Farm Manager 2018 Grow it, sell it, profit

Farming here starts with the soil. You prepare each field before planting, then choose from more than 20 crops: wheat if you like it simple, or apples, strawberries and cucumbers if you would rather run an orchard. Plants grow from fragile green seedlings to flowering, ripening rows, and they need watering during droughts. Neglect them and they fall ill, lose quality and eventually die. Every harvest has an expiration date, so timing matters: get the crop in and sold before it spoils. A greenhouse lets you sell fresh produce in early spring, when prices are on your side. It is a quiet loop of planning, tending and payday.

Your first workers do everything by hand, which is exactly as slow as it sounds. The way out is machinery: nearly 40 machines, new or used, with used ones cheaper but more likely to break down, especially under an inexperienced driver. Build a garage first so your tractor has somewhere to park. Buildings go beyond barns too, with more than 40 to choose from, including processing plants. Turn surplus milk into cheese or butter, or fruit into juice and frozen food, and sell the finished goods instead of the raw harvest. When disease hits your fields, a factory full of stored produce starts looking very wise.

Livestock starts small: bees, rabbits, turkeys. Work up to goats and cows if you want a real dairy operation. New animals need raising before they produce eggs or milk, and they all need feed and skilled caregivers. Bees are particular about their neighborhood: plant buckwheat or colza nearby and they will be happy. Sick animals need a vet, and breeding them means calling the inseminator. Animal products feed straight into your processing plans, so a barn of cows and a cheese plant make natural partners on the same farm.

The year sets the pace. Spring and summer fill your days with planting, watering and harvest planning, while winter slows everything down and gives you room to think about next season. Drought and torrential rain keep you adjusting, and the first frost is a deadline for getting crops in. The land itself is easy on the eyes: lengthening shadows, sunlight that shifts with the season, a rainbow during gentle rain. A photo mode lets you capture your farm in warm autumn colors or under a lightning storm, which is a nice reward for a year of good planning.