As any experienced player of Farthest Frontier knows, implementing effective crop rotations is absolutely essential for building a prosperous settlement. With so many factors to consider like fertility, disease resistance, and yield optimization, determining the ideal crop rotations can be overwhelming for new players. After hundreds of hours playing Farthest Frontier, I’ve experimented with countless crop combinations and developed some rotations that I’ve found work incredibly well across various stages of settlement growth. In this article, I’ll share the best crop rotations I’ve discovered and offer tips for maximizing your agricultural output.
The Importance of Crop Rotations
Before diving into the specific rotations, it’s helpful to understand why crop rotations matter so much in Farthest Frontier. Here are some of the key benefits:
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Maintains soil fertility – By rotating fertility-positive crops like peas, beans, and clover with fertility-negative crops, you can maintain soil fertility levels rather than depleting the soil each season
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Controls weeds and disease – Rotating between different crops prevents any single weed or disease from taking hold and decimating yields.
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Optimizes yield – With strategic rotations you can maximize yields from your limited planting seasons and farmland.
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Provides crop diversity – Rotating crops provides variety for villager diets and raw materials for crafting.
Clearly, taking the time to plan 3-year crop rotations for each field pays off exponentially as your village expands. Now let’s look at some excellent rotations to implement.
Fertility-Building Rotations
When you first establish farms, getting the soil fertility up is crucial. Here are two rotations focused on quickly improving fertility:
Clover Only
- Year 1: Clover
- Year 2: Clover
- Year 3: Clover
Peas + Clovers + Maintenance
- Year 1: Peas
- Year 2: Clovers
- Year 3: Field Maintenance
The clover-only rotation rapidly builds fertility at the expense of food production. The peas and clover option gives a fertility boost while also generating some bean resources. Use these in the early game while you get soil ready for more productive rotations.
Balanced Fertility Rotations
Once you have decent fertility levels, these rotations aim to maintain it while yielding good harvests:
Greens and Beans
- Year 1: Cabbage
- Year 2: Beans
- Year 3: Leeks
Root Vegetables
- Year 1: Carrots
- Year 2: Turnips
- Year 3: Field Maintenance
Grains
- Year 1: Rye
- Year 2: Wheat
- Year 3: Buckwheat
The greens and beans provide a balance of vegetables and proteins. The root crop rotation yields storage-friendly foods. And the grain rotation produces staple ingredients for bread, beer, and livestock feed.
Advanced Rotations
When your village has ample fertility, farmers, and infrastructure, try these high-yielding rotations:
Wheat/Rye and Leeks
- Year 1: Wheat
- Year 2: Leeks
- Year 3: Rye
Compost every 2 years
Flax, Beans and Turnips
- Year 1: Flax
- Year 2: Beans
- Year 3: Turnips
Compost occasionally as needed
The wheat/rye and leeks rotation produces massive grain and vegetable yields but requires regular compost to maintain fertility. The flax, beans, and turnips option provides fibers, proteins, and root vegetables with slightly less fertility demand.
Tips for Crop Rotation Success
Beyond the rotations themselves, here are some tips for getting the most out of your fields:
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Standardize field sizes to at least 10×10 to optimize livestock grazing.
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Stagger rotations across multiple fields to harvest crops each year.
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Prepare soil initially with clover and maintenance to boost fertility and remove weeds/rocks.
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Adjust soil composition to match crop preferences for optimal yields.
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Compost regularly in high-yield rotations to maintain fertility, especially on larger fields.
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Leave buffer days in crop schedules to prevent farmers missing planting/harvesting.
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Prioritize new field construction to ensure existing fields are tended properly.
Weed Suppression
This is a way to measure how much a crop slows down the growth of weeds in crop fields.
It is possible for weeds to grow at full speed when crops like buckwheat have maximum suppression ratings. On the other hand, weeds can grow at full speed when crops like carrots and leeks are grown.
NOTE: Killing weeds stops new ones from growing, but it doesn’t lower the number of weeds in the field; only regular maintenance does that.
Rotation Staggering
Since a field can be set to grow different crops every three years, 3n (where n is any number from 1 to 3) is usually the best number to use. g. three, six, or nine fields for each rotation, so you can harvest the same crops every year. To do this, each field is set to use a different mix of the three years in the base rotation.
Crop Rotation Example| Field 1 | Field 2 | Field 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Crops | Maintenance | Crops |
| Year 2 | Crops | Crops | Maintenance |
| Year 3 | Maintenance | Crops | Crops |
The Best Crop Rotations In Farthest Frontier! + Tips
FAQ
What is the best sequence of crop rotation?
What are the best crops for food in farthest frontier?
What is the optimal crop size in farthest frontier?
What is the best way to rotate crops?
What is crop rotation in farthest frontier?
Crop rotation is one of the most complex systems in survival city builder Farthest Frontier. Here’s how it works. Farthest Frontier’s crop rotation system is one of the survival city builder’s most complex systems. Just like your villagers, crops are susceptible to summer heat waves, winter’s freezing temperatures, and even diseases.
What is farthest frontier farming?
Farthest Frontier Farming is a little more complex than you might be used to in most colony sims. While you don’t have to worry about watering Crops, you will have to worry about 8 specific factors for each Crop: Crop Yield – How much of a Crop you can expect to get. Frost Tolerance – How well a Crop handles the cold.
What is farthest frontier & how does it work?
RELATED: Ways Grand Strategy Games Change Your View Of World Leaders Farthest Frontier allows players to manage three years of crops simultaneously, handling the current year as well as planning for crops two years in advance. While this may seem like a small feature, understanding it is absolutely essential to a proper crop rotation.
How many crops should I plant in farthest frontier?
I typically like to plant 1 Crop per field and 1 harvest of Clover (to restore the soil’s fertility a bit) for 2 of the 3 years. The third year in the Crop Rotation is used on another run of Clover and two runs of Field Maintenance. The best Farming Crops to plant in Farthest Frontier are Peas and Turnips in the early game.