Minecraft Forums

I've had a fair amount of experience farming, and since I am admittedly not the most agile minecrafter out there, the main annoyance I ran into when planting/harvesting was trampling my own farmland. It is an aggravation and a half to harvest your fields and then have to walk INTO the furrowed parts in order to collect the and that have scattered themselves into places JUST far enough that you have to stray off your garden path to collect them.
But I noticed though that there was an area of my fields where I never had this problem: my "shelf-farm". I had a patch of wheat growing up on a ledge against my compound walls, and it was always very easy to harvest.

Two reasons:
-It's on a shelf. You can't accidentally walk onto it. You don't have to tiptoe through your fields if your crops are growing on a level higher than your path.
-It's against a wall. When you harvest your crops, the items go flying in random directions, but if there's a wall behind the crops, then they stay within your collection radius.

So with these features in mind, I devised the following pattern for my farm:

Cross-sectional view:


:cobblestone:.:log: :log:.:Water:.:log: :log:.:cobblestone:
:soil:.:soil:.:wood: :soil:.:soil:.:soil:.:wood: :soil:.:soil:

Top View:

:cobblestone:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:
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All of the crop-tiles are within 4 squares of the water, so it's all irrigated. This is the basic "unit" of the farm and it can be extended in different ways. You could "tile" it, and just put a bunch of these patterns next to each other, or you can stretch it linearly like so for harvesting efficiency:

:cobblestone:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass: :Water:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass: :Water:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
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:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass: :Water:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass: :Water:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass: :Water:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
:cobblestone:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:.:grass:.:grass: :wood:.:grass:
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Not all the water is necessary in this elongated configuration, but it can make for a nice aesthetic. Just make sure that all the water tiles are covered by something so that you don't lose crops into your irrigation ditch. I like glass for that since you can see the water. The end result is that you'll have a bunch of rows of crops at eye-level where they are easy to harvest, and where they won't run away from you. Everything within easy reach!

Additionally, it's actually pretty easy to set-up, since you can instead of having "raised beds" have "sunken paths" Just make sure that your perimeter wall is high enough to keep out the trample-happy mobs. Also make sure that the paths are not grass, because otherwise animals will spawn inside your sanctum. I used wood because it looks nice, but if you're on a budget, cobble is fine.

Happy farming everybody!

Edit: Here's a picture of my farm in action!

It has a maximum yield of 31 crops per harvest, since I had to cut in a doorway. That's a chest embedded in the floor there by the door to store surplus seeds, wheat, and some spare hoes in case of an accident. Every farm needs a dedicated chest!

My pro farm:

2 levels of this with a huge tree farm on top.

Quote from burntcustard »

Wow I'm surprised no one commented on this.

I found this after a search on wheat farms because I was sure there must be a more efficient way of doing it than my square field with water at the sides, having to crouch whilst walking it around is annoying. I think I'm going to replace my current setup with this. Thanks :smile.gif:

Also this technique would probably be really good for underground farms because not that much would need to mined out.

I was surprised nobody commented on it too. :sad.gif: I was tempted to bump it, but that seemed a bit unethical (and against the rules) so I just sigged it and waited and prayed.

It's interesting that you said this is would be suitable for an underground farm. I actually first implemented it in the basic form as an underground farm! I used a line of 3 water as its core, and it really has a nice look to it. Very cosy, since the crops are all at your eye-level. It feels like a hydroponics project or something (but with soil). Just make sure that the wheat has an open block above it, or it will refuse to grow (torches and glass both count as "open"). I originally intended for the water at its core to be an infinite source, but quickly realized I had to block it off to prevent crops from falling into the water.

My VERY first attempt at a trample-proof farm was one where I used the irrigation ditches as the pathway, but walking through water is SOOO SLOOW! Also it didn't have the back-wall feature that prevented the grain from going flying as you harvest it.

Quote from Tyken132 »

Hmm, I wouldn't say my way is more "Effective" but it does look beautiful and works GREAT, check out my video's if you want to see it.

The claim I made was that it was easy to use, not that it was actually more efficient than other designs. Minimizing frustration is my goal!

You can reap a large swathe of crops, and then harvest it all without leaving your path. You can do EVERYTHING you need to do to run a farm without leaving the path -- either on purpose or by accident.

I also thought of an "Improvement" which although was more efficient was nearly as "Easy-to-Harvest".

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It looks way cooler, especially if you integrate doors into the center of its edges (which I did), but unfortunately, the little "dips" in the inner square make it less convenient to harvest. I thought of this when I was trying to think of a configuration which would use the full 4-block radius of irrigation that water provides. In the final analysis though, the extra efficiency isn't worth the added trouble unless you really have a thing for style. Because it is stylish...just not as easy.

Quote from raze24 »

My pro farm:

2 levels of this with a huge tree farm on top.

It looks very nice and is very efficient in terms of illuminating all the wheat, but I can only imagine that harvest-time must be a pain, since you'll have to run all around in and out of your fields and irrigation ditches in order to collect all the crops. I made a farm like that once, but ultimately didn't like it because though it was nice and orderly to look at, it wasn't "easy to harvest".

It is a nice design, I like it. Eliminates the most annoying problems of wheat farming.

I prefer to just flood my walking channel anyway, mostly because it creates infinite water springs for my set-ups too.

Would there be any advantage to making flowing water instead of standing water? Seems like you could use the water flow much like a monster trap to collect your lootz (wheat). Interesting...

I really prefer Raze's farm. I want my rows to be linear so I can harvest and replant by just holding down the button for a while.

I've had good luck with this cross-section. The barriers behind the crops bounce the harvest and seeds back at you; the glass above the crop makes it impossible to walk over the crops yourself. The half step pathways prevent animal spawns. Once it's protected from animals, you need a pretty small greenhouse to supply all the wheat you could conceivably need.

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Quote from sinrakin »

I've had good luck with this cross-section. The barriers behind the crops bounce the harvest and seeds back at you; the glass above the crop makes it impossible to walk over the crops yourself. The half step pathways prevent animal spawns. Once it's protected from animals, you need a pretty small greenhouse to supply all the wheat you could conceivably need.

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I used a system similar to that in the farm right before I made my "backwalled shelf-farm". I thought: "If I put glass above the crops, then that will prevent me from straying over and accidentally walking on them." Unfortunately, those blocks of glass right at eye-level made me dizzy when I walked through my fields! That was certainly not something I was anticipating when i designed it. LOL

If it weren't for that little factor, I might have stuck with that design. I like your little greenhouse there, and the half-steps elevate you just enough to make re-planting less annoying than it is when you're a full-step down and the crops are at eye-level. That's the one non-easy thing about my design. Stupid Dizziness!

I like you guys' farming ideas.

I made one of my own for my greenhouse.












Underneath all of the half-tiles is water. I realize this much water is not needed, and you will still have to crouch walk across the tilled dirt to get and but I think it looks really nice.

Unfortunately, that misses the POINT of my design. The point of it is for an easy harvest. I don't mean to be overly harsh here, but any farm designs which are not focused on ease-of-USE for the player are irrelevant to this thread. Anybody can make a big field of wheat, the question is: "How much trouble do you have to go through to harvest and replant your fields without damaging them?"

edit:
Upon further reflection, I think I was a little bit harsh here.

Here is an example of a not-so-easy to harvest farm design:

I had to harvest alot to get enough seeds to plant this out ( >2500 crops).
Now I dont harvest it, preferring a smaller, easier to harvest crop.

That's a big field!!! Did you flood-harvest it? I saw a video once of someone who set up a system to flood their fields to auto-harvest it, and had collection channels set up. It does have some drawbacks though:
-Water moves items quite slowly, so it takes a while for all the wheat to be delivered to the collection point. For a small farm it's faster to manually harvest, but for 2500+ auto-harvest might be indicated.
-It is complicated to set up. It requires a lot of knowledge about how water flow works, and your entire architecture has to be based around this principle.
-It apparently yields no seeds. Ouch. Can't sustainably farm for very long using an auto-flood-harvest system.

I also just built a farm based on Sinrakin's design with the sunken half-step paths and glass-topped crops. I didn't get dizzy, possibly because I had draw-distance set to minimum for maximum frame-rate, and possibly because I mis-remembered. The glass did seem to "press in" on my head, since there's a weird disconnect between seeing open space below you, but narrow confined space around your head. Kinda disconcerting. Without the psychological elements though, it seems to be a fairly solid design, but is rather more labor to construct and uses a lot of glass. Also, I had a hard time figuring out where to put torches for faster growth. I eventually went with this pattern:
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If you're feeling particularly manly, you can replace the wood with something non-flammable and use lava in place of the torches. I'm 90% sure crops don't catch fire!

I have flood harvested once, manually with buckets. It works ok, most of the the wheat flows down to the bottom of the field. I do have a few double chests full of wheat from this farm, though i have probably gotten as much or more from a simple farm with <20 crops that is easy to harvest.

Main drawback for flood harvesting is no seeds created. I initially created this farm because I had too many seeds :smile.gif:
I think a well constructed auto-flood harvesting field combined with a setup similar to the OP's design for collecting seeds would work well together.
1. Use the small farm to collect wheat and seeds,
2. When you have enough extra seeds to re-plant the flood farm hit the button, flood the farm and re-plant.
3. repeat.
Could be handy to feed players on servers of the future.

At a large scale this design of farm should approach a 50% crop density. That's not TOO bad I don't think, considering the rapidity with which it can be harvested since you don't have to chase down stray seeds. Replanting though is a little bit more difficult at eye-level though as planting a crop close to you can block you from planting on the square just beyond it. Sinrakin's design is easier in that respect due to you being a half-step higher.

Hans, can we got some pictures of your setup? I'm having a hard time translating those diagrams into things I can understand.

Quote from RyAnimator »

Hans, can we got some pictures of your setup? I'm having a hard time translating those diagrams into things I can understand.

You're in luck! I JUST uploaded pics!

Here's the basic design: (I've added this one to the original post)


Here's the "Larger but less convenient" design.



Here's a design based on Sinrakin's claustrophobic greenhouse:


And here's an exterior shot of the "Large but less Convenient" design showcasing it's beautiful wood paneling:

I love these designs, even the "Large but less Convenient" one. I do some of the same with my farms, glass directly above the crops, and a lowered path next to the crops. Walls behind every crop makes them easily collectable.
I always get sloppy though, and don't wall/fence my farm in completely. Pigs trample my crops.
I should start making more secure farms, using halfsteps and walls/fences like the designs in this thread.

I use the design posted by Sinraken. =P I find it works nicely for me.

Ah, thank you. Now it makes sense. How are the outer dirt blocks hydrated? Do they just need to be x squares away from a water source?

Edit: 4 squares, just re-read OP, my bad.