See your payback period before you commit
Every MetroFarms unit is a business decision, not a science project. Enter your crop, price, cycles and running costs below — the calculator returns annual yield, revenue, opex, payback period and ROI%, live as you type.
annual profit = revenue − (energy + labour + consumables), then payback = capex ÷ annual profit and ROI% = annual profit ÷ capex × 100. Defaults are indicative Dutch figures — swap in your own numbers for an exact model.
ROI calculator
All figures are indicative and editable — nothing here is a quote.
Annual profit = revenue − opex. Yield-per-cycle, annual energy use and labour hours are indicative assumptions — see The System for the spec they're based on. This is a planning tool, not a quote; book a demo for a site-specific model.
What's baked into the model
| Crop | Yield / cycle* | Typical cycle length | Default price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microgreens | 90 kg* | 12 days | €28.00/kg* |
| Basil & herbs | 180 kg* | 25 days | €9.50/kg* |
| Lettuce & leafy greens | 450 kg* | 30 days | €2.20/kg* |
| Strawberries (vertical) | 220 kg* | 60 days | €6.50/kg* |
*Indicative figures pending our published spec sheet — see Crops & Yields. Fixed assumptions baked into the model: ~42,000 kWh/year indicative container energy use, ~520 labour hours/year (≈10 hrs/week) for an autonomous system, and 8% of revenue for consumables (seeds, nutrients, packaging).
The economics of an autonomous system
Fixed footprint, fixed cycles
One container, one predictable yield-per-cycle by crop — so the maths above scales cleanly from a single cycle to a full year.
Low, predictable labour
IoT/ML automation is designed to need roughly 10 hours a week of operator time, not a full-time grower — a major line-item most field or greenhouse budgets carry.
Crop choice drives ROI
High-value, fast-cycling crops (microgreens, herbs) pay back faster than high-volume, low-price crops at the same energy and labour cost — try both in the calculator.
People also ask
What does the ROI calculator assume?
It uses indicative per-crop yield-per-cycle figures, an indicative annual energy consumption for one container, and an indicative labour-hours-per-year figure for an autonomous system, alongside the price, energy cost, labour cost and capex you enter. All indicative figures are pending our published spec sheet and will vary by site and crop mix.
Why is the default energy cost set for the Netherlands?
MetroFarms is expanding into the Netherlands, so the calculator defaults to an indicative Dutch commercial electricity rate. You can overwrite it with your own local tariff to model a different market.
What if my ROI comes out negative?
A negative ROI simply means your current crop, price and cost assumptions don't cover the container's running costs at that scale — try a higher-value crop, more cycles per year, or book a demo so we can help you model a realistic crop mix for your market.
Bring these numbers to a demo
We'll validate your assumptions against real sensor and yield data from a live unit, and help you build a site-specific economic model.