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How to farm in Minecraft

The production of resources can be very useful in Minecraft. While at the beginning of the game you are still completely dependent on gathering and hunting, with the introduction of farming in Minecraft you can easily multiply your plants and thus create a steady income of resources. Here you’ll get a brief overview of how to cultivate fields in Minecraft.

Overview Minecraft Farming:

  • easy way to get food 
  • basics: Soil/dirt, light, water
  • different kinds of farms possible
  • huge repertoire of plants to farm

Minecraft: How to plant seeds

Plants in Minecraft require dirt or farmland, water, space and light. In addition, the growth of most plants can be accelerated with bone meal. To help you plant your seeds and successfully farm in Minecraft, let’s take a closer look at the factors one by one:

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Thanks to Minecraft farming, golden fields improve your world’s aesthetics

Minecraft dirt and farmland

Usually, plants grow on dirt. However, arable plants such as pumpkins, melons or carrots need special farmland. You can create this by digging up ordinary dirt with a hoe. This way, you can create a field that can then be watered. With the help of farmland, you can grow wheat or melons in Minecraft, for example.

Of course, there are some exceptions, such as seaweed or kelp, which only grows under water. Cocoa, for example, can only be grown on jungle tree trunks, while grass and flowers require grass blocks. Mushrooms don’t require a specific soil and can grow on any solid block.

How to water your plants in Minecraft

Just like your houseplants, plants in Minecraft have very different requirements for their own water supply. Basically, most plants will grow without targeted watering. However, arable plants grow much faster if they are placed on moist farmland. Moist farmland occurs when water is no more than four blocks away.

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Staying within a 4-block water radius – your plants will flourish!

However, if you want to grow sugarcane in Minecraft, you need water in the field right next to it. Sea pickle, seaweed, and kelp must be planted in water to grow.

How to plant a field in Minecraft

The growth of your arable plants depends not only on the soil and its moisture, but also on how your field is laid out. Basically, plant growth benefits if the farmland around your block is also moist. In addition, the growth value decreases if there are blocks on two edges of the farmland on which the same plant grows. This also happens if there is an identical plant growing diagonally to the block.

It follows that you should lay out your field so that a row of planted farmland is followed by a row of empty, moist farmland. In addition, there should be moist farmland between your water source and a planted row to maximize growth. Since water can be no more than four blocks away, this results in the ideal structure of an acre:

The ideal field structure in Minecraft

First lay out a row of water, followed by a row of empty farmland, which in turn is followed by a row of planted farmland. Now always leave a row of unplanted, moist farmland between planted rows. Once you have three rows of planted farmland, another row of farmland follows before you plant another water source next to it. This way, each of your plants has the maximum usable space, is always supplied with moisture and consequently grows as fast as possible.

Light and plants in Minecraft

While most plants grow at any light level, you need at least light level 9 for crops and trees. You can display the light level at any time by pressing F3. Before planting a field, make sure that it is bright enough. Otherwise your agricultural plans are doomed to failure.

Harvesting plants in Minecraft

Once your plants are fully grown, it’s time to harvest them. Usually you only have to hit the plant once with your hand. However, for some plants – such as trees or melons – the axe is useful, since it increases the speed of harvesting considerably. For plants such as seaweed, grass or ferns, you need a pair of scissors for harvesting.

Minecraft Farm: Ideas for Every Player

Once the basics are clear, you need to decide which farm you want to create. There are more options than seem possible at first glance. Tutorials and guides of the various Minecraft farm ideas can be found quickly, but it immediately becomes clear that not every farm is exactly like the others. For sure, you’ll find the perfect principle for your Minecraft world. Nevertheless, you should pay attention to the points in which the different farms differ:

  • the type of crops grown
  • the degree of automation
  • the size
  • the time needed for building
  • the materials needed
  • the efficiency

Many of these points influence each other. Of course, the bigger you make a farm, the more materials, time and also space you need. At the same time, Minecraft farm ideas based on full automation are usually much more efficient, but also often require materials that are not easy to obtain in survival mode.

Are There Minecraft Automatic Farms?

Many players have already asked themselves this question, tinkered and found solutions, because the answer is yes, Minecraft farming can run automatically. This means that the plants can be grown, harvested and collected without you having to do anything yourself for it, once the farm is running. However, this comes with requirements that make it difficult to implement such a Minecraft farm idea at the beginning of the game. As the game progresses, you can get closer and closer to this goal. Until then, there are also two “preliminary stages” of automation and each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Type 1: Non-Automated Minecraft farming

This type is basically what you mean by Minecraft farming in the simplest means. You create a field, plant it, wait and harvest the plants before planting new seeds. It’s simple, and even at the beginning of the game it’s enough to provide you with necessary food. Manual farming is reliable and not to be underestimated in the gameplay, even if it seems very simple compared to other methods. 

Another advantage is that this way you’ll be able to grow any plant, as long as you respect its conditions, such as soil material or light. So you don’t have to decide if you prefer the classic plants like wheat, carrots, potatoes or beetroot to the “fancier” plants like cacti, melons, pumpkins and mushrooms. 

AdvantagesDisadvantages
every size possibleplanting/harvesting done manually
similar procedure for every planttakes time
easy builtlittle efficient
little material needed

Type 2: Semi-Automatic Minecraft Farming

Going one step further, you can switch your farm to semi-automatic. In most cases, you do this by using water. This is done by sending a redstone signal from a button to a dispenser. Then your field is flooded and the plants are flushed to a collection point and end up in boxes thanks to hoppers. So you only have to press one button and save yourself some harvesting time. Unfortunately, you still have to replant the plants. In addition, this method only works with plants that can also be harvested by water and do not only flow away after being dropped. 

AdvantagesDisadvantages
bigger farm possibleplanting done manually
fast harvestingRedstone needed
more efficientnot possible: cactus, melon, pumpkin

Type 3: Minecraft automatic Farms

The goal of every player is an automatic Minecraft farm. This must be built once and put into operation. After that, you can take your materials from the collection chests at any time. Water is also used in this type, but no longer for harvesting, but as a means of transportation. Likewise, there are many variants in which minecarts with hoppers are used to make a Minecraft automatic farm. Basically, you can decide whether you want to technically expand your farm with redstone, redstone torches, carts, hoppers, rails, observes, pistons or note blocks. If this is too much work or too difficult for you, you can also capture a few villagers and lock them up in your farm. However, they can’t farm all the plants. The advantage of this type is easy to see: You don’t have to re-plant yourself. Either the villagers take over this task for some plants, or you benefit from the fact that melon, pumpkin, cactus and mushroom can be harvested in such a way that the base of the plant is preserved. The Minecraft farm ideas for automatic farms are not only the most popular, but also are the easiest to find among the numerous tutorials.

AdvantagesDisadvantages
all sizes possibleconstructing takes time
similar structures applicable for many plantsoften a lot of materials and redstone needed
highly efficient 
Automatic & efficient: This could be your Minecraft farm!

The Most Popular Minecraft Farm Ideas

Since Minecraft farming is all about food gathering, it’s no wonder that a number of Minecraft farm ideas have been caught on in the community. We would like to briefly introduce you to the most popular ones. In the beginning, it always revolves around the question of which plant you want to grow.

Minecraft Wheat Farm

It is the classic among farms. If you imagine a typical farm, you think of wheat. It can be planted according to the basics and even turned into a semi-automatic farm, because it can be harvested by flooding. After that, you can use wheat to attract animals or make bread to sustain yourself on adventures. 

Similarly to wheat, you also deal with carrots, potatoes and beetroot, which is why these plants are often mentioned in connection with the Minecraft wheat farm. Nevertheless, in the first days of the game, probably nothing beats the classic crop.

Minecraft Cactus Farm

Cacti can hurt you if you’re not careful, but if you can harvest them, they’re very useful. You can make green dye from them. So, in addition to a Minecraft cactus farm, many players also directly build a so-called XP farm, where they produce this dye. Besides, the farm is convenient because it can be easily converted into a fully-automatic farm without many tools, where you don’t even need pistons or redstone to harvest. You just have to take advantage of the plant’s property that it will be destroyed if there is a block right next to it. So if you put blocks high enough, the plant will self-destruct when it reaches the right height as it grows. And the base of the cactus will remain intact. 

Minecraft Melon Farm & Minecraft Pumpkin Farm

Separating these two farms is possible, but players quickly realized that it is best to combine them. The plants should not be too close to each other, because otherwise they will grow much slower. But if there is a pumpkin plant between two melon plants, or vice versa, this does not affect the growth. So you can still save space at the same time! Similar to the cactus, the stem of the plant is not lost when it is harvested, so you don’t have to replant it. As a result, this farm can be converted into a very effective automatic farm with the help of pistons, carts and redstone. 

Minecraft Mushroom Farm

This farm is most popular among those players who are into brewing potions or cooking. Mushrooms are not only a food in the game, but are needed to make fermented spider eyes, which can then be used in many potions. Mushroom farms can also be fully automated even in small sizes, with even just one mushroom, or make them semi-automatic thanks to harvesting through water, so you don’t get too many mushrooms. So even if you need mushrooms rather rarely, you can build your own mushroom farm in a corner with a few small techniques, without spending much time. 

Secure the trade monopoly on fungi with your Minecraft mushroom farm

Those are the most popular Minecraft farm ideas amongst players to secure their provisions. Some may sound easier than the others, but as explained above it really depends on more than just one factor and you may differ your farm in size and automation to make it fit your own personal Minecraft farm ideas.

Useful tips for farming in Minecraft 

  • If you apply bone meal to a plant by right-clicking on it, you can significantly accelerate its growth.
  • Mobs can destroy arable soil. Therefore, it is recommended to fence and illuminate your fields.
  • Villagers with the profession of farmer can plant some plants on their own.

Conclusion Minecraft farming 

Now you know all the essentials about farming in Minecraft. Have you always dreamed of your own sprawling farm that you run together with your friends? With a Minecraft server from G-Portal, this dream can quickly and easily become a reality.

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