For the sake of comparison, it is useful to have a reference to the yield rates (in thousands of litres per hectare) for the various grains available in the game.
| Grain | Not fertilized | Fertilized | Straw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | 12 | 24 | 30* |
| Barley | 11 | 22 | 30* |
| Canola | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| Corn | 12 | 24 | 0 |
| Potato | 40 | 80 |
0 |
| Sugar Beet | 35 | 70 | 0 |
| Grass | 32 | 32** |
0 |
| Corn chaff | 48 | 96 | 0 |
| Wheat chaff | 48 | 96 | 0 |
| Barley chaff | 44 | 88 | 0 |
| Canola chaff | 24 | 48 | 0 |
| Grass chaff | 45 | 45** | 0 |
- Both fertilized or not;
- Fertilizers have no effect on grass.
What should I plant?[]
Most new farmers quickly start to wonder which crop should be planted to make the most money. The three grains available earlier in the game (wheat, barley and canola) will essentially yield the same amount of money on average.
Market prices for each grain and each buyer get a chance to fluctuate by themselves every hour. Additionally, any sales on your part will likely cause the corresponding grain to drop in market price on the next hourly update. Because of these two factors, the best solution is to employ some rotation of crops and storage for strategic bulk sales when a particular location is buying during a great demand event or has been working its way up due to lack of grain sales. Many farmers use a simple spreadsheet with current pricing and the above yield rates to determine where their particular game instance seems to be fluctuating on prices and also employ a few notes to remind themselves when prices are historically on the high side and it is time to sell.
Corn is considered to be slightly lower in value per hectare. This, combined with specialized harvesting equipment leaves most farmers only choosing corn when they want to cut it into chaff for animal feed or biogas production. As with all crops, individual advantages (such as the particular field you are planting is close to the high bidders for corn) may weigh on what choice is best for a particular field.
Ultimately, sugar beet and potato are a favourite to grow as they can bring roughly 2.5x and 3x the money per hectare. This is offset, however, by the substantial equipment costs and very high yield forcing the player to make more runs to unload. Additionally, the harvesting equipment options are limited and narrow, requiring more passes in the field. Most farmers consider the starter harvesters for these two crops a relatively poor investment and choose to wait until they can purchase the larger units.