Farmland questions

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

What is the best way to build farmland?

Do you get more revenue/population if you build a bunch of very small farms(getting many farm houses with small plots of land) or is it better to build very large farms? Which method gives you more jobs?

Thanks,
SeeSpotSplat

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

What is the best way to build farmland?

Do you get more revenue/population if you build a bunch of very small farms(getting many farm houses with small plots of land) or is it better to build very large farms? Which method gives you more jobs?

Thanks,
SeeSpotSplat

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

What is the best way to build farmland?

Do you get more revenue/population if you build a bunch of very small farms(getting many farm houses with small plots of land) or is it better to build very large farms? Which method gives you more jobs?

Thanks,
SeeSpotSplat

[E.Diessner 0]

I like building many small farms (But this is just my personal preference) .

My farm land always ends out decent though.

Good luck.

~Eric

[zwr100 2]

I'm pretty certain the number of farm jobs depends on the number of tiles / squares zoned farming rather than the number of farms.  Farms take up a lot of space for the number of jobs provided.  I'm not sure the exact impact of providing water.

To make my farms look nice I make a small area and let it develop, then make another small area right next to it and let it develop, and so on to get a more natural look.  You can fill big areas this way to get every tile filled, but end up with a better looking area than just big rectangles/squares of farms.  If your main goal is jobs you will want to fill every tile possible, but you can make it look a little less grided this way

I try to give them odd shapes, and even de-zone some tiles to make them look nicer.  I've noticed that small/tiny farms dont' develop as fast so I've even made big farms with the intention of de-zoning a portion.

This is a shot I had on hand, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

You could leave less blank space to fit more jobs, but keep the jagged look if it suits you.

[bigthing 35]

Here is a tutorial

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

So far my methods have been similar to that of zwr100 and the tutorial posted by bigthing, just making the farms look good. But I want them at max efficiency too =)

I did some testing the last few days and have noticed that the largest farms only provide 10 jobs(I am assuming that the jobs you get when you query the farmhouse are the only jobs added to the final count.) These seem to build only when you get above a 5x5 square. However when I go below that (like 4xwhatever) I can get anywhere in between 2-8 jobs. I still don't know how to control the size of farmhouse that builds. Two pieces of farmland the same size will have completely different job numbers. I have no idea what factor controls this. I would like to have all 8-job farms.

Another thing is that even if I make a very large farm(like 20x20) It still only produces 10 jobs in the query. Does that mean that most of the land is wasted?

It looks like the tax amount doesn't even change. If I delete half the farmland the amount of taxes I get doesn't change. It really seems like you want to get the farms as small as possible and the farmhouses as large as possible for max tax/jobs.

[SC4BOY 21]

You can quickly affirm that it is NOT the actual count.. measure (query) the farms you have.. then look at the RCI graph and see how many farm workers you have.. you will have far more than you queried. The workers are related to how many "non-decayed" farm field tiles you have.. this also is related to how many freight loads it makes too ... I suppose that since most farm houses have higher "workers/tile" that you are correct.. more and smaller farms.. In the end just make them the way you want to do what you're trying to do... even if you had every farm to be only the building, it still wouldn't be a significant difference in a major way in tax income.. and look what the fields would look like.. like crap.. So in the end just make what seems aesthetic to you and don' t worry about it.. There is also a possibility that the number of freight may relate to your income.. I've not seen where anyone has studied that.. I know for each freight that leaves the city tile, you get a cap relief of about 20 Industry .. forget exact number.

[SeeSpotSplat 0]

Duh... I should have noticed that. a quick check proves the total job count MUCH higher. So the number of jobs is directly related to the number of tiles. However the tax amount is only related to the size of the farmhouse. For instance a lot roughly 40x40 tiles will always give just about 200 jobs in the RCI graph. However the amount of taxes depends on the type of farmhouse that builds (Which means that the 40x40 tile lot only produces one farmhouse of income which is only a few $.) Also having a freight route doesn't seem to change the amount of tax received.

Just doing a really basic test using the same area(including spacing between multiple farms):
 

FARM SIZE & COUNT	JOBS FROM RCI	INCOME	COMMENT
1 farm @ 20x20 tiles	62	$10	Income with a large farmhouse
16 farms @ 4x4 tiles	47	$61	With only smallest farmhouses due to 4x4 tile size
9 farms @ 6x6 tiles	60	$87	Many large farmhouses provide more jobs due to high "workers/tile" as SC4BOY pointed out

So it seems that you want many medium sized farms with large farmhouses which works well for my aesthetic style so woohoo!

[Spinmaster 75]

Tax income doesn't actually come from the workers - in any job. It comes solely from the buildings, based on the buildings' worth vs. the tax rates you've set. More workers does indirectly mean more tax revenue, but only because those workers have to live somewhere - you're getting extra tax income from their homes, which as buildings also have a "worth" attached, not because of where they're working or even what the wealth level is of the job. A poor R$ sim working in a CO$$$ job generates no more tax income than one working on a farm. If he lives in a trailer, you get tax income based on that trailer's worth, that's all. Really this isn't much unlike real life when you think about it, at least in the US, though it does vary by city even here. Most cities in the US don't charge "income" tax... but there are some that do (won't ever find me living in one though). The state might, and the federal government of course does... but the city doesn't get any income tax collected by the state or federal government. Ok, yes it does... indirectly via grants and various programs, including state and federally-sponsored infrastructure projects. But you as mayor are already getting that, indirectly. Do you really think it only costs 10 cents to build a 16m stretch of road? Costs a lot more than that just to repair a single pothole or install a speed bump! ALL cities do, however, charge "property" taxes.

Once a lot develops, the tax from it stays the same based on the building's "worth." What buildings develop will depend on demand though. Higher demand -> larger buildings -> higher worth. Of course if a building dilapidates or abandons for whatever reason, it's worth less (sans the space if abandoned). Of course farms can't dilapidate, they're already low-wealth. They can abandon though, without power or roads, and the fields can "rot" if they're too close to traffic. Anyway, this "worth" value is also why many small farms provides more tax income than a few big ones - the farm fields don't have any "worth" at all, so you don't get any tax income from them, only from the farmhouses. The fields do employ 1~2 workers per grid square though, so again, you get something indirectly from the additional workers' housing.

But like many things in SC4, reality is in the eye of the beholder. If all you're looking for is income from farms, then "many small farms" is the answer. Then again though, why build farms at all? Even with many small ones, they're by far the weakest money-makers for the space they take up, even small ones (though granted, they also don't consume much for amenities... power is about it, and very little at that). I'd say go with whichever strategy is "real" to you, really depends on your own experience. Some parts of the world are a checkerboard of tiny, 2-hand farms. In other places there are farms that take up huge swaths of land, almost city-size by themselves. You can make either (or even both) work just fine in SC4. Many small farms will also require more power, more roads, higher capacity roads and possibly bigger/more freight stations, rails and ports. And that much freight traffic buzzing around all those farms will make more of them subject to rotting fields. So you'll get more tax revenue, yes, but you'll end up spending more of it on infrastructure and services anyway. Myself, I never focus on the tax revenue from farms. If I don't have enough income (which is pretty rare in farm-only cities anyway), I cut services if I can, zone some more residential if there's demand for it, or even zone a little ID if necessary.

[zwr100 2]

I believe the smallest farms the game will let you zone is 4 x 4?  Once a farm is made though, you could bulldoze the fields and try to get more farm buildings.  Hmmm, I might have to play around with that.

Regarding the added costs of denser farms...  When I build farms, sometimes it is just to get the farmers market and give my dumb sims jobs until I educate them. So ultimately, I'm laying the infrastructure for bigger and better things anyway.  When I look at city expenses, roads are usually a very low cost - so if I intend to make a grid later, but farms now I might as well put farms in the grid rather than trying to make big farm fields.  Last but not least, it does seem like big farms develop better than little ones...just thinking in writing.