Are microgreens profitable? What farm budgets and studies show
You’ll hear that microgreens earn 80% margins and $2,000 a month from one rack. We went looking for farms that wrote down every cost. A university budget, a farm grant report and a study of two working farms all found a profit. It was smaller than the hype, and the biggest costs weren’t seed or power.
The short answer
- Yes, microgreens can be profitable. After every cost was counted, profit ran about 18 to 35 cents of each sales dollar. MU Extension 2024 Amici 2025
- A University of Missouri budget puts a tray of broccoli microgreens at $46 in sales, $31.64 in costs and $14.36 in profit. Radish clears $5.84. MU Extension 2024
- Labor and packaging cost the most. In two Italian farms, labor was 41 to 46% of all costs and electricity just 3 to 4%. Amici 2025
- A small New Hampshire farm paid back its $2,326 setup in the first year and netted $1,577 growing 12 trays a week. Wilhelm 2021
Are microgreens profitable?
Yes. Every budget and farm study we found showed a profit, at margins nearer 20 to 35% than 80%.
Here’s what happened when each source counted every cost, labor included.
| Source | Setting | What they found | Profit on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| MU Extension 2024 | University planning budget, Missouri, greenhouse shelves under LED lights | Five crops sold at $4 an ounce. Profit per tray ran from $5.84 for radish to $19.45 for cabbage. | 18 to 32% |
| Amici 2025 | Vertical farm, northern Italy, 8 workers, 300,000 trays a year | Each live tray cost €1.55 to grow and sold for €1.95 to restaurants and hotels. | 20.5% |
| Amici 2025 | Family vertical farm, northern Italy, 2 workers, 46,000 trays a year | Each tray cost €2.54 and sold for €3.90. Family labor was counted as a cost. | 34.9% |
| Wilhelm 2021 | Farm grant trial, New Hampshire, converted cold-storage room, winter season | Setup costs could be recovered in year one. Net income was $1,577 at 12 microgreen trays a week. | Not reported |
So the honest answer is “yes, if.” The smaller Italian farm earned the better margin. It sold each tray for twice the price, and two family members did the work.
Why do people say microgreens have 80% margins?
That number counts seed and soil, and almost nothing else.
Seed, growing mix and fertilizer for a tray of broccoli cost $4.11 in the Missouri budget. Against $46 in sales, that leaves 91%. That’s where the big margins you read online come from MU Extension 2024.
But a tray doesn’t sell itself. It needs 15 minutes of someone’s time, a label, a clamshell, a share of marketing, power, a fridge and a rack. Add those, and $14.36 is left. That’s 31%.
So when you see 80%, ask what was left out. Usually it’s your time and the cost of getting the greens to a buyer.
How much profit is in one tray of microgreens?
About $6 to $19 per 10 by 20 inch tray, in the Missouri budget. Crop and yield set where you land.
| Crop | Yield per tray | Sales | All costs | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabbage | 15 oz | $60.00 | $40.55 | $19.45 |
| Broccoli | 11.5 oz | $46.00 | $31.64 | $14.36 |
| Mix | 11.5 oz | $46.00 | $31.80 | $14.20 |
| Pea | 8 oz | $32.00 | $25.42 | $6.58 |
| Radish | 8 oz | $32.00 | $26.16 | $5.84 |
Every crop here sells at the same $4 an ounce, so the ounces decide the profit. Those yields are planning figures, not harvests MU Extension 2024. On a real farm in New Hampshire, three microgreen crops averaged 7.31 ounces a tray, well below a seed company’s trial results. Pea shoots made 17.28 ounces Wilhelm 2021.
What does it cost to grow a tray of microgreens?
About $25 to $41 a tray in the Missouri budget, and most of it goes to selling the tray, not growing it.
Labels, packages and marketing take $18.12 of the $31.64 a broccoli tray costs. Growing it, from seed to electricity, takes $5.31 MU Extension 2024.
The two Italian farms show the same pattern from another angle:
- Labor was the biggest cost. It made up 46% of costs at the larger farm and 41% at the family farm Amici 2025.
- Packaging topped the costs that rise with output. It was 36% of those costs at the larger farm, tied with seed, and 55% at the smaller one. The authors think small farms struggle to buy trays at a good price Amici 2025.
- Seed was a modest line. It came to 6 to 13% of total costs per tray Amici 2025.
In New Hampshire, labor to harvest and pack was the biggest cost that rose with each tray. It took 15 minutes per microgreen tray and 5 per tray of pea shoots Wilhelm 2021. The Missouri budget prices those same 15 minutes at $20 an hour, or $5 a tray MU Extension 2024.
If you don’t pay yourself, that $5 still exists. It just moves off the budget and onto your evenings.
How much does it cost to start a microgreens business?
From about $2,300 for a small room to $4,400 for a budgeted setup with its own cooler. Commercial vertical farms ran past €300,000.
- Small room, $2,326.04. Shelving, lights, a heater, a temperature controller, trays and bottom-watering trays for a 36-tray room. The grower expected to recover it in year one Wilhelm 2021.
- Budgeted setup, $4,384. Twenty heavy trays, a shelf unit, four LED lights, four fans, a cutter and growing space. The single biggest line is the cooler, at $2,500 MU Extension 2024.
- Commercial vertical farms, €300,000 to €320,000. Both Italian farms started at this scale in 2020 Amici 2025.
You’ll often read $600 to $1,000 to start. In the Missouri budget, the rack, lights and trays alone came to $1,250, and the cooler added $2,500. For what cold storage does to shelf life, see the shelf life and storage research hub.
How much does electricity add to the cost of microgreens?
Less than most growers fear. Power came to about $1 a tray in the Missouri budget and 3 to 4% of costs in Italy.
The Missouri budget puts electricity at $0.83 to $1.20 a tray, at 12 cents per kilowatt hour MU Extension 2024. The Italian authors expected energy to be a big cost. It wasn’t Amici 2025.
Light timing can trim it further:
- Light around the clock. At the same daily dose of light, 24-hour lighting cut the electricity cost per gram of microgreens by 8 to 38% across four crops. Amaranth and green basil grew more Lanoue 2022.
- Off-peak hours. Short on-off cycles timed to cheap night rates cut lighting cost by 25 to 45% in a cost model. Yield held steady or rose Shibaeva 2026.
- Two short cycles a day. Eight hours on and four off, twice a day, cut electricity costs by up to 10% with no yield loss Filatov 2022.
These savings depend on your power rates. Time-of-use pricing makes them real. A flat rate makes most of them disappear. For light levels and fixtures, see the microgreens lighting guide.
How much do microgreens sell for, and what makes buyers pay more?
The Missouri budget plans on $4 an ounce. What a buyer will pay comes down to looks, trust and freshness.
- Price. $4 an ounce for every crop in the Missouri budget, set from March 2024 forecasts MU Extension 2024. The Italian farms sold live trays with about 35 grams of greens to restaurants for €1.95 and €3.90 Amici 2025.
- Color. In a survey of 821 Tennessee shoppers, green microgreens were valued above light or dark purple ones Rihn 2024.
- How they’re grown. The same shoppers paid $0.47 to $0.79 more when light was used to raise nutrients. They saw extra fertilizer as riskier Rihn 2024.
- What they hear. Negative information about how microgreens were grown cut what shoppers would pay. Positive information did little Ricks 2023.
- What holds them back. A tasting panel of 99 people liked all six microgreens tested. Cost, access, freshness and not knowing the product kept them from buying Michell 2020.
- Dates on the pack. In a 2021 survey of 660 buyers, 89% looked for a use-by or best-by date Kelley 2025.
For setting your own price, see how to price your microgreens. For crop choice, see the most profitable microgreens to grow and sell.
What the research doesn’t show yet
- Few real books. The Missouri numbers are a planning budget built on stated assumptions. The Italian study covers two farms. Real ledgers from small US growers are hard to find.
- Prices are local. Every price here comes from one state, one country or one buyer type. Yours may differ a lot.
- Unsold trays are missing. The budgets assume every tray sells. None of the sources we found measured waste from trays that didn’t.
- Time to build accounts is uncounted. Finding buyers takes hours that no budget here put a price on.
Key papers to start with
The sources that carry most of the weight on this page. Each title opens the source.
Microgreens planning budget (G693)
Sales, costs and profit per tray for five crops, with a spreadsheet you can fill in.
From seed to profit: a comparative economic study of two Italian vertical farms
Cost per tray, line by line, at two working farms. Labor led and energy trailed.
Exploring the feasibility of growing microgreens in a modified cold storage room
Measured yields, labor minutes and a first-year budget from a small farm.
Continuous lighting can improve yield and reduce energy costs while increasing or maintaining nutritional contents of microgreens
Electricity cost per gram fell 8 to 38% under 24-hour light.
The influence of risk perceptions on consumers’ willingness to pay for nutrient-enhanced microgreens
What 821 shoppers would pay for color, growing method and local origin.
Microgreens: Consumer sensory perception and acceptance of an emerging functional food crop
Six crops tasted, and the barriers that stop people buying.
Newest papers on this topic
- Newest papers load from the research database.
Questions people ask
Can you make money growing microgreens at home?
Yes, on a small scale. A New Hampshire farmer turned an idle cold room into a winter grow room and netted $1,577 a season on a dozen trays a week, after paying back the setup. It’s side income at that size, not a salary.
Which microgreen makes the most money per tray?
In the Missouri budget, cabbage, at $19.45 a tray, since it was assumed to yield 15 ounces. Radish made the least, at $5.84. Your own yields and local prices will reorder that list.
How many trays do you need to make $1,000 a month?
At the budget’s profit of $14.36 for broccoli, about 70 trays a month, or roughly 16 a week. At radish’s $5.84, it would take about 171 trays.
What is a good profit margin for microgreens?
Once labor, packaging and equipment are paid, 18 to 35% of sales is what the sources here found. Margins of 80% or more only count seed, soil and similar supplies.
Is electricity a big expense for indoor microgreens?
Not in the sources we found. A US budget put it near a dollar a tray. At two Italian farms it was a few cents of each dollar spent. Labor cost several times more in each one.
Keep reading
Sources
- Ale, M., & Cabrera-Garcia, J. (2024). Microgreens planning budget (Publication G693). University of Missouri Extension. extension.missouri.edu/publications/g693
- Amici, A. S., Appicciutoli, D., Bentivoglio, D., Staffolani, G., Chiaraluce, G., Mogetta, M., & Finco, A. (2025). From seed to profit: a comparative economic study of two Italian vertical farms. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 9, 1584778. doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1584778
- Wilhelm, J. (2021). Exploring the feasibility of growing microgreens in a modified cold storage room (Final report FNE20-966). Northeast SARE. projects.sare.org/project-reports/fne20-966
- Lanoue, J., St. Louis, S., Little, C., & Hao, X. (2022). Continuous lighting can improve yield and reduce energy costs while increasing or maintaining nutritional contents of microgreens. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, 983222. doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.983222
- Shibaeva, T. G., Rubaeva, A. A., Sherudilo, E. G., Levkin, I. A., Nilova, I. A., & Titov, A. F. (2026). Shortened Light/Dark Cycles Provide Conceptual Basis for Designing Cost-Effective Lighting Regimes for Controlled Environment Horticulture. Russian Journal of Plant Physiology, 73(2), 93. doi.org/10.1134/s1021443725607633
- Filatov, D. A., Vetchinnikov, A. A., Olonina, S. I., & Olonin, I. Y. (2022). Intermittent LED lighting helps reduce energy costs when growing microgreens on vertical controlled environment farms. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 979(1), 012096. doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/979/1/012096
- Michell, K. A., Isweiri, H., Newman, S. E., Bunning, M., Bellows, L. L., Dinges, M. M., Grabos, L. E., Rao, S., Foster, M. T., Heuberger, A. L., Prenni, J. E., Thompson, H. J., Uchanski, M. E., Weir, T. L., & Johnson, S. A. (2020). Microgreens: Consumer sensory perception and acceptance of an emerging functional food crop. Journal of Food Science, 85(4), 926–935. doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.15075
- Ricks, J., Secor, W., & Campbell, B. L. (2023). Consumer Preference for Microgreens in the Presence of LED Lights and Information Treatments. HortScience, 58(3), 327–332. doi.org/10.21273/hortsci16948-22
- Rihn, A., Walters, K., & Bumgarner, N. (2024). The Influence of Risk Perceptions on Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Nutrient-enhanced Microgreens. HortScience, 59(10), 1465–1474. doi.org/10.21273/hortsci17888-24
- Kelley, K. (2025). Marketing microgreens. Penn State Extension. Survey figures from Yeargin et al. (2023), Food Control, 145, 109470. extension.psu.edu/marketing-microgreens
Read the papers yourself
Every paper behind this page sits in the Microgreens World research database. Open any one to read its abstract and go straight to the full text.
Search the costs and economics papersThis page summarizes published budgets and research for education. It is not financial advice and does not predict what you will earn. Costs, prices and yields vary by location, crop and buyer.
