Farm Planner - GreenReach

Vertical Farm Planner

Use this planner to estimate equipment needs, climate control requirements, and costs for your indoor farm project. Whether you're upgrading a small grow room or building a new multi-crop facility, this tool will help guide your planning.

How to Complete the Planner

Work through the planner sections in order — each block builds on your previous answers.
For most growers, we recommend selecting the “Standard” option when prompted. This uses proven reference data for typical vertical farm setups.
Only choose “Custom” if you have specific equipment specifications or standards you want to model.
Be as accurate as possible with your room dimensions, insulation details, and equipment type — the more precise, the better your results.
Once complete, review the summary results and recommended actions at the end of the planner.

Sealed Vertical Farm — Sizing (Standard vs Dynamic)

How to use

1) Pick your Crop.
2) Enter Plants or Canopy ft².
3) In Standard, you can set baseline via Use as Standard W/ft².

4) Check efficacy (µmol/J).
5) Click Calculate to compare energy & cooling.
6) See Definitions if anything’s unclear.

How do you want to enter size?

Plants Canopy area (ft²)

Number of plants (all tiers, total)

We’ll estimate canopy from typical crop densities.

Crop

Current AC (tons)

Simple real-world adjustments

Staged/Night lighting
Heavy building / thermal mass

Standard lighting (simple W/ft² baseline)

Standard W/ft² (peak)

Standard efficacy (µmol/J)

Fixture helper

Fixture watts (W)

Coverage (ft²)

Click “Use as Standard W/ft²” to autofill watts ÷ coverage (defaults to 8 ft² per light).

Dynamic lighting (auto recipe from crop)

Dynamic efficacy (µmol/J)

Recipe (from crop)

Dynamic power is computed from PPFD ÷ efficacy ÷ 10.7639.

Air Circulation

Method

Target ACH (air changes/hour)

Room floor area (ft²)

Ceiling height (ft)

Results

Standard (W/ft²)

Peak: — W/ft²

Eff. Avg (staged): — W/ft²

Daily: — kWh/ft²

Room kWh/day: —

Avg cooling: — tons

Peak check: — tons

—

Dynamic (from crop recipe)

EAWD: — W/ft²

Peak: — W/ft²

Daily: — kWh/ft²

Room kWh/day: —

Avg cooling: — tons

Peak check: — tons

—

Air Circulation

Target CFM: —

Small fans (~2,000 CFM): —

Large fans (~10,000 CFM): —

—

Definitions (what each number means)

Standard (W/ft²): simple baseline power density.
Peak (W/ft²): highest instantaneous power density (nameplate).
Eff. Avg: Peak × staging factor (default 0.60).
Daily kWh/ft²: Standard → Eff. Avg × 16 h ÷ 1000. Dynamic → (PPFD ÷ efficacy ÷ 10.7639) × hours ÷ 1000.
EAWD: Effective Average W/ft² from the dynamic recipe (constant PPFD → EAWD = Peak).
Cooling (tons): 1 W ≈ 3.41 BTU/hr; 1 ton = 12,000 BTU/hr.

Assumptions: 1 W ≈ 3.41 BTU/hr; 1 ton = 12,000 BTU/hr. Standard daily energy uses Eff. Avg W/ft² × 16 h. Dynamic daily energy uses (PPFD/efficacy)/10.7639 × recipe hours.

Suggested Equipment (Canada) Auto-fills from Block #1

Equipment-only pricing (CAD), no install

No live data from Block #1 detected.

Crop

Canopy area (ft²)

W/ft² (leave blank for default)

Staged/night lighting?

Heavy building / thermal mass?

Dehumidifiers — Target Capacity & Examples

Target capacity

Suggested configuration

Est. equipment (CAD)

Example models

HVAC / AC — Size Band & Examples

Recommended size

Notes

Est. equipment (CAD)

Example models

Air Circulation — Fan Count & Options

Configuration

CFM goal

Est. equipment (CAD)

Example

Fans move air within the room (not outside ventilation). Pricing excludes controls, wiring, and mounts.

Pricing shown is typical Canadian equipment-only averages. Multiple smaller units are often preferable for redundancy and staging.

Electricity Use & Cost (Canada)

Province rates use Hydro-Québec’s 2024 comparison (1,000 kWh/mo, taxes excluded). Override with a custom price if needed.

Province average price (¢/kWh)

Custom price (¢/kWh)

Standard lighting hours/day

AC runtime (hours/day)

AC efficiency (EER)

Dehumidifier efficiency (PPD per kWh)

Latent handled by dehumidifiers (%)

Fan calculation mode

Fan power per 10,000 CFM (W)

Fan runtime (hours/day)

Max fans (optional cap)

Uses Block #1’s ACH or Velocity and room dimensions when available. If Block #1 is missing, assumes ACH 30, 8 ft height, and floor area = canopy.

No calculator detected. Enter quick inputs:

Crop

Canopy area (ft²)

W/ft² (leave blank for default)

Plants (for per-plant cost)

Staged/night lighting?

Heavy building / thermal mass?

Lighting Energy & Cost — Standard vs Dynamic

—

Standard

kWh/day: —

Cost/day: —

Cost/month: —

Per-plant/month: —

Hours/day: —

Eff. Avg (W/ft²): —

Dynamic

kWh/day: —

Cost/day: —

Cost/month: —

Per-plant/month: —

Hours/day: —

EAWD (W/ft²): —

Savings (Dynamic vs Standard)

kWh/day: —

Cost/day: —

Cost/month: —

Δ Per-plant/month: —

Δ W/ft²: —

Δ Hours/day: —

Daily Energy & Cost — Facility

Component

kWh/day

Cost/day

Notes

Total kWh/day: —

Cost/day: —

Cost/month (30d): —

Cost/year: —

Per-plant/month: —

Per-plant/year: —

Lighting comparison shows lighting-only energy/cost. Facility totals include lighting + AC + dehumidifiers + fans (based on Standard inputs from Block #1 or fallback).

Listening for Block #1…

Site Readiness — Envelope & Room Finish

Choose your current or planned finishes. We’ll score cleanliness, moisture control, and serviceability, then suggest upgrades with simple budgets.

Surfaces

Walls

Ceiling

Floor

Controls & Details

Vapour barrier (walls/ceiling)

Insulation — ceiling

Drains / slope

Door & seams sealing

Envelope score: —/10

Risk: —

Est. upgrade budget: —

Room: —

Surface areas (est): —

Utilities/mo (from Block 3): —

Recommendations

—

Listening for Blocks 1 & 3…

Financial Forecast

Auto-uses your plants & crop (Block 1) and utilities/month (Block 3).

Crop (from Block 1)

Plants (from Block 1)

Estimated grow days (post-germ)

We add 8 days for germ to calculate cycles/month.

Waiting for Blocks 1 & 3…

Pricing & Mix

Retail price (per unit)

Wholesale price (per unit)

Retail / Wholesale mix

Retail: 60% • Wholesale: 40%

Costs

Utilities (monthly)

Waiting for Energy block…

Labour (model)

30 hrs / 4000 plants @ $22/hr (scaled by plants).

Other operating (model)

$0.15 / plant / month.

Blended price (auto)

Revenue & Margin

Units / month: —

Revenue / month: $—

Utilities / month: $—

Labour / month: $—

Other Opex / month: $—

Operating margin / month: $—

Operating margin %: —%

Trace

Item

Value

Units

Notes

Crop

—

From Block 1

Plants

—

count

From Block 1

Grow days (shown)

—

days

Post-germ; greens aero = 26.4

Total cycle

—

days

Grow + 8 days germ

Cycles / month

—

/ 30d

30 / total

Units / month

—

units

Plants × cycles

Blended price

—

$ / unit

Mix × prices

Utilities

—

$ / mo

—