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[LobsterFist]

Hi I'm new to these forums and Dwarf Fortress for that matter. I've played quite a few fortress so far using the wiki quick guide but I can never seem to get one thing done. That my friends is farming. I keep creating a farm plot inside a room with a clay for the floor and my Farmer Dwarfs are supposed to go farm it right? For some reason they don't. I've tried making it inactive and active again, and I've tried deleting it and making a new one. I've checked Dwarf Therapist and in-game to make sure they know they're supposed to farm but for some reason they don't. Any help would be appreciated.

[NecroRebel]

Making a farm plot in the first place is just like making any other building. Once it's set to be built, a dwarf (with the farming labor active) will come by and construct it, causing it to stop flashing; it'll just be solid brown double tildes ~. Once that's done, however, it has to be set to have actual crops grown in it; the default is for it to lay fallow every season of the year. To change that, you (q)uery buildings, scroll over the farm plot, and, using +-*/ and ENTER, choose a plant to plant there for the current season. Only one crop may be planted per farm plot per season. To see different seasons and set them as well, use abcd. Once a season's crop is decided, it will remain until you change it, so you really should just set all 4 seasons right after you first build the plot.

Once all this is done, farmers will simply take seeds and put them in a farm plot tile, which will turn to a brown = while something is planted there. After a time, the seed will disappear and a stack of 0 or more plants will appear, ready for harvesting. The size of the stack is dependent on the skill of the dwarf who planted the seed.

[LobsterFist]

I create a farm and it says Waiting for Construction... Needs Farming Fields Construction inactive and no one comes to construct it.

[NecroRebel]

Then you don't have the farming labor active on any dwarves, all the dwarves you have with the farming labor active are otherwise occupied, or all the dwarves you have with the farming labor active cannot reach the site. Alternatively, you haven't unpaused and given them a chance to actually pick up the job, but it doesn't sound like that's a problem.

[SarZ]

To maintain a steady supply of food, a 4 x 4 farmplot is enough untill you get 100+ dwarfs. Just make sure the farmer has no jobs enabled except farming, so no hauling whatsoever. This could be your problem too, that your farmer is just too busy doing other things! So disable any other labor for your farmer. This way you are sure you won't find yourself in a strange situation where you suddenly lack food or where your farmer won't even start farming in the first place!

[Garath]

Dwarfs have priorities on what job to do, and often the one you want them to do most is the one they will do last unless you force them to do it now. Create a burrow for your farmer over the plot and it'll be done in no time.

[GhostDwemer]

I just turn off all other labors on my initial farmer until more dwarfs with planting skill show up or he starts to idle too much. I've found giving my planter gem cutting skills gives him something quick to do when he runs out of seeds or plots.

[Mushroo]

"Farmer" and "Planter" mean two different things in Dwarf Fortress.

A "Farmer" might actually be a Miller, or a Cheese Maker, or...

To grow/harvest plants you actually need the "Farming (Fields)" labor enabled, which will give the dwarf the job description "Planter" if it's his/her highest skill.