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[Mephansteras]

So, I'm starting to take a closer look at farming. Up till now, I've just sort of made farm plots and potash and let things go. But I want to get a better handle on it.

So, my questions:

1) How big of a plot can 1 farmer seed? And does the growing skill improve this number?

2) What's a good ratio of farmers to overall population? I tend to have maybe 1/5th - 1/4th of my population farming in some capacity (growing, weaving, butchering, etc). Is that excessive?

[John Johnston]

I use about 1/8th.  I'm finding two small (5x5) farm plots sufficient to support 100 dwarves (although I do buy food from the caravans quite often).  Sweet pods make an excellent crop - grow them, then process them to barrels at the farmer's workshop to make dwarven syrup (and release the seeds), then cook the syrup for a *lot* of food.  Combine sweet pods and pig tails (for brewing / cloth) and things are good!
You should need maybe 2-4 dedicated growers, a dedicated thresher, a dedicated cook and a dedicated brewer (although it's always good to have more) to get a couple of 5x5 plots working well.  Growing skill (as I understand) increases the yield you get from each farmed tile.  Higher growing skill -> more yield per tile (in a stack) -> more dwarven syrup per tile (in a stack) -> Dwarf Syrup Roast (70) and similarly stupendously large amounts of food.
A masterpiece dwarf syrup roast of that size at present is equivalent in worth to several fine suits of steel plate.  Don't ask me, I only work here...

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: John Johnston ]

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: John Johnston ]

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: John Johnston ]

[Foxy111]

Since fairly early days of my current fortress, I've had two farmers, a 10x10 farm plot, two cooks, and two brewers. This has consistently produced a ridiculous food and alcohol surplus; I'm now at 202 dwarves and have switched one of the farmers to hauling jobs because I've run out of food storage.

[Trollvottel]

1)
"How big a plot can 1 farmer seed" - not easy to answer  
AFAIK the farmers get one "plant" task for each square of the plot.

So a 5x5 plot adds 25 "plant" tasks to the overall job list, and your farmers will  try to complete those.
Higher skill means they will plant the seed (in one square) faster, and harvest bigger stacks (which means more finished meals in one barrel, and thus less storage space needed.)

2) In my last fortress I sorta let things escalate ... built small plots for nearly everything, spent half an hour setting up stockpiles; 2 kitchens, 2 querns, 2 stills, 1 farmer's workshop. Ordered about a hundred barrels and leather bags, too.
When I next got a "cancels job, needs barrel" task, I found that I now have -
with a total of 80 dwarves, 12 of them in farming/milling/processing:
900 Booze
1100 prepared meals
600 seeds
190 dwarf syrup etc
Absolutely no more food storage space

I've now removed most farms, the rest are Fallow for a year - and I'm cooking lavish meals like crazy, mainly in order to get rid of excess plants and to free those seed bags. (Also we have trade agreements: both human and dwarven traders are willing to pay 209% for prepared food this year. Muhaha  

[greggbert]

If both your farmer and brewer are skilled and specialized, and you only cook alcohol,  then a 5x5 plot and a single farmer can easily provide enough booze and food for 50 dwarves.  A skilled farmer will turn one seed into multiple plants, and a skilled brewer will turn one plant into a lot of alcohol.  Then you can cook the alcohol and you get all the benefits of the meal without losing the seeds.

[numerobis]

I had 36 tiles of farmland, half of it devoted to pig tails for cloth production.  I'm now down to a more sane 21 tiles (a 3x3 and 3 2x2s, to grow a variety of booze crops).  It's not worth the effort to cull that down further.

That said, I also practice a substantial amount of animal husbandry; my last action before exiting last night was to order the slaughter of just under a quarter of my herd -- 25 adult muskoxen and two-humped camels.

I have two or three dedicated food guys; a number of others occasionally brew or cook or butcher or tan hides.  20% of my fortress is soldiers; the rest are largely unemployed and just haul stone and ore.

[Zirallan]

I normally have two 5x5 plots and about 10 farmers and one or two brewers. Once my fortress gets going decently I tend to end up with an insane surplus of food and drink. By the time I hit 100 dwarves I regularly have between 800 and 1000 (if not more)food and the same for drink. I don't cook food either. I can't remember the last time I even built a kitchen since I'm not so interested in selling prepared meals as I am simply feeding the fortress. Occasionally when I don't feel like making barrels and storage space I tell one or both of my fields to grow pig tails or rope reed for a season or two.