Guide:Best land use

How to best use your land
A farmer may wonder How best to use my land?

What to consider
To get the best profit off your land you need to be able to compare crops, animals and trees. First they do not all take up the same area of land. Trees are narrow but tall and (so far) all the trees that earn a profit take up the smallest possible piece of land called a square. Animals vary in size from the smallest, which take up only 1 square, to the current largest of 9 squares (3x3). All crops take up a 4x4 square for 16 total squares which is called a plot. Based on the number of squares we can compare the earnings of each profitable item. For comparison the tables will add up the total number or items so that there is one plot of your farms land.

Second, each item takes a certain number of hours to mature to harvest. They can take as little as 2 hours (Raspberries) up to 5 days (Peach trees). To compare each item the tables have a column which lists Income per Hour which is based off a plot's worth of each item. That is one plot of crop, 1.8 (elephants} to 16 {ducks) animals and 16 trees.

Thirdly, each item brings in a certain profit per growing cycle. Animals and trees have a listed amount and crops are calculated by taking the sale value and subtracting the planting cost and subtracting the 15 coins it takes to plow the plot. Animals and trees may take days to weeks of income in order to pay off their original cost but after that they are pure profit. Of course those animals and trees that were gifted or found somehow were free and profit right away.

Fourth, we need to remember that crops that are 1 day or more come in an hour early to allow time for harvest and plowing to stay on schedule for the next day otherwise every day the new plantings will get started later and later. This leads to some number like 4.96 for hourly profits instead of a straight 5.

Fifth, there is experience earned from crops. Experience not only opens up new crops and items to a farmer which leads to better profits, experience can be bought. Every time a farmer purchase an item from market they get at least 1% of the cost in experience. They can get as much as 5% from purchasing hay bales and possible better when purchasing items with Farm Dollars. There is also a wasteful way of plowing a field and planting soy beans then destroying the plot and starting over which gets 10% experience of the coins spent. For purposes of calculating a crops total profit we'll assume a farmer is buying mostly items and a few hay bales for about 2% experience.

Sixth, we need to remember that every time we plow in order to plant we get 1 experience point.

Seventh, a crop becomes more valuable after it is mastered because every plot of each harvest will have a 10 to 40% chance to earn the farmer 1 to 8 extra experience points per premium plot.

Eighth, some crops can be used in co-op challenges and that extra experience and coins get's spread over the total crops planted to make these crops even more valuable.

Ninth and most important: Do you want to level or do you want cash to buy things? Once you reach maximum level then switching to max income is suggested.

Basic incomes and experience
So let's compare apple (tree), cows (animal) and pumpkin (crop): Apple trees are 16 per plot and earn 28 coins in 3 days (72 hours). That is (16 trees) times (28 coins) divide by (3 days) divide by (24 hours in a day) which gives us 6.22 coins per hour. In short hand that is: 16x28/3/24 = 6.22 coins/hour.

Cows (who aren't in a dairy farm) take up a 2x2 square which is 4 squares and earn 1.5 coins in 1 day. Every plot of land can hold 4 cows. That is (4 cows) times (1.5 coins) divide by (1 day) divide by (24 hours in a day) which gives us 0.27 coins per hour. Short hand: 4x1.5/1/24 = 0.25 coins/hour. By the way, cows are currently the worst use of land.

Pumpkin crops take up 1 plot and earn 68 coins and cost 30 to plant and another 15 to plow the land. It takes 8 hours for them to ripen. So their profit is (68 coins) subtract (30 coins) subtract (15 coins) then divide by 8 hours which is 2.88 coins per hour. Short hand gives (68-30-15)/8 = 2.88 coins/hour. In the case of a 1 day or more crops then subtract an hour. For say a 3 day crop of cabbages if you plant at 7pm in 3 days at 6pm they will be ready.

To get the pumpkins experience points as the other part of the profit we take the pumpkin experience of 1 point plus the plowing experience of 1 point to get 2 experience each 8 hours. 2 experience is like an extra 10 to 100 coins of profit. We are using 2% or 50 coins buys an experience point. We go through the same calculation as above and we get 2x50/8 = 12.5 coins/hour. Our grand total profit for pumpkins is 2.88 plus 12.5 which is 15.38 coins per hour.

Summary:

For pure purchasing power in the markets:
 * Apple trees: 6.22 coins/hour
 * Pumpkins:   2.88 coins/hour
 * Cows:       0.25 coins/hour

For leveling your character:
 * Pumpkins:  15.38 coins/hour
 * Apple trees: 6.22 coins/hour
 * Cows:       0.25 coins/hour

''So if a farmer is only worried about income and not leveling, apple trees are the best use of a farmer's land. If a farmer want to level faster pumpkins are the best choice.''

Co-op farming

 * If the Pumpkin Pie O'Plenty pumpkin planting is undertaken pumpkins become more valuable. 1400 pumpkin plots have to be harvest in 16 hours to earn 462 coins plus 527 experience. So the basic profit for pumpkins of 2.88 gets a boost of 462/1400/8= 0.04 or 2.92 coins per hour. Typically at least 3 farmers take part so that would be an extra coin per hour or 3.00 which is a very minor gain in straight coins.
 * The leveling potential of co-op pumpkins gets a boost from an extra 527 experience. If we calculate in the 50 coins per experience it is 527x50 or another 26,350 coin equivalents. Spread that over 1400 pumpkin patches in 8 hours and we get 2.35 extra coins per hour leveling power. With 3 farmers that's 7.06 coins/hour. For money to buy decorations co-op pumkpins still are a poor choice to apple trees but for leveling, co-op pumpkins are the clear winner getting an leveling power of 22.44 for just three co-op farmers.

Crop mastery

 * Level 3 Crop mastery gets a farmer extra experience per plot by a certan chance. It varies by crop.  Some have an extra 40% chance for a single point while others have a 10% chance for 8 more points.  This amounts to more leveling power after harvesting of typically 30%. For our pumpkins they get a 20% chance of an extra 1 experience per plot or 0.2 more experience on average.  At our 50 coins per experience rate that is 10 more coins over 8 hours or 1.25 more coins per hour.  It brings our pumpkins from 15.38 to 16.63 which is a modest gain.  Some crops are better than other to master.  In general the shorter growing time crops get better return on mastery.

Best Earners (June 2010) and Best Levelers
You may ask what are the best animal, tree, building and crop available? Clicking the sort button on the column of the Total Income per Hour in each or tree, animal and crop will list them in order. As of June 2010 the Acai Tree wins the trees with 54.96 coins/hour, calves are the single best animal with 55.65 coins/hour and the best crop was super berries (which could not be mastered) at 52.5 coins/hour. Of course the humane farmer wouldn't pack little calves in like sardines so if you spread them out a bit they would get about 25 coins/hour making the expensive Acai tree a clear winner.

The current best income from a regular crop is basil at 8.5 coins/hour. If we consider leveling power then the berries (strawberries, black berries, blueberries and raspberries) win out. Without mastering or bushel bonuses the blackberry and blueberry are the winners but once mastered the raspberry pulls ahead with up to 90 coins/hour leveling power when mastered and using bushel bonus. This is better than any animal or tree and better than all the special crops but super berries which are at 107 coins/hour. Of course that means bringing in a raspberry crop every two hours and there will be some waste if you can't keep the schedule up. Mastering raspberries for a single use a day is worth it.

Animal buildings bring in better money than the animals sitting outside (except for putting calves in the nursery which cuts their income to 1/3) and the best income for a building is the one allowed, fully upgraded to 60 chickens, golden chicken (or better), chicken coop at 178 coins/hour followed by the one allowed, fully upgraded to 40 horses, single specialty horse (like Haflingers), stable at 88.8 coins/hour. Remember that is per plot of land, not squares.

The current best income improvement co-op challenge is Tossin' Tomatoes getting a single farmer an extra 0.043 coins per hour at the gold medal level. That's not much extra coin even if it's 3 farmers it brings tomatoes up by 0.13 to 7.38 base coins/hour which is worse than straight basil. For leveling power the tossin' tomatoes adds an additional 2.45 coins/hour so for three farmers that's 7.35 added to the tomatoes 19.75 which give 27.1 coins per hour leveling power which pushes the tomato into the berry range with an 8 hours growing cycle instead of 4. Depending on the number of farmers you get Tea Party could be better.

Some Profitable Farms
NOTE:
 * All farmers should try to get a fully upgraded chicken coop full of at least Golden Chickens and a fine breed horse stable.
 * These farms only consider pure purchasing power on the decorations market.
 * Owning too many animals and other animated decorations can slow your browser to a crawl and frustrate you to no end.

Players willing to spend Farmville Cash

 * Acai berry forest - this farmer will be owning a villa in no time.
 * Maple syrup farm - during the fall events buying up a large number of Maple Trees will make a farmer healthy, wealthy, and wise.
 * Coconut plantation - this tropical farmer will be sipping pina coloda's in their hammocks by the ocean.
 * Rare rabbit breeder - this farmer will be able to retire early.
 * Zoo - a farmer who packs their exhibits tight with rare and exotic creatures will be famous.
 * Tuscan dairy - this farmer will have a sweet life.

Players that get many gifts

 * Feather pillow seller - farmers who are given many geese will stuff their way to a soft living.
 * Olive grower - farmers collecting these trees for fine oils do well.

Players who gather lost or bred animals

 * Veal ranch - the corporate veal farmer will be able to acquire an entire town.
 * Hat badasher - those farmers gathering feathers from swans, turkey, peacocks, road runner, quail and the odd duck will live in style.
 * Cat breeder - farmers who breed both large and house cats will lead a purrrfect life.
 * Herders - llama, lamb, special goats and special sheep wool makes a farmer a model of fashion.

Players spending lots of coins

 * Christmas tree grower - this forester is only second best to the Acai juicer. Merry Christmas!
 * Bead tosser - a farmer that 'grows' beads for Carnival can really party.
 * Thai fruiterer - Growing tropical lychee spread delectable little fruits around the world and lines the pocket.

These farms do fairly well

 * Berry picker - people love jams and fresh berries so they love this master berry farmer. (This farmer will level the fastest)
 * Winery - this master farmer will always have white or red wine with their suppers.
 * Large co-ops - master farmers that band together in groups of 10 to 20 will always do well.

These are decent farms

 * Pig farmer - truffles are a yummy chocolate treat and this farmer has a yummy life.
 * Herb grower - farmers who sell basil, ghost chilies, tomatillos and sugar and who always have their eyes open for special seasonal crops will have a spicy time. (Another fast leveler).
 * Lime grower - limes are always refreshing and this farmer will have sweet and tart living.