FarmVille is an addictive Facebook game in which players build and manage their own farms — players grow crops, raise animals and construct barns, houses and fences. New FarmVille players start out with a handful of complimentary crops, but quickly begin asking themselves “what are the best crops to plant on my farm?“ I spent a few minutes putting together a spreadsheet that answers this question for you.
How do you figure out which crops are best to plant?
We can use a number of factors to determine which crops will perform best:
- Purchase and Sale Price — Planting a patch of seeds costs money, and different seeds have different values once it’s time to sell your harvest.
- Plowing Costs — In addition to the cost of buying seeds, you must spend coins in order to plow a patch of land before seeds can be planted.
- Harvest Time — Each crop has its own harvest time… some mature quickly, while others won’t be ready for days.
We can determine the net of planting a batch of seeds with the following formula:
Net = Sale Price − (Purchase Price + Plowing Cost)
But is that enough? No… we still have not considered how long it takes to harvest each type of crop. If we divide the net by the harvest time, we find out how much we’ll profit from that crop per hour:
Profit per Hour = Net ÷ Harvest Time
Crop Profitability Table
| Crop | Purchase Price | Sale Price | Harvest Time | Net | Profit per Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberries | 10 | 35 | 4 | 10 | 2.50 |
| Eggplant | 25 | 88 | 46 | 48 | 1.04 |
| Wheat | 35 | 115 | 69 | 65 | 0.94 |
| Soybeans | 15 | 63 | 23 | 33 | 1.43 |
| Squash | 40 | 121 | 46 | 66 | 1.43 |
| Pumpkin | 30 | 68 | 8 | 23 | 2.88 |
| Artichokes | 70 | 204 | 92 | 119 | 1.29 |
| Rice | 45 | 96 | 12 | 36 | 3.00 |
| Raspberries | 20 | 46 | 2 | 11 | 5.50 |
| Cotton | 75 | 207 | 69 | 117 | 1.70 |
| Bell Peppers | 75 | 198 | 46 | 108 | 2.35 |
| Peppers | 70 | 162 | 23 | 77 | 3.35 |
| Aloe Vera | 50 | 85 | 6 | 20 | 3.33 |
| Pineapples | 95 | 242 | 46 | 132 | 2.87 |
| Blueberries | 50 | 91 | 4 | 26 | 6.50 |
| Watermelon | 130 | 348 | 92 | 203 | 2.21 |
| Grapes | 85 | 270 | 23 | 170 | 7.39 |
| Tomtoes | 100 | 173 | 8 | 58 | 7.25 |
| Potatoes | 135 | 345 | 69 | 195 | 2.83 |
| Carrots | 110 | 200 | 12 | 75 | 6.25 |
| Coffee | 120 | 243 | 16 | 108 | 6.75 |
| Corn | 150 | 380 | 69 | 215 | 3.12 |
| Sunflowers | 135 | 315 | 23 | 165 | 7.17 |
| Cabbage | 140 | 388 | 46 | 233 | 5.07 |
| Green Tea | 105 | 191 | 10 | 71 | 7.10 |
| Black Berries | 75 | 117 | 4 | 27 | 6.75 |
| Red Wheat | 180 | 449 | 69 | 254 | 3.68 |
| Sugar Cane | 165 | 239 | 8 | 59 | 7.38 |
| Peas | 190 | 381 | 23 | 176 | 7.65 |
| Yellow Melon | 205 | 528 | 92 | 308 | 3.35 |
| Onion | 170 | 268 | 12 | 83 | 6.92 |
| Broccoli | 200 | 473 | 46 | 258 | 5.61 |
| Asparagus | 220 | 357 | 16 | 122 | 7.63 |
Note: one FarmVille day is 23 hours.
Using the table above, one can determine which of their available seeds would be the most profitable to farm. For example, a beginner planting a 12 × 12 farm of raspberries could potentially make 18,216 coins per day — (5.5 × 144) × 23 hours.
It’s tempting to start planting something with a high sale price such as wheat, but in reality its three-day harvest time quickly offsets the 115 coin payout. Berries are cheaper and mature faster, making them a much better choice for beginners who want to build up their money and experience. Of course, if you don’t have the time in your day to return after a few hours and collect your berry harvest, the plants will whither and you’ll take a loss…
