Greenhouse, Indoor Farming & Agri-Processing worked example

Harvest Labor Forecast at 65% crew attendance and on-task share: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop crew attendance and on-task share to 65%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Forecast harvested pounds per shift for a leafy green, herb, tomato, or strawberry crew from per-picker pick rate, available picker-hours, attendance, and post-harvest packout so production can confirm a daily order can be filled.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Pick rate per picker-hour: 40 lb / picker-hour (held at the documented default)
  • Scheduled picker-hours: 96 picker-hours (held at the documented default)
  • Crew attendance and on-task share: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • Packhouse packout from cut weight: 88 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross harvested weight = pick rate per picker-hour × scheduled picker-hours.
  • Saleable harvest forecast works out to 2,196 lb at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross harvested weight works out to 3,840 lb at these inputs.
  • Attendance and on-task loss works out to 1,344 lb at these inputs.
  • Trim and packout loss works out to 300 lb at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where crew attendance and on-task share sits at 90% and the headline result is 3,041 lb, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 2,196 lb.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to crew attendance and on-task share, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It applies single average percentages for attendance and packout, so it does not capture per-worker speed variation, fatigue over a long shift, or crop quality swings that change packout day to day.

Results at a glance

  • Saleable harvest forecast: 2,196 lb (headline result)
  • Gross harvested weight: 3,840 lb
  • Attendance and on-task loss: 1,344 lb
  • Trim and packout loss: 300 lb

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Harvest Labor Forecast calculator, set crew attendance and on-task share to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.