Main Farm Production Flowchart

Graphic by Pálfi László.

1 - Fields Fields are the foundation for your farming supply chain. They produce crops (wildflowers, corn, cabbage, wheat, dandelions, lettuce and barley) to be turned into animal feed at the mill, fill a few market contracts or be sold in the barn. There are also events and co-op projects that require collection of crops to fulfill tasks.

Fields will produce more product per run with each level upgraded. Two key levels are 5 because there is a significant bump in wheat and 8 because fields begin to produce flower nectar.

Fertile fields produce 50% more product and are purchased/upgraded with gold. They are cheap to start and get expensive as they level up. A level 1 will cost less than a penny (easy to purchase with gold awarded for leveling up), a level 5 is $5 USD, level 8 is $16 USD and level 10 is $ 39 USD.

6 level 6 fields with 2 level 6 mills will produce feed for 20 stables and carry you to player level 100, so you don't "need" to upgrade them. Anything above that will allow you to build up a surplus of feed, which is wise.

At player level 68 you will want to have 2-4 level 8 fields to produce flower nectar for flower honey. The fields produce nectar much faster then the beehive will ever process it, so you don't need to spend mallets to upgrade all your fields.

The final thing to consider is that using a field to group and sell crops for cash is a horrible return on 15+ workers and 54 units of land. If you want maximum income potential, you want the least number of fields to keep your mills full.

Fields are planted by selecting the field, selecting the crop and hitting the hammer. Additional crops and seed options can be found by scrolling the seeds across. Premium seeds can be bought with loyalty points, purchased (packages or rewards) or awarded from the balloon, dog bones and tasks. They offer slightly higher produce, higher experience and are free to plant.

2 - Crops Crops are primarily used to make animal feed, although some contracts and cafe recipes will ask for crops.

3 - Mill The mill is used to turn crops into animal feed. As you upgrade the mill, 3 things happen. First, it lowers the amount of product required to make a bag (10 actually) of feed; this impact is minimal. Second, it decreases the time required to mill the feed. This has a significant impact on improving performance. Last, it increases the number of bags that can be milled at once.

Early on, it is OK to have a lower level mill sized to make cow feed overnight when time doesn't matter. Your higher level mill should be used for other feed overnight (duck is usually best) because the extra bags capacity will keep the mill running longer into the night. The mills have a sweet spot at level 6 for maximum efficiency. Higher level mills are nice for stockpiling feed (especially chicken).

4 - Feed Feed is primarily produced by the mill. Making and using regular feed has a cash cost that is affected by happiness. Premium feed is free and gives extra experience. Super feed is free and gives 25% more produce (does not include library book bonus), and extra experience. Seaweed feed is the same as super feed, but is harvested instantly. Premium feed can be bought from the shopping cart with loyalty points. Premium and super can be bought in the barn with gold. Premium, super and seaweed feed can be awarded from dog bones. the balloon, tournament stages and theme events. Feed can also be bought for $$$ via packages.

5 - Stables Your stables produce livestock and animal products that are primarily sold at the market. Their collection count (you keep the product) can also be credited towards co-op projects and weekly theme tasks. More importantly, they produce dung needed to make fertilizer. As you upgrade your stables, they produce more and are most efficient at levels 1 and 6. It can be wise to skip upgrading to level 7 and above till material requirements become the hold up on expansions and farm cash is no longer in shortage (around player level 130 to 140).

There are special stables: free range that builds with purple tickets and adventure stables that build with adventure coins. These buildings give 20% more product and 10% more dung. Special building materials can be very hard to acquire. Often, by player level 60 or 70 you will regret having them because you can't upgrade them and regular stables out perform them. Wisdom is to pick one adventure stable and one free range stable to focus on or use them as temporary buildings

When you select a stable, you can select which feed you want to use.

6 - Dung Produced from the stables and used to make fertilizer. Dung production is one of the largest bottle necks in the game.

7 - Silo The silo turns dung into fertilizer to be used in the orchards. This building requires many workers. The common perception/trap is that upgrading your silo will solve your fertilizer shortage, but the reduction in dung will get you 1 free bag every 2 to 3 days, depending on level. Often, putting those workers into stable upgrades will have a better return than upgrading the silo. Silo level should be determined by the number of orchards you have.

Level 1 - 50 bags takes 4:40, 220 bags/day, supports 4 orchards Level 2 - 100 bags takes 5:40, 380 bags/day, supports 5-6 orchards Level 3 - 200 bags takes 9:20, 510 bags/day, supports 8-9 orchards Level 4 - 300 bags takes 11:30, 620 bags/day, supports 11-13 orchards Level 5 - 400 bags takes x 12:13, 785 bags/day, supports 13-15 orchards

Daily bag count considers you can’t run level 1 and 2 all night (8 hour night). Supported orchards averages 60 bags per day per orchard. You can support more orchards if you don’t consume 60 bags per orchard per day. (Apples x6, Cherries x2, Almonds x3, Peaches x12)

8 - Fertilizer Fertilizer is produced by the silo and required to start orchard crops. Using premium fertilizer makes an orchard free to start and increases experience. Super fertilizer increases production 25% and increases experience. Seaweed fertilizer increases production 25%, increases experience and instantly finishes the crop. Premium, super and seaweed fertilizer are acquired using the same mechanisms as feed - rewards, tasks, gold, loyalty points or for purchase.

9 - Orchards Orchards are the foundation of your farm income system - they will produce 75-85% of your farm income (aside from the cafe) when sold in the market. Their collection count (you keep the product) can also be credited towards co-op projects and weekly theme tasks. The primary purpose of your animals is to produce dung for fertilizer. Empty orchards don't make money, so care needs to be taken to make sure your orchards don't outrun your fertilizer supply, which is the opposite of the blue book guidance. If you follow the suggestions of the blue book, you will have 1/2 of your orchards sitting idle. Early in the game, 3-4 stables are needed for each orchard. As the game progresses and your stables level up, this ratio can be reduced to 2-to-1.

Fertile orchards produce 50% more product and are purchased/upgraded with gold. They are cheap to start and get expensive as they level up. A level 1 apple will cost less than a penny (easy to purchase with gold awarded for leveling up), a level 7 is $18 USD, level 10 is $75 USD and level 13 is $ 214 USD. A cherry averages 30% more expensive.

You can select the type of fertilizer needed when you “plant” the orchard.

10 - Leaves Leaves are a byproduct of the orchards and used by the composter to make humus.

11 - Composter The composter turns leaves from the orchards into humus for your fields. Very early in the game, it is space and worker heavy and has a poor return on investment. I personally suggest people skip the composter till player level 39 and level 6 houses unlock.

12 - Humus There are 3 kinds of humus in the game and they work differently from feed and fertilizer. Humus is applied to fields after the crop has been planted. Regular (brown bags) boosts crops 25% (does not include library book bonus) and is made in the composter. Premium (blue bags) boosts crops 50%. Seaweed (purple bags) boosts crops 50% and finishes them instantly. Premium and seaweed humus are acquired the same way as premium and seaweed feed.

The other interesting thing about humus is that it impacts collection items, so regular humus will boost and item collection rate 25%. An example would be weekend hammers increase from 12/hr to 15/hr.

13 - Beehive The beehive is introduced at level 67/68 along with level 7 apples and new recipes in your cafes. It processes nectar (forest from orchards and flower from fields) into honey (forest and flower). The problem with the beehive is it requires many workers and 2 orchards can not support it. Then, as the game progresses and your orchards mature, the beehive will quickly become way too small and will never try to keep up with nectar production. There are whole articles on preparing for and getting into honey.

The beehive requires mallets to build and upgrade to level 3, then buckets for level 4 to 7.

14 - Forest Nectar Used by the beehive to make forest honey. Orchards will produce nectar from level 7 and above.

15 - Flower Nectar Used by the beehive to make flower honey. Fields will produce nectar from level 8 and above.

16 - Honey Honey is produced by the beehive and can be sold at market or used in the cafes. It is a high value product and results in large contracts, but the demand is much higher than production is every capable of, so you will trash many honey contracts.

Orchards require mallets to be upgraded to produce nectar (and honey) . Honey is needed to acquire mallets. Early in honey production, forest honey contracts should be ignored in the market so honey can be focused on mallet production.

17 - Stable Products Stable products are sold in the market (or barn) and used in the cafes.

18 - Orchard Products Orchard Products are sold in the market (or barn) and used in the cafes.

19 - Market The market is the heart of your farm’s income system. You can sell everything on your farm in the barn or in the market. Selling through the market will get you 40-60% more for stable products, 115-130% more for orchard products and 150% more for honey products.

The market is a perception pitfall. I will tell you that it is fixed, repeatable and predictable. It does not vary contracts based on your farm supply. It needs to be thought of and evaluated in days and weeks, not hours and days.

The trick to making money is to sell everything through your market. Everything has a fixed price. So it doesn’t matter how big the contract is or what is in it, an item sold is an item sold. Forget about supply and demand, forget about the market trying to screw you, forget about contract size and composition. If you can fill it, sell it. If you can’t fill it, trash it.

There is a comprehensive 4 part series in progress on the market’s mechanics, developing a personalized strategy to maximize returns and optimizing your farm for market income potential.