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[Squirrelly]

I've been playing DF for a few months and am on my sixth fortress.  From what I've read around here farming should be one of the lesser things I have to worry about, but it seems with my newest fort that something has gone wrong.  This is an otherwise wonderful fort, started with three biomes, mostly taken up with barren lands but more than enough woodland to provide starting food and wood.  I get farms set up, buy/gather seeds to start operations, and let things develop.  Having set crops for all seasons in all my farms and setting three of my now slightly over 100 dwarves (was around 60 dwarves when this problem started, friggin migrants) as farmers my fields are left almost entirely unutilized.  An underground chamber I flooded and had farms built in has only grown a few plump helmets.  This problem went on for some time because I had herbalists picking up the great slack left by the farmers.  Any clue what's wrong?

[Demonic Spoon]

Are you out of seeds? Remember cooking destroys seeds, while brewing, milling, processing and eating the raw plant gives you seeds. And it'd be best just to have a few highly skilled planters that do nothing else, since the growing skill affects plant stack size and thus the entire production line.

[Quatch]

You might also have all your seeds trapped in harvested but unused plants.

[Iapetus]

Also make sure that each plot is either entierly above ground or entierly below ground.  If a plot covers both types of tile, Things Will Go Wrong (tm).

[Elvin]

Check your farmer's labours and make sure they only have planting and possibly hood hauling on.

[Danarca]

Also make sure that each plot is either entierly above ground or entierly below ground.  If a plot covers both types of tile, Things Will Go Wrong™.

Fix'd.

[Albedo]

From what I've read around here farming should be one of the lesser things I have to worry about...

Well, not in the sense that "it will take care of itself", no, not at all.

Any clue what's wrong?

Farms produce raw plant material, which is not all edible.  What little is edible will get eaten and produce "some" seeds - but only if it's eaten (and then those seeds will be re-plantable only if they're stored in a stockpile.)

If you're not, as a player, producing seeds by designated brewing and/or plant processing, and then also monitoring your seed levels to make sure you have enough of every kind of seed, then you will have no seeds to grow those plants.

So... first, check that you have seeds (something you failed to mention, above.)  This in the z-stocks menu.  I'm going to guess this is the bottleneck.

If your seeds are not making it to the stockpiles, that's either because they are generic "food" stockpiles and full, or you have too many food hauling jobs for too few food haulers, and/or your food haulers have too many other labors enabled.  (It's low priority.)

[Squirrelly]

Turns out the problem was that I had not turned off all the default jobs on my planters and they weren't doing their jobs.  Thanks for the help.

[Albedo]

Dedicated growers have to be just that - "dedicated". 

On the bright side, in a dwarven year they'll be nearly legendary, and you can then start consider giving them additional jobs.

Enjoy.