Pre-Season Crop Planning Checklist: Get Your Farm Ready for Planting
A successful growing season starts well before the first seed goes into the ground.
Before planting begins, there are seeds to order, fields and beds to assign, soil tests to review, equipment to service, irrigation systems to inspect, and dozens of other details competing for your attention. Missing one of those tasks can turn into an inconvenient and potentially expensive problem once the season gets busy.
A pre-season crop planning checklist helps you work through those decisions while there's still time to make changes.
Whether you grow vegetables for a farmers market, manage several acres of row crops, or operate a diversified farm, use this checklist to review what happened last season and prepare your crops, fields, supplies, equipment, and team for the season ahead.
Best Answer: What Should Be Included in a Pre-Season Crop Planning Checklist?
A pre-season crop planning checklist should cover your crop and variety selections, field or bed assignments, planting dates, seed and supply needs, soil health and amendments, irrigation, equipment maintenance, labor, and important seasonal tasks.
Start by reviewing the previous season, then build your new crop plan using what you learned. Completing these steps before planting begins can help prevent supply shortages, scheduling conflicts, equipment delays, and other avoidable problems during the growing season.
1. Review Last Season
Before deciding what to grow this year, look at what actually happened last year.
Your farm records can help identify which crops and varieties performed well, which struggled, where you experienced production bottlenecks, and whether your harvest matched your original expectations.
Review:
Planned versus actual crop yields
Revenue or sales by crop, if available
Varieties that performed particularly well or poorly
Pest and disease problems
Soil or fertility issues
Weather-related challenges
Labor issues or scheduling problems
Crops you consistently sold out of
Crops that produced more than you could sell or use
Don't assume last year's crop plan should simply become this year's crop plan. Use your records to decide what you want to grow more of, to grow less of, move to another location, replace with another variety, or simply to remove from the plan altogether.
Farm planning tip: Compare your planned yields and revenue with your actual results. Previous harvest and sales records, or a crop yield and revenue tracker, can help identify differences before you build this year's plan.
2. Decide What You're Growing and Where
Once you've reviewed last season, build your crop list for the year ahead. Start with the crops and varieties you plan to grow and estimate how much production you need. Then determine where each crop will be planted.
Your crop plan should account for:
Crops and varieties
Fields, beds, greenhouses, or other growing locations/structures
Available growing space
Crop rotation
Previous crops grown in each location
Known pest or disease issues
Planting and transplanting dates
Succession plantings
Expected harvest dates or windows
Cover crops and fallow periods
Look at the entire growing season rather than just the first planting. A field available in April may already need to be reserved for a succession crop in July, while another may require additional preparation before it's ready to plant.
Mapping those needs ahead of time can help prevent two crops from competing for the same space later. Farmbrite's Crop Plan can help you visualize seed-starting, planting, and expected harvest periods across your growing locations so you can identify potential issues before the season even begins.
3. Calculate and Order Seeds and Supplies
Once you know what you're growing, determine what you'll need to grow it.
Start by checking your existing seed inventory rather than automatically ordering everything again. Record what you already have, check the age and condition of stored seed, and determine whether older seed may need a germination test before you rely on it.
Review:
Seed quantities needed for each crop and variety
Seed already in inventory
Germination rates or seed viability when applicable
Transplants or starts that need to be purchased
Seed-starting mix
Trays, pots, soil blocks, or other propagation supplies
Plant labels and markers
Row cover and hoops
Stakes, trellising, and ties
Mulch or landscape fabric
Other crop-specific supplies
Ordering early gives you more time to deal with unavailable varieties, substitutions, shipping delays, or unexpected price changes. Farmbrite can also estimate the amount of seed needed based on the plantings in your crop plan.
4. Review Soil Health and Amendment Needs
Healthy crops start with knowing what's happening below the surface.
Review existing soil records and test results for each growing area. If you need new soil tests, complete them early enough to receive the results and make necessary adjustments before planting.
Check:
Soil test results
Soil pH
Nutrient levels
Organic matter
Previous fertilizer or amendment applications
Compost needs
Lime or other pH amendments
Crop-specific fertility requirements
Areas with known drainage, compaction, or erosion problems
Keep in mind, some soil amendments need time to work, so waiting until planting day may be too late. Keep a record of what you apply, where you apply it, and why.
Those records can help you evaluate soil changes over time and make better amendment decisions in future seasons.
Farm planning tip: Use a soil health and amendment log to keep test results, applications, and field observations organized by growing area.
5. Check Irrigation and Water Systems
Finding an irrigation problem after crops are already in the ground is rarely convenient.
Inspect your irrigation system before you need it. Run the system where possible and look for damaged components, clogged emitters, leaks, pressure problems, or anything else that needs attention.
Check:
Pumps
Filters
Main lines
Drip lines or drip tape
Emitters and sprinklers
Valves
Timers and controllers
Hoses and fittings
Water storage and availability
Water quality or testing requirements
Consider the irrigation requirements of the crops you're planning as well. Different crops, planting dates, soil types, and growing locations may require different watering schedules.
Making those decisions before planting can help you avoid redesigning an irrigation setup after the season is underway.
6. Inspect and Service Equipment
Planting windows can be short. An equipment breakdown at the wrong time can make them even shorter. Inspect the equipment you'll use for field preparation, planting, cultivation, and harvest before the season begins.
Depending on your operation, that might include:
Tractors and tillers
Planters and seeders
Transplanters
Cultivation equipment
Mowers and sprayers
Hand tools
Harvest equipment
Wash and pack equipment
Complete routine maintenance, replace worn parts, and order spare parts and consumables you're likely to need during the season.
Don't overlook the small stuff. A missing irrigation fitting or broken hand tool can create plenty of frustration on a busy planting morning too.
7. Build Your Seasonal Task and Labor Plan
A crop plan tells you what needs to happen. Your task schedule helps make sure someone actually does it.
Review your planned planting and harvest dates and work backward to identify the tasks required throughout the season.
Greenhouse preparation
Seed starting
Field and bed preparation
Compost or fertilizer applications
Direct seeding
Transplanting
Irrigation setup
Cultivation and weed management
Pest and disease scouting
Crop treatments
Succession plantings
Harvesting
Washing and packing
Cover crop planting
Field cleanup
Look for periods when several labor-intensive activities overlap. Those are the weeks when you may need additional employees, volunteers, contractors, or simply a different schedule.
If you work with a farm team, assign responsibilities before the season begins so everyone knows what needs to happen and when.
8. Put It All Together in One Crop Plan
The final step is bringing all of those decisions together.
Before calling your pre-season crop planning complete, make one final review:
Are all crops and varieties selected?
Does every planting have a location?
Have crop rotations been considered?
Are planting and expected harvest dates recorded?
Are seeds and essential supplies ordered?
Have soil tests and amendment needs been addressed?
Is the irrigation system ready?
Is essential equipment ready?
Are major farm tasks scheduled?
Does everyone involved know their responsibilities?
Most importantly, keep your crop plan somewhere you can actually use it. A crop plan shouldn't disappear into a notebook or spreadsheet that nobody looks at again until next winter. Update it as conditions change throughout the season and record what actually happened. Those records become the starting point for next year's planning.
Farmbrite brings crop planning, planting records, farm tasks, soil information, harvest records, and other farm data together so you can plan the season and compare those plans with what actually happens in the field.
Download the Pre-Season Crop Planning Checklist
Want a simpler way to work through your pre-season planning?
Download our Pre-Season Crop Planning Checklist for a printable list of key tasks to complete before planting begins.
Use it on your own, bring it to a farm planning meeting, or work through it with your crew before the growing season gets busy.
Key Takeaways
A little time spent planning before planting season can save a lot of time once you're in the field. Start with last year's results, decide what you're growing and where, order your seeds and supplies, review soil needs, test irrigation systems, service equipment, and build a realistic task and labor schedule.
Most importantly, keep good records throughout the season. The information you collect this year can help make next year's crop plan more accurate, efficient, and useful.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When should I start planning crops for the next growing season?
Many farms begin crop planning during the winter or several months before their first expected planting date. Starting early gives you time to review last year's records, order seeds, complete soil testing, make equipment repairs, and address other issues before planting begins.
What information do I need to create a crop plan?
At minimum, record the crops and varieties you intend to grow, where they'll be planted, planting dates, quantities or acreage, expected harvest dates, seed requirements, and important production tasks. Previous yield, soil, pest, disease, and sales records can make the plan more useful.
Why should I review last year's farm records before planning?
Your own records show how crops actually performed under the conditions on your farm. Reviewing yields, sales, pest and disease issues, soil information, and production challenges can help you make better decisions about what, where, and how much to plant.
How can crop planning help reduce farm costs?
Planning can help prevent unnecessary seed and supply purchases, identify existing inventory, reduce scheduling conflicts, anticipate labor needs, and catch equipment or irrigation problems before they become urgent. Historical production and sales data can also help you avoid overproducing crops with limited demand.
Can farm management software help with crop planning?
Yes. Farm management software can help organize planting dates, growing locations, crop rotations, seed requirements, tasks, harvest records, and other information used during crop planning. Keeping planning and production records together also makes it easier to compare your original plan with actual results at the end of the season.
