |
2-row transplanter, sprayer |
Tool bar implements: beet knives, basket
weeder |
More field crates |
Barrel washer, spinner, pallet jack |
1 ton truck with refrigeration |
| 20+ acres |
2,000 sq. ft. greenhouse |
80 hp tractor with loader bucket and forks,
compost spreader |
Nibex or Monosem seeder |
Irrigation, bed shaper, mulch layer |
Sweeps (Besserides), Buddingh finger weeders,
flame weeder, potato hiller, 2nd cultivating tractor |
Asa lift, harvest wagon |
Wash line, larger cooler, packing shed and
loading dock |
Refrigerated truck |
Reprinted from ATTRA
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