Editing v0.34:How large a farm do I need

Your dwarves can plant 1 [[seed]] per tile on each [[farm plot]], and depending on the crop, the [[skill]] of the [[grower]], and whether the farm plot was [[fertilizer|fertilized]], each planted tile will yield a stack of 0-12 (average: 5) edible, [[mill|millable]], [[brewing|brewable]], or otherwise [[farmer's workshop|processable]] plants each harvest cycle. Brewing always quintuples stack sizes; for example, a stack of [[cave wheat]]s [5] is brewed into a [[barrel]] of [[Dwarven beer]] [25] at a [[still]].  Processing [[quarry bush]] plants into quarry bush leaves at a farmer's workshop also quintuples stack size, as does processing [[sweet pod]]s into [[Dwarven syrup]].  [[mill|Milling]] sweet pods into [[Dwarven sugar]] does ''not'' increase stack size.  [[Pig tail]]s and [[plump helmet]]s grow faster than other crops, and as long as the mature plants are harvested promptly, it is not hard to grow multiple crops of either plant each season from the same plot.

 

A beginning fortress has 7 dwarves, each of which consumes 6 [[Main:urist|urist]]s of food and drink per dwarf per season, or 168 for the whole fortress for the year. The starting group can theoretically be fed by a single farm tile, but in practice they will need more because they are unable to use the farm tile to its fullest potential. A properly-managed and fully-utilized 3x3 plot could produce an average of up to 2700 units of food and drink per year, enough to feed an entire mature fortress. A single 5x5 plot could produce an average of up to 7500 units of food and drink per year, enough to feed over three hundred dwarves.