Editing 40d:Grower

{{quality|Exceptional|13:31, 6 July 2011 (UTC)}}{{Skill

| profession = [[Farmer]]

| job name  = [[Farming (fields)]]

'''Grower''' is the [[skill]] for use with the [[farming|Farming (Fields)]] [[labor]], which allows a dwarf to plant [[seed]]s and [[farm plot]]s, both above ground and underground. A high level of growing skill allows a dwarf to plant seeds at a faster rate and also results in larger stacks of [[plant]]s at harvest, increasing [[food]] output significantly.  A single [[Skill#Skill_ranks|proficient]] grower can easily outproduce several dabbling ones.  Grower should be strongly considered to be included in the skills of your starting dwarves to help produce food early on to keep your dwarves fed and to attract migrants.   

A dwarf who has Grower as their highest skill will usually have the profession of '''Planter''', unless they have other [[farmer]] category skills at levels approaching their grower skill - then they'll have the profession of Farmer.  (The exact formula for this is not known.)

A highly skilled grower not only increases raw food output, but also improves overall food production efficiency to a massive extent, since [[brewer]]s, [[cook]]s, and [[thresher]]s perform tasks with a single [[stack]] at a time.  This has the effect of a huge multiplier on several [[labor]]s, and also of making storage more efficient.  For example, to get 25 booze, brewing five stacks of [[plump helmet]] [1] requires five visits to farm plots to store those 5 1-stacks in stockpiles, five trips to haul them to the [[still]], five trips to haul five barrels, five brewing tasks, and will make five separate "stacks" of [[dwarven wine]] [5] requiring five separate [[barrel]]s stored on five separate tiles - and ''then'' 5 tasks to replant seeds in the farm plots, and 5 times the size of the plots needed!  And that doesn't include all the tasks involved in making and storing those extra barrels or storing the seeds for planting.  On the other hand, a single stack of plump helmet [5] can be brewed all at once into the same amount of dwarven wine [25], using a single barrel, hauled away in one task, and stored on a single tile.  High-skilled growers can potentially save over 30* trips/tasks per single plant product, making your fort significantly more efficient.  The impact this has on your overall labor force and fortress cannot be over-emphasized.

If you leave the "All Dwarves Harvest" option on ''(in the {{k|o}}rders menu)'', all dwarves, even [[noble]]s and [[children]], will harvest when needed and gain experience in Grower. (The only exceptions are soldiers and babies.) The size of the stack harvested is not affected by skill level.  However, your dedicated growers (who ''are'' doing the planting!) will gain skill in growing more slowly because other dwarves are performing this task, sharing the [[experience]], and then doing nothing with the increased skill.

If you turn on "Only Farmers Harvest", a single dedicated Proficient Grower can easily handle all the farming needs of a young to middle-stage fortress, especially if the farm plots, kitchens, farmers workshop, food storage (raw and prepared) and [[dining hall]] are all located close to each other - as they should be.  Depending on the size of your farm industry, a dedicated grower who starts at ''Proficient'' can easily achieve ''Accomplished'' (5 ranks higher) by the end of the first year, and that one dedicated farmer can easily harvest all the food necessary for a fortress approaching 100 dwarves - ~if~ the stacks are large, and they ''will'' be if you have one dedicated grower.