Farmers Destroy My Crops

[Sekkho Asmadi]

I have 1 farmer employed. My want is that they help me grub, fertilize, and sow seeds in fields that I have planned out. However, they're working behind me as I'm sowing plants and grubbing the fields that have existing growing crops in them. How do I get the farmers to STOP grubbing fields with growing plants in them?

[TheMole]

Set the field management page to show the same as you're planting in the field. Currently they're emptying the field as that is what you have the field set to be empty this time of year

[Sekkho Asmadi]

Got it thanks! Is there any way to disable some fields from being "seen" by that mechanic? I'd like to have a farmer or two working on the main group of fields, but reserve some fields for myself to plan and plant things on the fly.

[Sekkho Asmadi]

Otherwise, I feel like if there's a field with crops already growing in it. They should probably ignore those crops

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Sekkho Asmadi:

Got it thanks! Is there any way to disable some fields from being "seen" by that mechanic? I'd like to have a farmer or two working on the main group of fields, but reserve some fields for myself to plan and plant things on the fly.

Just don't set a crop for that field and the farmers won't touch it.

[Sekkho Asmadi]

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

Originally posted by Sekkho Asmadi:

Got it thanks! Is there any way to disable some fields from being "seen" by that mechanic? I'd like to have a farmer or two working on the main group of fields, but reserve some fields for myself to plan and plant things on the fly.

Just don't set a crop for that field and the farmers won't touch it.

I did this for three of my fields, but the farmer still plowed the growing crops under to bring the field back to fertilized. I wasn't sure if this was intended or not

[Kwalyz]

I would advise watching them for a season or so to determine in which order they visit the fields. Then set the fields that you want to work on to the fields that they visit last. So you have time to get the work done on those fields before the farmers have gotten through the rest of the work.
And if they have finished the rest of their tasks and are interfering with your manual field work, then you will need to temporarily make them unemployed or assigned to a different job.

[kyew]

I think I see what you might be doing wrong. I did the same thing when I first started.

If you have a crop in the field already, (seeds sown, growing, or ready for harvest) and you set the field to a different crop (or set it to empty) your farmers will destroy the existing crop. You have to wait until the current crop is harvested before changing the crop type in the management menu.

(Sorry if this was already said. I quickly scanned the other comments so might have missed it.)

[Sekkho Asmadi]

Rereading the first post and yours, that's exactly what happened. I set three of my fields to have no crops in them, then the farmer went to fields and started grubbing up all the growing crops.

I still think that the farmer should never do this, if there's a crop already growing they should leave them alone until their back at the correct state.

But I've also never seen an option to set up a farming schedule by the seasons. So far I've only seen field X = plant Y. Can you set it up per season somehow?

[Kwalyz]

Originally posted by Sekkho Asmadi:

Can you set it up per season somehow?

No.
Note: if the field is ready for harvest that season and you clear it’s assignment then the farmers WILL harvest the field and then NOT fertilise it. So at the start of season any fields that show gold coloured icons in the field management menu can be cleared of current assignments if you don’t want the farmers to prepare them for the next set of planting.

[kyew]

Originally posted by Sekkho Asmadi:

Rereading the first post and yours, that's exactly what happened. I set three of my fields to have no crops in them, then the farmer went to fields and started grubbing up all the growing crops.

I still think that the farmer should never do this, if there's a crop already growing they should leave them alone until their back at the correct state.

But I've also never seen an option to set up a farming schedule by the seasons. So far I've only seen field X = plant Y. Can you set it up per season somehow?

Not that I've seen. I get around this by making my fields specific to one single crop, no matter the season. That leaves fields without crops some seasons, but there's far less micromanagement involved that way. It takes some getting used to, but the system in place isn't too onerous once you've been through a few years in the game.

[kyew]

Something that might be more appropriate for the time you have in your game...

In the early stages of my villages, I usually only have one field (that gets bigger as I need more space for crops). This means I'll have several crops growing in the same field at any given time. If one crop needs to be harvested but the others are still growing, I make sure to harvest that crop myself, so I know it won't get plowed under by my drunk farmers. Then, as soon as I've harvested it, I go into field management and clear the crop designation from those tiles. That leaves it open for my farmers to fertilize (and plant if I choose to set that up). I rarely even have farmers working my single field in the beginning. There are far more valuable things they can be doing (like making fertilizer from rot), and it really takes almost no time to do it myself.

[Kwalyz]

Originally posted by kyew:

In the early stages of my villages, I usually only have one field (that gets bigger as I need more space for crops). This means I'll have several crops growing in the same field at any given time. If one crop needs to be harvested but the others are still growing, I make sure to harvest that crop myself, so I know it won't get plowed under by my drunk farmers. Then, as soon as I've harvested it, I go into field management and clear the crop designation from those tiles. That leaves it open for my farmers to fertilize (and plant if I choose to set that up). I rarely even have farmers working my single field in the beginning. There are far more valuable things they can be doing (like making fertilizer from rot), and it really takes almost no time to do it myself.

Farmers will NOT plough up a field ready for harvesting. They WILL harvest it first and then put fertiliser on it, then plough it.
If you clear the crop designation on a field that is ready for harvesting then the farmers WILL still harvest it.
If the crop assignment of a field which is ready to be harvested is cleared then the farmer will NOT fertlise it. Even IF they have harvested it first or if YOU have harvested it. If there is no crop assigned and the crop has been harvested then it won’t be fertlised by the farmer.
I use this mechanism (clear crop assignment for crops that can be harvested this season but that I don’t want planted again the current season) every season to ensure my farmers are focused on harvesting and planting the current crops and not spending time on future season tasks. I use this to ensure that the field I have set as spring-planted Wheat doesn’t get planted in Autumn.
The game gives a visual colour clue to those that are ready for harvest that season (gold/yellow) vs those that are not ready for harvest that season (green). So do NOT clear the crop assignment for any crops that are green in the field management menu.

[pdoan8]

Using one field to grow multiple crops won't be a problem. I always use it in early game. I would demolish it and build larger field when needed. What matter for AI farmer is matching the field setting in management and what is currently on the field.

The OP problem was setting the field to nothing while it has crop growing on it. The farmer then turn the field with crop into a field with nothing grown. That is not the farmer fault. The farmer did exactly what been told.

Personally, I have never used the management screen for farm. By the time I have a farmer, most crop fields have already completed at least one planting cycle. I also don't use the same field to grow different crop in different season.

[Foxglovez]

I am encountering so many problems with the farming system and worker system it is enough to make me throw this game in the toilet and flush vigorously. And now they used all my fertilizer on a field that will have no crop this season so that means the very last of it will disappear when the season changes and I will be short for next season. Man this ♥♥♥♥ is aggravating.
And I am getting all sorts of red numbers for my workers upper left corner that make me tear all around my town to try to figure that ♥♥♥♥ out. You just can't have all these different icons, none of which match one another from tab to tab so you can figure anything out. Explanation points in one area, numbers in another, some things red, some white, some not repeated anywhere. It is just crazy making.

If you are going to put an icon in one area, there should be an EXACTLY MATCHING icon in the follow up area. Explanation points are useless. They match nothing any where else. There needs to be easily readable and understandable definitions for these complex actions. If you make an action that will totally change something in the field mapping there should be a warning that says if you do this action then blah blah will be the result. Are You Sure? I mean, how hard would that be? Just another button but at least a chance to see you have screwed up. And no, one can't always remember to do a quicksave every 24 seconds. It wouldn't help anyway now as there is no indication anywhere that your action was going to be a problem until it already is one.

Yes, indeed I could go and spend 2-3 hours trying to find "current" information from utubers but a lot of what is out there is one to two yrs old and who knows if it's still up to date.

I am sorry but I gotta vent, I am so stressed out by this half asssed system. It looks so good but it is so poorly and/or not at all explained. Makes putting together an Ikea shelving unit easy. Numbers and icons that you can't find a match to, stupid little icons for wheat and rye that are impossible to distinguish between. Why the hell can't we have like, you know, NAMES when you mouse over the icons. Flax is the only one of the grains that isn't impossible to figure out. Surely they've sold enough copies of this game that they could get some junior intern to make some updates for QoL. And for accessibility.

And don't tell me to f'ing Get Gud or ahm gonna sic my pigs on you. Thank you for reading my rant. And always remember, when you see one complaint from one person there are many many more that just say screw it and leave, telling their friends to not bother. You can bet on my steam review this topic will come up as a real nightmare to try to figure out.
All right, now I really am done.

Next day: Ok, after much reading and vid watching I get it. Sorry for the slight (cough cough) overreaction but late night, long day, lack of patience with self and game. Bad combo. Rolls eyes at self. Thanks for all the help below.

[kyew]

Originally posted by Kwalyz:

Originally posted by kyew:

In the early stages of my villages, I usually only have one field (that gets bigger as I need more space for crops). This means I'll have several crops growing in the same field at any given time. If one crop needs to be harvested but the others are still growing, I make sure to harvest that crop myself, so I know it won't get plowed under by my drunk farmers. Then, as soon as I've harvested it, I go into field management and clear the crop designation from those tiles. That leaves it open for my farmers to fertilize (and plant if I choose to set that up). I rarely even have farmers working my single field in the beginning. There are far more valuable things they can be doing (like making fertilizer from rot), and it really takes almost no time to do it myself.

Farmers will NOT plough up a field ready for harvesting. They WILL harvest it first and then put fertiliser on it, then plough it.
If you clear the crop designation on a field that is ready for harvesting then the farmers WILL still harvest it.
If the crop assignment of a field which is ready to be harvested is cleared then the farmer will NOT fertlise it. Even IF they have harvested it first or if YOU have harvested it. If there is no crop assigned and the crop has been harvested then it won’t be fertlised by the farmer.
I use this mechanism (clear crop assignment for crops that can be harvested this season but that I don’t want planted again the current season) every season to ensure my farmers are focused on harvesting and planting the current crops and not spending time on future season tasks. I use this to ensure that the field I have set as spring-planted Wheat doesn’t get planted in Autumn.
The game gives a visual colour clue to those that are ready for harvest that season (gold/yellow) vs those that are not ready for harvest that season (green). So do NOT clear the crop assignment for any crops that are green in the field management menu.

Maybe YOUR farmers, but MY farmers do WHATEVER they WANT to do.

(kidding. just poking fun at your caps fetish)