Crop Mastery

Crop Mastery allows farmers to earn coins, experience or other rewards for harvesting large numbers of a particular crop. Crop mastery is unlocked upon reaching level 10, and will only work with crops planted after it is available to the farmer. There are 3 levels of crop mastery, each succeeding level requiring more plots of the crop to be harvested. The higher your mastery level, the better the rewards.

On April 12th 2010, for some crops the levels were adjusted which made most of them easier to master. This provoked some criticism, especially by players who had mastered crops with high number levels such as raspberries and blueberries.

Coins and Experience
On increasing mastery level of a crop, a farmer receives a confirmation message, a mastery star and a reward of coins and experience. The farmer may also share a small coin bonus with friends via a wall post on Facebook. On fully mastering a crop (i.e, completing mastery of level 3), the farmer also receives a crop mastery sign.

Upon mastery of the crop, level 3, you can receive extra XP from both premium crops and bushels. (see below)

Bushels
You can receive more bushels and XP from the harvest of a crop using a bushel.

When you find a bushel of a crop you have mastered, you receive bonus bushels based on your level of crop mastery. For example, if you are harvesting a crop which you have not mastered, and you find a bushel, you get one bushel. If you are harvesting a crop which you have mastered to one star, and you find a bushel, your receive two bushels. If you are harvesting a crop which you have mastered to two stars, and you find a bushel, you receive three bushels, etc. This can make a big difference if you are trying to craft goods in one of the crafting cottages.

To earn mastery faster, you may use a bushel from your inventory before harvesting a crop to receive a mastery bonus. For example, if you have at least one bushel of cranberries in your inventory and you select "Use Bushel" before you harvest a crop of cranberries, you will receive 1 extra mastery point per plot when harvesting. Note that this removes one bushel from your inventory. Also note that you will likely find more bushels of cranberries as you harvest, however you will not be able to store more than your inventory will allow. For instance, if your inventory contains 92 bushels for all crops combined after using one cranberry bushel for the mastery bonus, then it won't matter how many bushels you find, you will only be able to store 8, which will take you to the limit of 100 bushels that can be stored at any one time. (Note: The bushel cap has been raised to allow a farmer to store up to 400 bushels on any given period, however, instances have occured where farmers were allowed to store up to 401 bushels.)

Farmville occasionally offers double mastery bonus periods, using a bushel mastery bonus in combination with a double mastery bonus will, in essence, result in a 3x mastery per plot harvested. For example, harvesting one plot of cranberries using a bushel mastery bonus during a double mastery bonus weekend will result in earning 3 mastery points (as if you had harvested 3 plots instead of 1).

Using bushels of limited edition crops after the crops have been removed from the market is another way to earn more time to master the crop. It will add the crop back into the market for a limited time and allow you to plant unlimited quantities for 2 hours.

Market Stall
{C When your Market Stall first opens, your neighbors have 24 hours to collect bushels from you. This time is extended by 8 hours for each level of Mastery that you have for that Stall’s crop; for example, a Market Stall offering Strawberry Bushels from a farmer who has reached Level 2 Mastery will remain open for 40 hours (24 + 8 + 8 = 40).

Gopher Crops
These crops go with the Gopher Garden event, where one needs to collect gophers that pop up on the farm while working. Different gophers give different seed packet, each seed packet has 20 seeds, multiples of the same gopher need to be caputered to master each of the crops.

Tips

 * Crop Mastery is not retroactive. Only crops that are planted after a farmer unlocks this feature will count towards crop mastery. Any crops planted before the release of the feature will not count towards crop mastery.
 * Mastery points are only awarded when harvesting crops. Plowing/Planting does not award crop mastery points.
 * Crop mastery is tracked in the market.
 * The values in the Harvest Time Total column are in "plot-hours", for if you use one Plot and replant immediately after growth is complete, using the FarmVille "23 hour day". Adjust accordingly.
 * With the recent changes to the requirements of mastering certain crops, some players have found themselves with too many crops (i.e. 1645/1500), but have yet to receive their mastery sign. To finish mastering the crop, a player needs only to plant and harvest one more crop of that type. Upon harvesting that one crop, the mastery is acknowledged and a mastery sign will then be awarded.
 * Use bushels before harvesting to receive a boost to mastery points (+1 per plot) or if the crop is mastered, XP (+1 per plot).
 * During Double Mastery Weekend, if you use a bushel, it gives you 3 mastery per plot.