Farming is part of the Forestry and Farming profession. You grow crops from seed on farm plots, watering and tending them until they mature, then harvest with a scythe — feeding the Cooking & Herbalism supply line with crops, herbs, and the honey from beehives. It pairs naturally with caring for farm animals.
Farms
Farms have flat land to grow crops, and beehives that produce honey and beeswax. Soil quality ranges from 50% to 100%, which represents the yield amount. See the Farming Specialties list below for details on each farming location.
Soil quality near the capital is poorer and improves toward the Loot Zone at the centre of The Map. You cannot change a location's soil quality by upgrading it — though upgraded farms do have more beehives.
Obtaining seeds
Some seeds are bought from the Food and Herb Merchant NPC — there's one in the capital city near The Market. Some herb seeds can be gathered in the wild, and all plants yield seeds when harvested at a farm. Harvesting wild herbs across the map, or Sheaf of Cereal near the capital, will also yield seeds.
Buying 30 of each seed from the Food and Herb Merchant is a good idea for a starting farmer — you'll probably never need to buy seeds again.
List of crops
The crops you can grow at a farm:
- Arnica
- Carrot
- Grains
- Flax
- Flowering Plant
- Garlic
- Hemp
- Herbs
- Herb Fruit
- Herb Leaf
- Hops
- Lemon Balm
- Onion
- Parsnip
- Root Plant
- Rue
- Yarrow
Two plants that cannot be grown — these must be gathered or bought instead:
- Mistletoe — looks like a green bundle of leaves hanging low on trees.
- Saffron — purchased from the Food and Herb Merchant for 5 silver, or gained from farm storehouses in the centre of the map.
Planting crops
To plant, it's easiest to place the seeds and some water buckets on your hotbar. Select a seed and use it to show the white outline for planting — a red outline means you can't plant there. Immediately after planting, crops must be watered within 1 minute or they'll disappear.
- Each character can have a maximum of 20 crops in the ground at once.
- Crops snap together automatically when placed near each other.
- You can plant several types of crop right next to each other at the same time.
- Once planted, growing crops are immune to all theft or harm — from the moment they're planted until 30 minutes after maturation — unless that location's main flag is captured. After those 30 minutes, anyone can take them.
Watering, weeding & fertilizing
Watering
- Seedlings must be watered within 1 minute of planting or they disappear.
- Additional watering is optional and provides Farming and Forestry XP.
- If you plant while it's raining, you don't have to water at all.
- Put the water bucket on your hotbar and physically drop water on your crops — positioned right, one bucket waters up to 6 crops at once, far better than watering one at a time through the action menu.
Weeding
- Plants have a chance to sprout weeds after planting.
- Weeding provides Forestry and Farming XP, plus Worms, Beetles and Grubs used as fishing bait.
- Weeding is optional — your crops reach the same yield whether or not you weed them.
Fertilizer
- Plants can take 20 fertilizer per plant, which speeds up growth significantly.
- Fertilizer is obtained naturally from the decay of perishable items.
- Fertilizing does not increase yield — only growth speed.
- As with water, drop Fertilizer with a Bucket of Fertilizer to treat up to 6 crops at once instead of one through the action menu.
Most crops mature in less than half an hour.
Farming minigame
A simple minigame appears at several stages of farming — planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, gathering honey, gathering eggs, and gathering wild plants (not farmed ones). Successful hits reduce the interaction timer. They do not increase yield or affect anything else.
Harvesting mature crops
Crops are harvested with a scythe, a tool made with Engineering. All crops are perishable once harvested, so process them quickly. Combining fresher items with items about to expire in your inventory averages their expiration rates.
Understanding yield
Yield is determined by two things:
- The farm's soil quality — the major factor. It is 50%, 80% or 100%, and this cannot be raised by upgrading the farm.
- Your Forestry and Farming level — a minor factor.
Farming specialties
Where to farm, by soil quality and what each location is known for:
| Location | Soil quality | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| L'Obart's Farm | 50% | Eggs |
| Dunfen Farm | 50% | Eggs |
| Basilea Farm | 50% | Eggs |
| Mereley Farm | 50% | Sunflowers |
| O'Nar's Farm | 50% | Sunflowers |
| Baalhammon Farm | 50% | Sunflowers |
| Skogar Castle | 80% | Large amount of farmland |
| Blackrock Castle | 80% | Large amount of farmland |
| Dimar Castle | 80% | Large amount of farmland |
| Ulfgard | 100% | Beehives |
| Rodrock | 100% | Beehives |
| Scarsdale | 100% | Beehives |
| Lord's Wrath Abbey | 100% | Large amount of farmland |
| Lordly Haven | 100% | Large amount of farmland |
| Hordun Temple | 100% | Large amount of farmland |
| Fort Greatfall | 100% | Large amount of farmland |
| Norfolk Fort | 100% | Large amount of farmland |
| Lublin Fort | 100% | Large amount of farmland |