v0.31:Farming

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

General farming flowchart.

Farming is the action of growing Template:L for Template:L, Template:L production and Template:L manufacturing. While small forts can easily be sustained by plant gathering, Template:L and trading, farming is vital to large settlements.

Farming is done at a farm plot building (b-p, resize with umkh). It requires Template:L and a worker with the "Farming (Fields)" Template:L enabled.

Depending on where the farm plot is constructed, different crops may be planted. Farm plots built Template:L are not suitable for the crops grown on Template:L farm plots and vice versa. Note that the attributes Inside , Dark , Outside and Light are of no relevance.

See the article on Template:Ls for details on the conditions needed to grow the available plants.

Introduction to Farming

After building a farm plot building (b-p, resize with umkh), you must select which crops to plant there.

Press q and move the cursor over the farm, you will see a list of crops you can select to grow in the current season. You can change which season is displayed by pressing a,b,c, or d. Move the blue selector up and down with - and +, and press Enter to choose a crop to plant during that season (highlighted in white).

You must have the appropriate Template:Ls to plant a crop there. To easily see how many of each seeds you have you can go to the Kitchen menu (z right Enter). Template:Ls are a good beginning crop for a first cave farm, and Template:L are a good choice for outdoor fields. Check the Template:Ls page for details on different seeds. Only some plants are edible so make sure the seeds you're using will produce food. It's often a good idea to pick a seed which produces a plant which can be Template:Led. This will create Template:L and also give you a seed to plant again next season.

Instructing a plot to remain fallow z during a particular season will instruct dwarves not to plant in that plot during that season.

Fertilization

Farm Size	Potash	Per Square
1	1	1.000
2	1	0.500
3	1	0.333
4	2	0.500
5	2	0.400
6	2	0.333
7	2	0.286
8	3	0.375

Pressing f lets you toggle fertilization on or off. To fertilize a farm plot, one needs Template:L, which is produced by processing Template:L. It greatly increases the yield of a plot (approx. multiplied by four). However fertilization only lasts for one season, and requires plot size / 4 (round down) + 1 of Template:L for saturation. Therefore fully fertilizing a farm would require burning a large amount of trees each season. While costly, fertilization enhances productivity of many industries further down the line, e.g. brewing, due to the large increase in stack size of the plants.

This table illustrates the effect of the formula.

Generally, larger farms use less, up to a limit of 1/4 bar ber square. The worst sizes are multiples of 4, it's better to have plots one or two less than a multiple of 4.

Subterranean Farming

To grow the six "dwarven" plants, including the Template:L, you will need an underground farm plot. The seeds and spawn available to your dwarves at embark will only grow underground. Underground farm plots must be placed on soil or Template:Ldy stone.^v0.31.19

Muddying a stone floor requires temporarily covering it with water: common methods include a bucket brigade or controlled flooding (see: Template:L) by temporarily diverting a river or pool, using a floodgate or door to stop the flow. You may also find a muddied area in a Template:L, but note that each tile underneath the farm plot must be muddied. Most caverns have entire open areas which will be permanently covered in mud, but if you dig into the walls of a cavern or chisel away a pillar, the freshly cut floor area will not be muddied until you get it wet. Underground caverns are dirty, and frequently contain Template:L that are perfect for quickly setting up farms. However, given the wide variety of creatures found in caverns, you may want to take precautions. Consider keeping a Template:L close at hand to guard the farm, or walling off a muddied area for your dwarves' exclusive use.

Underground farming is not restricted to soil layers and caverns: underground floor of any material -- rough stone, smoothed stone, ore, gem -- can support subterranean farm plots once there is a layer of mud covering it. See Template:L for tips on getting the right amount of water to the farm plots.

Above Ground Farming

Above ground farming is basically the same as underground farming, with the simplifying distinction that above ground plots typically do not require preparatory work. However, there are some complications.

The first complication is that seeds cannot be chosen at embark, as dwarven civilizations do not have access to those sort of plants. They can be bought from Template:L and Template:L caravans; above-ground plants can be gathered using the Template:L designation, and then Template:L, Template:Led, Template:L or Template:L directly (depending on the plant) to produce seeds.

The second complication is that the farming must be done on Template:L or muddied rock, being Template:L. Typically, it is done on the surface, which is dangerous (due to aggressive animals, ambushes and sieges). However, any land which has ever been exposed to sunlight becomes permanently marked as "above ground". So, if you have multiple Z-layers of soil, you can channel some above-ground land, remove the resulting ramps, then construct a floor above, where the surface once was. The (now inside and protected) lower soil will still be suitable for farming outdoor plants like Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, and anything else you may find. If your soil is not thick enough, you may still get a secure above ground farm by doing the same with any rock and muddying it. Alternatively, you may build a greenhouse around some soil.

Above ground farms built on unmuddied rock layers will show the message "No seeds available for this location", and you will not be able to plant anything in them.

Some crops require a particular temperature range to grow; so although it may be possible to plant them in any season, to obtain optimal usage of farm plots it may be necessary to coordinate planting with seasonal temperature variations.

Farm plots in action

Once a farm plot has been built and crops have been selected for the current season, dwarves with the Template:L labor enabled will begin planting the selected seed. The higher a Dwarf's grower skill in planting, the more plants will be harvested from each seed planted. The farming labor is fairly low in priority, so if you want a full time farmer, it is best to disable all other labors.

Plants take time to grow, depending on their type. Once a plant is fully grown, a dwarf will harvest it. By default, any dwarf will do this. Harvesting plants is not affected by any skill, although it provides a small amount of grower experience. Plants that remain in the field for too long will wither. These plants will eventually rot away.

Depending on the number of growers and their experience and the rate at which the plant grows, not all squares of large plots may be used. ^[Verify]

Management

Create a custom Template:L near your Template:L which will only accept Template:Ls. This will consolidate your seeds into one place, instead of having them littered all through the Template:L. As a large number of seeds can be stored in a single barrel, this stockpile can be only three or four tiles. Alternately, you can make a more traditional sized custom stockpile, which only accepts seeds and bars of Template:L for fertilizing.

You can also create a custom stockpile that will only accept Template:Ls, to avoid having it all mixed up with your Template:L and Template:Ls. It would be a good idea to have this stockpile near your Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, etc.

Use the Template:L menu, and go to the Kitchen tab. From here you can see how many of each kind of food you have. If you're running out of a certain kind of seed, toggle the corresponding plant "Cook" setting to red. Template:L plants doesn't leave a seed. If you have too many of a certain kind of seed, toggle the seed "Cook" setting to blue. Just make sure you check on the stocks (or just forbid one seed and leave it for emergency) and toggle it back before you run out!

Farming FAQ
How do I build a farm?
How large a farm do I need?
What is the best crop?
How do I manage my seeds and crops?
What does "Reserved Barrels" and "Reserved Bins" mean?
Why are crops sometimes displayed with red writing?
What do I do with these inedible crops?
What does the option "Fallow" mean?
My dwarves will only farm on a small part of the fields, why is this?
How do I make absolutely sure my farm plot is all set to produce crops?
If I don't see any dwarves working my farm plot, does that mean there's something wrong?
Can you grow surface crops on multiple z levels in a tower if the floors are glass even though there's soil on the glass?
What is the "seas fert" option for?
How do you create a custom stockpile that accepts only prepared foods?
How do you successfully breed and utilize animals(grazing, non-grazing and poultry)?
How often do you need to irrigate your farm fields?
Having banned seeds from the kitchen, how to prevent dwarves from eating them raw?
Why do my planters keep complaining they have no seeds?
Why won't my animals breed?
Add a question to this FAQ
Back to the Main FAQ

See also

• Template:L
• Template:L
• Template:L