Table of Contents
The core ofStardew Valleyis farming. Despite the countless other ways to spend one’s time in the game, farming is, at the end of the day, the most central and important aspect. Whether it be tending to crops, creating artisan goods, raising livestock, or anything else, players will spend much of their time around their farm.
In the game’s mechanics, farming encompasses crops, animals, and artisan goods, but this is a very shallow description. In reality, the farming mechanics ofStardeware intricate, expansive, and diverse. This beginner guide will take new players (and even those who have been around a while!) through all the basics of the skill, from planting their firstParsnip Seedsto building an empire. Here’s everything anyStardew Valleyplayer will need to know.
Everything discussed in this article is geared toward helping beginners, so the information will be presented how it is at the beginning of the game or in the first couple of seasons or years. For example, after completing the Community Center, Pierre’s store is open on Wednesdays. But until then, it’s closed on Wednesdays, so we will discuss it as such.
Introduction to Farming
First, let’s go over what “farming” entailsStardew Valley.Simply put,anything that involves planting and harvesting crops and fruit trees, raising animals, and (most) of the artisan goods falls under the general farming umbrella.
More specifically, activities that actually provide Farming Skill XP include the following:
In this guide, we’ll go over all of those activities, as well as other related things any aspiring farmer needs to know, such as crop quality, fruit trees, and more.
Farming Part 1: Crops
This section will cover basically everything any newStardewplayer will need to know about crops. This includes buying seeds, planting and watering crops, harvesting the produce, fertilizers, crop quality stars, fruit trees, sales, and growing seasons and times.
Crops will be the first aspect of farming that players will engage with. It’ll be a short while before they can afford to construct buildings for animals, and it takes a little bit of time to unlock machines for processing artisan goods.
If you’re only selling raw, unprocessed crops in the beginning, don’t worry! Things are going as planned.
Buying Seeds
The first step to farming crops is to buy seeds. There are two main places to do this, which will remain the main seed shops throughout a playthrough. However, there are a handful of other places to buy seeds that will come in handy from time to time.
> Pierre’s General Store
Of the two major seed stores, Pierre’s is probably the first that many players will encounter. Pierre operates his shop from 9am to 5pm daily, except on Wednesdays, when he is (infamously) closed.
Pierre’s seed stock rotates with the seasons, meaning that you can only buy Spring seeds in Spring, and so on. He sells cooking ingredients, fertilizer, fruit tree saplings, and other supplies year-round. Pierre’s General Store is also where the player can purchase both inventory upgrades. The first is the Large Pack, which costs 2,000g, and the second is the Deluxe Pack, which costs 10,000g. After reaching eight hearts with a marriage candidate, Pierre will also start stocking a Bouquet, which can be used to enter a more formal relationship.
In the second year of the game, Pierre will also start stockingGarlic SeedsandRice Shoots(Spring),Red Cabbage Seeds(Summer), andArtichoke Seeds(Fall).
Here’s where Pierre’s is found on the in-game map:
> JojaMart
The other major seed store is JojaMart, located east of Pierre’s across the river. This store is part of the Joja Corporation, which is framed as the “evil” antagonist of the game, especially given that the player leaves their job working for the company to take over their grandfather’s farm.
JojaMart sells the same seeds as Pierre’s, except Blueberry Seeds, which they do not sell, butthey charge more for almost all of them(except Sunflower Seeds, which are cheaper). However, in turn, JojaMart is open much later than Pierre’s and is open on Wednesdays. The store is open every day from 9am to 11pm. The seeds Pierre starts selling in Year 2 will not be sold at JojaMart.
The store offers a membership, which the player can purchase for 5,000g. This reduces the prices of JojaMart’s stock to match Pierre’s, but also leads to the destruction of the Community Center, locking the player from going that route in the game’s story. From there, they’ll have to follow the Joja route, which entails paying for the community repairs through the Joja Community Development Form.
For more information on the two paths that players can take, check out this guide:
Stardew Valley: JojaMart Vs Community Center - Which Should You Choose?
Here’s where to find JojaMart on the in-game map:
> Other Seed Shops
Aside from these major retailers, there are a few other ways to buy seeds, though they won’t be as commonly used.
Crop Growth Times and Seasons
A key part of growing crops is recognizing their seasons and understanding growth times.Every crop will only grow in certain seasons— usually one, but there are some multi-season crops. Additionally, crops take a certain amount of time to grow, with some growing very quickly and some taking several weeks. On top of that, some crops are harvested once and the plant disappears, while others keep producing over time.
When a new season starts, any crops that are not compatible with that season will immediately die. For example, if the player has Parsnips (a Spring crop) planted, they will wake up on Summer 1 to find the Parsnip plants dead.
Pro tip: leave any already-existing plants up for a new season start instead of chopping them down at the end of the season. This is because dead plants can be cleared with the Scythe, which does not expend any energy, and the soil underneath them will remain tilled. Chopping down crops as the season ends will waste energy, and then re-tilling the soil on the first day of the new season for new crops will expend even more.
We won’t list every crop in the game here, but we will briefly outline growth times and special characteristics.
> Crops That Keep Growing
Some crop plants will continue to exist after being harvested the first time, producing more and more of their crop after certain amounts of time. One example is Cranberries.
A Cranberry Seed will mature into a full plant with produce to collect in seven days. After this, they’ll keep producing more Cranberries every five days. They will need to be watered continuously to keep producing, just like a new plant.
The crops that keep producing after their first harvest are as follows:
> Crops on Trellises
Many new players toStardew Valleymake the mistake of not realizing thattrellises cannot be walked over. Typically, you can walk over your crops and collect those that are surrounded entirely by others. However, some crops grow on large wooden trellises that the player cannot walk over. If anything is planted in the middle of a 3x3 grid of trellises, the player cannot reach it to harvest the crop.
The following crops grow on trellises:
Be sure to plant these in a way that does not enclose any tiles!
> Aren’t Shorter Growth Times Better?
Every type of crop has a specific growth time, meaning how long it takes to mature and be ready for harvest. At a glance, a faster grow time might seem better. The sooner you harvest a plant, the sooner you can sell it, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
While some crops grow very fast, they usually won’t sell for as much gold as some that take longer. For example, Parsnips take only four days to grow, and sell for 35g at their base price. A Cauliflower takes 12 days to grow, and sells for 175g at its base price. The growth time is three-times longer, but the sell price is five times higher.
This doesn’t always work on a direct ratio.A longer growth time does not always translate to more profit. This is because of a number of factors, including the price of the seed in the first place (20g for a Parsnip Seed at Pierre’s and 80g for a Cauliflower Seed), and a gold-per-day calculation for each crop. We will go over this in much more detail in the Profit Margin section below. The larger point here is, in summary, that a faster growth time is not always better, if the goal is to make money from crops.
Tilling Soil, Planting Crops, and Keeping Them Watered
Now that we’ve gone over when crops will grow, as well as some of their special characteristics, let’s talk about the actual processes involved with growing crops and keeping them alive.
Till the soil
Plant the seed
Water the plant
This is pretty straightforward, but let’s go into it in a bit more detail.
> Step 1: Tilling Soil
The player can till soil by using their Hoe. This Hoe, like many other basic tools, can be upgraded. After it has been upgraded, the area it can till in one swing can be increased by holding the action button to charge it up.
Tilling soil uses up energy. As the player levels up their Farming Skill, they will become more proficient with the Hoe. This means it will use less energy.
To untill the soil, hit it with the Pickaxe!
Annoyingly, hitting an object with a Hoe can remove it. This proves to be quite the irritant when the player has placed Sprinklers and Scarecrows. To get around this, here’s a trick: simply craft and place a piece of flooring or path down, then place the object on top of it. This prevents it from being removed when hit with a Hoe. If you want to pick it up, use an Axe or Pickaxe!
> Step 2: Planting Seeds
This can be the fastest step of the process. To plant a seed, simply select it in the inventory bar by scrolling over to it. Your character should be holding it above their head. Now, while facing a tilled tile, press the action button, and it will plant the seed.
If you have more than one of a seed in a stack, your character will still hold the remaining ones above their head. There won’t be an action animation performed by your character, it will simply show the seeds appear in the tile. This can be confusing to newer gamers, as they might not realize they actually planted the seed. Look at the tile and you’ll see seeds if they were planted. Additionally, the number of seeds in your inventory will decrease by one.
Many veteranStardewplayers will recommend planting in a 3x3 grid, which makes it easier to place Sprinklers once they are unlocked. This isn’t strictly necessary very early on, as it’ll be a short while before Sprinklers are accessible. Simply plant them in a way that helps keep them organized.
By holding seeds and the action button, then walking forward, the player can quickly plant seeds in a row as they walk. Be sure to remain careful while doing this if there’s a certain pattern they should be planted in.
> Step 3: Keeping Crops Watered
This is an easily-overlooked step in the process, but it’s of vital importance.
Not watering crops will not kill them, but they will not grow. If a particular crop is not watered when the player goes to bed, it will lose a day of growth. It doesn’t matter what time of day the crop is watered — it’s all the same, so long as they are watered that day. Crops that keep producing after their first harvest still need to be watered to produce more.
Sprinklers are a great way to automatically water plants, but at the beginning, the player will need to water them manually (most days). Watering is done with the Watering Can. It’s used in the same way as the Hoe. Select it and press the action button while facing the desired tile. Also like the Hoe, the Watering Can can be upgraded to increase its area of effect. It uses energy as well, and the energy expenditure can be decreased by leveling up the Farming Skill (thereby increasing Water Can proficiency).
One unique aspect of the Watering Can is that it needs to be refilled. On the inventory taskbar, a small meter can be seen that shows how much water is in the Watering Can. To refill it, head to any body of water (or the kitchen sink in an upgraded Farmhouse) and press the same action button. Upgraded Watering Cans hold more water. The base Watering Can can water 40 times before it needs to be refilled!
When it rains, crops are automatically watered! This can be a great opportunity to head to the Mines or complete any other activities, as the player saves both time and energy by not manually watering their crops. Check the TV in the Farmhouse to see what thenext day’sweather forecast will be.
> Recognizing the State of a Tile
New players may have trouble recognizing if a tile is watered, tilled, or what have you. Let’s look at this image to see the different states of the soil:
This soil is untilled and unwatered. It contains no seeds or fertilizer. This is the base state.
This soil is tilled but not watered, and nothing is planted in it.
This soil is tilled and watered, but has nothing planted in it.
This soil is tilled and has crops planted in it, but they have not been watered yet.
This soil is tilled and has crops planted in it, and they have been watered.
This soil is tilled, fertilized, not watered, and there are no crops planted in it.
This soil is tilled, fertilized, watered, and there are crops planted in it.
Fertilizer
When planting crops, fertilizer can be used for various effects.It isn’t necessary to fertilize crops, but it can help sometimes.
While different fertilizer types and qualities can be found throughout the game, let’s just look at the first few you’ll encounter.
Basic Fertilizerwill increase the chances of a crop being of higher quality. It can be crafted from two Sap with a recipe learned at Farming Level 1. It can also be purchased from Pierre’s.
Quality Fertilizeris basically the same as Basic Fertilizer, but the chances for quality crops are a bit higher. It’s crafted from two Sap and a fish (any kind), with the recipe coming as a reward for reaching Farming Level 9. Pierre stocks it starting in Year 2.
Basic Retaining Soilis made from two Stone or purchased at Pierre’s. The crafting recipe is learned at Farming Level 4. This Fertilizer grants a small chance that the soil will remain watered overnight.
Quality Retaining Soil,learned at Farming Level 7, is basically the same as Basic Retaining Soil, but with a higher chance of working. It’s made from three Stone and a Clay, or purchased from Pierre’s.
Speed-GroandDeluxe Speed-Grocause crops to grow faster. Standard Speed-Gro grants a 10% growth speed and can be purchased or crafted from a Pine Tar and a Clam after Farming Level 3 is reached. Deluxe grants 25% faster growth time, is crafted from an Oak Resin and a Coral starting at Farming Level 8, or can be purchased from Pierre’s starting in Year 2.
Finally,Tree Fertilizeris a little different. This item allows you to grow some types of trees faster than usual. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on Fruit Trees. It’s made from five Fiber and five Stone, with the recipe coming from the rewards for reaching Foraging Level 7.
Most crop fertilizers can be used before or after planting the crop. However, Basic and Quality Fertilizer must be used before the seed has sprouted.
Needing only two Sap, Basic Fertilizer is extremely cheap to produce. After some time in-game, many players will find they have stacks and stacks of Sap without much use for it. It can be a great idea to just craft a ton of Basic Fertilizer for better profit on crops. Even though there are better types of fertilizer, this one is better than planting crops without any fertilizer at all, and it’s so easy to make.
Sprinklers and Scarecrows
Some of the most important items for farming are Sprinklers and Scarecrows. Sprinklers are extremely helpful, but nottechnicallynecessary. Scarecrows, on the other hand, are pretty vital.
Scarecrows
If players don’t put Scarecrows out on their farm,they risk losing some of their crops. Crows will often swipe some of the planted crops, which removes them entirely. To avoid this, craft a Scarecrow and ensure it’s placed well. Scarecrows have a “range” of effectiveness, covering a certain radius of tiles. Anything outside their range will not be protected, so a few Scarecrows may be needed, if enough crops are planted.
The radius around a Scarecrow is circular, so it’s hard to describe with words.Roughly, it extends eight tiles in the cardinal directions, and six in each diagonal direction. This image shows the range in practice:
And here’s the range of a Scarecrow, broken down with numbers:
In this image, the path making somewhat of a circle is the area covered by the Scarecrow. The covered area includes the path itself. The covered area is eight tiles in each direction from the Scarecrow, forming a square that’s 17 x 17 (8 + 8 + 1 tile for the Scarecrow itself) with the corners removed.
Always be sure to plant crops within the coverage of a Scarecrow, otherwise, there’s a good chance they’ll be eaten by a crow.
To craft a Scarecrow, players will need to use 50 Wood, 20 Fiber, and a Coal. They cannot be purchased, unfortunately, but the recipe is learned at Farming Level 1 — nice and early!
Notice some items at special locations/during events called “Rarecrows?” These are like standard Scarecrows and have the same radius, but they look a bit different. They’re actually a collectible item, with eight of them to collect in total! After collecting all eight, something special happens, but we won’t spoil it here.
Sprinklers
Sprinklers are not as technically necessary as Scarecrows — your crops aren’t going to die without them. However, like many of life’s advanced technologies, anyone who has used them will have a hard time living without them. What they do is water your crops for you automatically, saving you time, energy, and patience! Each morning when you wake up, the tiles around a sprinkler will be automatically watered, with no need for you to do anything.
Sprinklers come in three levels, though they can also be upgraded in the post-game.
To start, players will unlock the ability to craft a basic Sprinkler, simply called just “Sprinkler.” These ones will water in four directions: up, down, left, and right. The tiles diagonal from the tile on which the Sprinkler is placed will not be watered.
Next, players will unlockQuality Sprinklers. These are a bit better, watering the diagonals as well, for eight tiles total.
Finally, there areIridium Sprinklers, which are the best. They water two full rings around themselves, akin to two tiles in each direction for a total of 24 watered each day.
Here are the types of sprinklers, when their crafting recipes are unlocked, and what’s needed to make them:
4
8
24
This image shows how effective each sprinkler is:
Remember: You can prevent Scarecrows and Sprinklers from being removed by a Hoe by placing them on top of a single tile of path/flooring.
Crop Quality, Explained
After harvesting a few crops, players may notice that some of them have little stars next to their icons, and they stack separately. This is because those particular crops are of higher quality than the others.
Many different items have quality levels inStardew Valley, and they behave differently depending on what category of item it is. For now, let’s just look at crops (note: foraged items are not considered crops, even if grown from wild seeds).
Crops can have four different quality levels: basic (no star), silver, gold, or iridium. Iridium-quality crops are only possible if they were planted into Deluxe Fertilizer. This image shows Melons with each quality star:
From left to right: base quality, silver, gold, and iridium.
When it comes to crops, higher quality levels will have some effects.Higher quality crops will:
On the other hand, higher quality levels for cropsdo not affect:
There are two factors that determine a crop’s quality:fertilizer and the player’s Farming Skill level. The game rolls to determine quality using a complicated formula, but in short, higher Farming level and better fertilizer will increase the chances of higher quality crops.
Crop quality is determined when the crop is harvested, not when it’s planted. Additionally, for crops that can produce multiple copies per harvest (like Coffee or Blueberries), the quality level bonus added by fertilizer will only apply to the first crop, whereas crops that continue producing will be affected by fertilizer each time. This latter portion only applies to quality-affecting fertilizers, not Speed-Gro.
Here are some calculations of how crop quality will affect sale price, friendship points, and health/energy restoration.
-
1.25x
1.1x
1.4x
1.5x
1.8x
2x
2.6x
Here’s an example of how those numbers will work, using Kale as an example.
110g
-40
-20
+20
+45
+80
50
22
137g
-44
-22
+22
+49.5
+88
70
31
165g
-50
-25
+25
+56.25
+100
90
40
220g
-60
-30
+30
+67.5
+120
130
58
Profit Margins
When considering which crops to grow, the one with thehighest sell price is not necessarily the most profitable choice.Seeds cost different amounts, and they produce crops that sell for different amounts, and there’s no consistent seed-price-to-sale-price ratio across all crops. There are some other factors that must be considered when determining the profitability of crops, too, like how long they take to grow, any extra qualities they have, and more.
For example: Poppy Seeds cost 100g at Pierre’s, and a Poppy sells for 140g, meaning a net profit of 40g per Poppy at base quality. Hops, on the other hand, cost 60g per Hops Starter and sell for 25g each, meaning a net loss of 35g. However, Hops continue producing every day after they mature, and Poppies only produce once. Additionally, Hops can be processed into Pale Ale, which sells for 300g at base quality.
This means that, in one Summer season, a Poppy can be grown for a 40g profit in seven days, meaning the same tile could grow four Poppies for a grand total of 160g profit for the season. Hops, however, will mature in 11 days and then regrow every day for almost 20 Hops per season. If even just one of these is turned into Pale Ale, it’ll outsell all four Poppies immediately, netting 300g.
However, even this isn’t as simple as it is, as Poppies growing near Bee Houses will flavor the Honey into Poppy Honey. This artisan good sells for 380g and only requires one Poppy sitting there all season after it grows. After seven days' growing time, the Bee House can produce five batches of Poppy Honey (it takes four days) for a total of 1,900g. On the other hand, Pale Ale takes two days, meaning a Hops plant could produce about eight Pale Ales in a season (11 days for the plant to mature, 28 days in a season, meaning 17 days of producing hops, divided by two days to produce Pale Ale). Eight Pale Ales will sell for 2,400g.
And, all of this is only comparing two crops, when every season has several that can be grown and used in different ways!
Overall, calculating the profitability of various crops is not simple, and it takes some planning, typically.
Many people like to look at the gold-per-day calculation of crops. This is a formula that determines how much gold is produced per day by each crop, since they all have different qualities. Typically, the calculation goes like this:
((Max harvests x sale price per produced crop) - seed price) / number of growing days.
The number of growing days for crops that keep producing is as follows:
days to mature + ((max number of harvests - 1) x days needed to regrow)
This seems complicated, but it really isn’t! Simply put, take into consideration how long crops take to grow, how much the seeds cost, and what the sale price will be.
Using our Hops and Poppies examples from before, let’s use this calculation to see the difference in their profitability. (All seed prices are from Pierre’s.)
Seed price
100g
60g
Sale price (base quality crop)
140g
25g
Growing days
7
11 + ((17-1) x 1) = 27
((1 x 140) - 100) / 7
((17 x 25) - 60) / 27
Gold per day
~5.71
~13.52
Even when sold raw and unprocessed, it’s clear that Hops are much more profitable than Poppies!
Here are just some of the crops with very good gold-per-day ratings in their seasons,but keep in mind these are base quality crops that have not been used or processed.
11.67
9.2
8.3
30.1
28.57
12.3
17.8
14
13
83.33
39
16.9
16.2
15
13.3
57.14*
24.11**
*If grown for three seasons and the seed is crafted
**Only 11.11 the season it’s planted, then 24.11 in subsequent seasons
Fruit Trees
An oft-overlooked part of farming is Fruit Trees. While not crops in the traditional sense, Fruit Trees can be planted around the farm and will produce fruit, just like crops do. The way these trees work is a little different, though.
There are two Fruit Tree varieties for each season (plus two more added in the post-game, which we won’t include here). Here’s a full list of those available before the post-game:
3,400g
2,000g
4,000g
6,000g
Apple
Joja does not sell Fruit Tree saplings, but they can sometimes be purchased for a varying price from the Traveling Cart.
Fruit Trees must be planted on a tile that is totally free on the eight surrounding tiles. If there is anything next to the sapling, including any debris that may appear after it’s planted, the tree will not grow. They can be planted inside the Greenhouse, too! The edges allow Fruit Trees to be planted — just be sure to give them enough space. The walls and wooden border around the crop space will not stop Fruit Trees from growing, which is great.
In this image, the sapling is in the white square in the middle, marked with the Apricot Sapling icon. The tiles that are marked in red with an X must be free of any object, pathing, debris, or anything else, otherwise, the sapling will not grow.
Be careful when selecting a space for a Fruit Tree. They cannot be moved without mods, and the saplings aren’t cheap to replace if you have to chop one down.
After successfully planting a Fruit Tree, it will take28 days to reach maturity.After reaching maturity, it will produce one of its fruits each day, so long as it’s in season. Objects can be placed near a Fruit Tree once it’s mature, and they won’t stop it from producing fruit. Fruit Trees do not need to be watered, and they don’t die in the Winter.
Since Fruit Trees take an entire season to grow, planting one on the first day of its respective season will diminish your chances of collecting much of its produce. It’s a good idea to plant Fruit Treesin the season priorto when they produce fruit. Fruit Trees can grow out of season, they just won’t produce fruit.
For example: Plant an Apple Tree on the first day of Summer, and it’ll be ready to start producing fruit when Fall arrives!
