R-Calculator

What will it cost?

Describe your project and the numbers update as you go. Every figure is a South African benchmark you can change, and every price is yours to replace with a supplier quote.

Province

Planted area (m²)

10 000 m² = 1 hectare

Access and slope

Land preparation needed

Per hectare, including a soil test and lime.

Main crop

Second crop (splits the block)

Two crops with different cycle lengths is free insurance against a flooded market.

Production system

Open field no structure No structure. Cheapest to start, most exposed to hail, frost, wind and pests. Shade net, 40% R210/m² Cuts heat stress and hail damage. The best first step up from open field. Plastic tunnel R395/m² Season extension and much better control. Plastic needs replacing every three to four years. Multispan greenhouse R780/m² Full climate control with vents and screens. Serious capital, serious yields. Hydroponic gully R1150/m² For leafy crops. Highest yield per square metre, and no crop survives a long power cut. Hydroponic bag R980/m² For tomato, pepper and cucumber. Coir or perlite in bags with drippers.

Each one is quoted separately with its own bill of materials. Every unit price can be replaced with a real supplier quote.

Item	Qty	Line
Soil moisture probe, three depths Capacitance, buried profile	—	—
Wireless field node and gateway LoRa, solar powered	—	—
Weather station Rain, temperature, humidity, wind	—	—
Irrigation controller, 8 station Programmable, remote capable	—	—
Solenoid valve and fittings 25 mm, latching	—	—
Flow meter Pulse output, 50 mm	—	—
Variable speed drive for pump 5.5 kW rated	—	—
Installation and commissioning Trenching, wiring, calibration	—	—

Item	Qty	Line
Geohydrological siting survey Magnetic and resistivity survey	—	—
Drilling Per metre, 0 to 80 m typical	—	—
Casing and gravel pack uPVC class 9, screened section	—	—
Submersible pump and control box Matched to tested yield	—	—
Rising main, cable and headworks Column pipe, cable, sanitary seal	—	—
Water use registration Department admin	—	—
Yield test and water quality analysis 24 hour test, lab report	—	—

Item	Qty	Line
PV panel, 550 W Tier 1 mono	—	—
Hybrid inverter, 8 kW 48 V, grid-tie with backup	—	—
Lithium battery, 5 kWh LiFePO4, 6000 cycles	—	—
Mounting, DC combiner and cabling Ground mount, surge protection	—	—
Installation and certificate of compliance Registered installer	—	—

Item	Qty	Line
Cold room panel, 3 x 4 x 2.5 m 100 mm PIR sandwich panel	—	—
Refrigeration unit, 5 HP Condensing unit and evaporator	—	—
Door, strip curtain and racking Hinged door, aluminium shelving	—	—
Installation, gas and electrical Pipework, wiring, commissioning	—	—

Item	Qty	Line
Game fence, 1.8 m Bonnox, treated poles	—	—
Gate, frame and locking 3.6 m double gate	—	—
Solar camera and alarm 4G camera, siren, app alerts	—	—
Security signage and lighting Solar floodlights, boards	—	—

Read this. Below about five hectares a custom model almost never pays back. A written irrigation schedule plus weekly scouting gets you most of the benefit for nothing. Take the subscription option and skip the development cost.

Item	Qty	Line
Field camera unit for scouting Fixed pole, solar, 4G upload	—	—
Edge compute device On-site inference, low power	—	—
Season one data capture and labelling Agronomist-supervised logging	—	—
Model development and configuration Training, validation, thresholds	—	—
Integration with irrigation controller API bridge and failsafe logic	—	—
ALTERNATIVE - subscription instead Per hectare per year, no development cost	—	—

If you know what you can spend but not what to build, this works backwards. It tests hundreds of combinations against your province and shows the few that fit — holding back a quarter of your money as working capital, because a project that spends everything on structures dies before harvest.

Money available (R)

Land available (m²)

Water on site already

What matters most

Take it away as a document

A full estimate you can hand to a supplier, a bank or a funder — every cost line, the bill of materials, the risks, and what stands out about the plan. It opens in Word so you can edit it.

Project or farm name

Your phone or email

A planning estimate, not a supplier's binding offer. Get three written quotes before committing to anything above R50 000.

Have it reviewed by a specialist

The calculator does arithmetic on your numbers. It has never seen your site, your soil or your buyer. Tick what you want looked at and it writes the email for you, with the whole plan already in it — then we take it to a specialist and come back to you.

What would you like looked at?

Water source and irrigationWhether the water plan is right, and what it should cost Power and load-sheddingSolar sizing, and what happens to the crop during an outage Crop choice and rotationWhether this crop suits the site, season and market Market and buyersWhere the produce actually goes, and at what price Structure and specificationWhether the tunnel or greenhouse spec matches the wind and hail risk Automation and machine learningWhat is worth automating at this scale, and what is not Funding and cash flowGrant options, and whether the working capital is enough Labour and complianceWage rates, statutory on-costs and what the law requires

Anything else we should know

Your name

Phone or email

Download the estimate first and attach it to the email — that gives the specialist everything in one go.

To start—

Profit / cycle—

Break-even—