Greenhouse Size Planner.
Size a commercial greenhouse from a production target — block count, total covered area, expansion buffer and indicative land requirement.
Greenhouse Size Planner
Size a commercial greenhouse from a production target — block count, total covered area, expansion buffer and indicative land requirement.
Estimate only — not a quotation. Outputs are indicative planning ranges based on the values you enter and typical commercial benchmarks. Real pricing, specifications and lead times vary by country, site conditions and supplier, and are confirmed only in written offers collected through a private RFQ.
Production target
Baseline yield 50 kg/m2/yr
Accounts for turnaround, maintenance and climate limits
Typical 2,500-10,000
Sizing depends on climate, seasonality, contracted offtake and infrastructure — treat as an indicative benchmark for feasibility.
Turn this estimate into a qualified project
SeedMatchGroup is a supplier-neutral, human-led platform. We do not manufacture or resell equipment — we help buyers specify the project, review relevant suppliers privately and compare the written offers received. Supplier participation and timing are not guaranteed.
Send these numbers to the RFQ Builder
The numbers below were calculated with SeedMatchGroup's Greenhouse Size Planner. Indicative — the specialist will confirm scope before contacting suppliers.
11 inputs · assumptions · results
How the area calculation works
- Annual output (kg) = your production target, or people to supply × kg per person per year.
- Usable yield (kg/m²/yr) = the crop's baseline yield × utilisation factor.
- Covered growing area (m²) = annual output ÷ usable yield. Area per person = covered area ÷ people.
- Build area rounds the growing area up to whole blocks; the expansion reserve and an indicative 1.6× land factor add room for paths, water storage, packing and buildings.
Worked example (illustrative): 100,000 people × 10 kg per person = 1,000 t a year. Tomato at the planner's default 50 kg/m² × 85% utilisation = 42.5 kg/m². 1,000,000 kg ÷ 42.5 ≈ 23,500 m² of covered area — about 0.24 m² per person.
The baseline yields are planning defaults, not results for your site. Replace them with your agronomist's or supplier's figure for your crop, climate and system, and use your own consumption figure — this planner does not set dietary or food-security targets. Looking for area per worker instead? Use the greenhouse labour planning calculator. For budget, continue to the greenhouse cost calculator or the commercial greenhouse planning and procurement guide.
Sources and planning assumptions
What it does not cover
- One average annual yield per crop; no cropping calendar, planting density, variety, lighting or climate model.
- The land factor and block size are layout placeholders, not a site plan or zoning check.
- The planner sets no dietary, food-security or market-demand target; the consumption figure is yours.
Sources
- Vegetables; yield and cultivated area per kind of vegetable (table 37738ENG) — Statistics Netherlands (CBS StatLine), 2025 final figures, table modified 12 June 2026.
National production and area under glass in the Netherlands. 2025 production ÷ area gives about 49 kg/m² for tomatoes, 27 kg/m² for sweet peppers and 67 kg/m² for cucumbers — national averages for Dutch production under glass, not figures for other climates, systems or crops.
- Good Agricultural Practices for greenhouse vegetable crops: principles for Mediterranean climate areas (Plant Production and Protection Paper 217) — FAO, 2013.
Shows how far yields depend on climate and technology: a greenhouse tomato yield of 100 t/ha (10 kg/m²) was once considered good, while 300 t/ha (30 kg/m²) is now not unusual for Mediterranean growers after advances in structures, fertigation, cultivars and climate control. It also warns that north-European solutions cannot simply be transposed to other climates.
- Food Balances (2010–2023) — FAO, FAOSTAT, dataset last updated 3 June 2026.
Where to look up a country's food supply quantity in kg per person per year for the "people to supply" mode. The planner does not take any value from this dataset; the 10 kg default is an editable example.
SeedMatch planning assumptions, editable or replaceable: baseline yields of 50 kg/m² (tomato), 25 (sweet pepper) and 60 (cucumber) sit near the Dutch national averages above and therefore reflect Dutch glasshouse conditions; 40 (leafy greens), 7 (strawberry) and 5 (herbs) have no cited source. The 85% utilisation, 5,000 m² block, 50% expansion reserve, 1.6× land factor and 10 kg per person are also SeedMatch assumptions. Use your agronomist's or supplier's yield for your site.
Frequently asked questions
Divide the annual amount each person should receive from the greenhouse (kg per person per year) by the usable yield (kg per m² per year after utilisation). Example with this planner's default tomato assumption: 10 kg per person ÷ (50 kg/m² × 85%) ≈ 0.24 m² of covered area per person, or about 23,500 m² for 100,000 people. The consumption figure is yours to set — from national food-supply statistics or your offtake plan — and the result covers growing area only, not paths, packhouse or land.
No. Area per person served sizes the greenhouse from demand. Area per worker is a staffing question — how many m² one person can manage — and depends on crop, system and automation. Use the greenhouse labour planning calculator for that.
For commercial viability at USD $250K+ investment scale, most projects start at 5,000–10,000 m² of covered area (0.5–1 ha). Below that, fixed costs — climate control, fertigation, packing, labour supervision — do not amortise well. High-tech Venlo projects typically start at 2–5 ha.
Splitting a project into 2,500–5,000 m² blocks lets you phase construction, isolate climate zones, rotate crops, and design so phase 2 and 3 plug into existing utilities without stranded CAPEX.
A 30–50% land buffer around the initial footprint gives room for future greenhouse blocks, water storage, packing halls, energy infrastructure and staff facilities without disrupting existing operations.
Turning this estimate into a request? The greenhouse systems request builder lists what changes a quote — structure, cover, climate and installation scope — and opens a pre-filled request that our team reviews before any supplier is contacted.
Understanding the values
What each choice in this calculator means, and how the options differ in practice.
- Area and layout
- Hectares alone are not a specification. Block dimensions, corridors and packhouse share decide how much of the site actually produces.
- Scenario testing
- Change one assumption at a time and record the effect. The value of the tool is comparing scenarios, not the single first number.
Illustrative project summary
1 ha multi-span tomato house
A new commercial entrant builds a first multi-span block with fertigation, insect screens and a basic climate computer.
1 ha · Multi-span polyhouse · Tomatoes
Indicative full greenhouse project CAPEX
USD 575K – USD 1.56M
Illustration only, not a real project or quotation. This is the structure, equipment and site-works budget for the example greenhouse, not the price of this calculator’s individual system, seeds or inputs, and not a result calculated from your entries. Excludes land, permits, packhouse, financing costs and working capital.
Based on the published commercial greenhouse cost benchmark. Written offers require a private project review; commercial projects start from USD 250K.
What can change the result?
This is a preliminary planning estimate based on the values you entered. The variables below usually move the outcome most, and should be confirmed with an agronomist, engineer and supplier offers before final design.
- Crop and cultivar — water, climate and support requirements differ per crop
- Growing area and layout — hectares alone are not a greenhouse specification
- Local climate: temperature, humidity, radiation and wind exposure
- Growing system (soil, substrate, hydroponic) and plant density
Questions this calculator answers
Typical buyer and investor searches this tool is built for, including the markets where we run the most commercial projects.
- commercial greenhouse construction cost per hectare for a commercial project
- commercial greenhouse construction cost for a 2-hectare project — India
- commercial greenhouse construction cost: indicative planning ranges — Kenya
- commercial greenhouse construction cost benchmarks for investors — Saudi Arabia
- commercial greenhouse construction cost under local market conditions — Mexico
- commercial greenhouse construction cost — what to specify in a supplier RFQ
Method and decision path
How to use this result in a commercial project
Use the result to test scope and compare scenarios. It is not a design, agronomic prescription, financing offer or supplier quotation.
1. Enter site evidence
Replace defaults with measured area, climate, water, energy, crop and commercial assumptions.
2. Test scenarios
Change one assumption at a time and record the effect on capacity, cost, demand or return.
3. Validate the duty
Ask the relevant agronomist, engineer or financial adviser to check the inputs and constraints.
4. Prepare a private RFQ
Carry the confirmed scope into a human-reviewed brief so written offers can be compared on the same basis.
Final specifications, performance, prices, supplier participation and timing depend on the site and written supplier responses; none is guaranteed by this calculator.
Tell us five things and we route your brief
These fields decide which specialist and which suppliers see your request. Nothing is submitted here — your answers are carried into the private RFQ.
The USD 250K project threshold applies to capital projects. Recurring fertilizer programmes are reviewed by shipment size, annual volume and sourcing fit.
A sourcing specialist shortlists reviewed providers for your scope and returns comparable offers. Supplier details stay with us — all communication runs through SeedMatchGroup.
Estimate only: these figures are indicative planning numbers, not a quotation. Final pricing, specifications and lead times come from supplier offers after your brief is reviewed.
Plan the project around the numbers
A calculator output is a starting point. Pair it with the planning guides below to align timeline, irrigation, budget and risk before you launch an RFQ.
One private brief, specialist review, private supplier research and a like-for-like comparison.
Spec gaps, MOQ, delivery, Incoterms and evidence labels for seeds, greenhouses, irrigation, fertilizers and produce.
Month-by-month schedule from concept to first harvest across 9 stages.
Design principles for drip, pivot, fertigation and filtration on commercial projects.
How CAPEX, working capital and operating cost drive the project business case.
The ten most expensive planning and procurement pitfalls — and how to avoid them.
Procurement answers behind these numbers
A model output only holds if the scope, contract route and delivery terms match the assumptions. These reference answers cover the commercial decisions that move the figure.
- Turnkey EPC vs separate equipment packages
- What belongs in a greenhouse equipment specification
- Normal payment milestones in equipment contracts
- Which Incoterms to use for greenhouse and irrigation equipment
- How long a commercial greenhouse takes from order to handover
- What is normally the owner's scope on a greenhouse project
Move greenhouse size planner into a structured RFQ
Editorial · not a sales pitchCalculator outputs are indicative. When your numbers stabilise, a supplier-neutral RFQ turns those estimates into a consistent brief for comparing the written offers that participating suppliers provide.
The facts a complete, supplier-neutral request on this topic includes. Use it as a checklist before submitting.
- Covered area (m² or ha), bay/gutter layout preference and target gutter height
- Site location, altitude and design loads (wind, snow, seismic) if known
- Crop and production system (soil, substrate, hydroponic, nursery)
- Covering choice: polyethylene film, polycarbonate or glass — and expected lifetime
- Climate scope: ventilation, screens, heating, cooling/pad-fan, CO₂, controls
- Irrigation/fertigation scope and water source quality
- Target commissioning date, phasing and budget band (USD $250K+)
- Incoterms, destination port/site and who handles civil works and erection
- Site plan or coordinates with plot dimensions
- Soil/water analysis where available
- Any existing concept drawing, BOQ or previous supplier offer
Opens the RFQ Builder pre-scoped as a greenhouse project so suppliers quote structure, covering, climate and irrigation on the same basis. You stay in control — nothing is submitted until you review and confirm.
Free to submit · supplier-neutral · reviewed by a specialist before any supplier is contacted.
Running these numbers for a client project?
Agronomists, greenhouse and irrigation consultants use this calculator for feasibility, then hand the project to us for supplier shortlisting, RFQ preparation and quote comparison. You stay client-facing and we work through you.
Your client relationship stays with you — we work through you and never contact your client unless you ask.
Indicative only
- This tool is indicative only.
- It is not financial advice.
- It is not agronomic advice.
- It is not engineering design.
- Final numbers require supplier, agronomist, engineer and local regulatory review.
SeedMatch Group is an independent agricultural project sourcing and RFQ platform. We are not a farm, seed producer, fertilizer manufacturer, irrigation manufacturer, greenhouse builder, EPC contractor, lender or financial advisor. Supplier and project partner outreach is handled only after a commercial project brief is reviewed.
Supplier and manufacturer content is provided for research, transparency and discovery only. Buyers submit one project or RFQ to SeedMatch Group; our team validates and organises it, manages any suitable supplier or manufacturer outreach, and presents the responses through SeedMatch. There is no public directory of company identities, automatic matching, direct messaging or direct buyer-supplier contact.