Crop rotation, fact or fiction

[NickelPlate]

I've seen alot of people post on here about how they are getting lower yields (but not giving any numbers just anecdotal observations) when planting the same crop over and over (leading to a crop rotation rumor) so I decided to take this to another level. All are welcome to post their results but please give numbers, the field numbers you're planting and your method of field preparation. My method of field prep is cultivate, seed, fertilize, harvest. Also please try to get the same seed and fertilizer coverage each time on your fields. Missed spots can and will result in differences. I merged fields 15 and 16 into one with a plough. So far I have the following results planting the below crops. I see no evidence so far that planting the same thing again and again results in decreased yield. I'll add more as I take more results:

Corn (two times in a row on fields 14, 15 and 16):
Run1 - 80475
Run2 - 80705

Canola (five times in a row on fields 14, 15 and 16);
Run 1 - 40275
Run 2 - 40415
Run 3 - 40415
Run 4 - 40402
Run 5 - 40387

[Old McZerO]

I have never gotten a lower yield from not rotating crops, nor have I read that you do until this post. The only logical reason to rotate and the main reason people do it is because the $/T price plummets after selling the same crop repeatedly.

[CornetPlayer]

Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

That's one of the reasons I started a Feature Request thread whereby yields should be reduced if the same crop is planted multiple times consecutively. I also feel that leaving a field fallow should also be required every now and then; otherwise, yields should drop.

[ScruffyBamboo]

That's one of the reasons I started a Feature Request thread whereby yields should be reduced if the same crop is planted multiple times consecutively. I also feel that leaving a field fallow should also be required every now and then; otherwise, yields should drop.

I also agree with this, 100%. This may not be the right place to ask, but does anyone know if this is the type of thing that is possible to modify, through .LUAs? I have a programming background myself, and I think that the code to enable variable crop yields (whether through crop rotation, differences in fertilizer/manure, etc.) would be relatively simple (and fun!) to write... it's something I might look into myself, if it's possible to do. I just don't know if GIANTS allows that kind of access to the mechanics of their game... if anyone has any knowledge about this, I'd love to know.

[Boosted]

I don't think the "suspicious" person is returning a lower yield due to continues plantation of the same field but rather, lower payment for the field do to market flooding of the particular product.

[NickelPlate]

I don't think the "suspicious" person is returning a lower yield due to continues plantation of the same field but rather, lower payment for the field do to market flooding of the particular product.

That's a good point and could very well be correct. One could easily make the mistake of thinking lower yield because the grain price changed unbeknownst to them and they got less money than before for the same trailer load of stuff. What I like to do is keep a notepad nearby and write down the starting price of all crops, this forms a baseline. Then as you see higher prices, record those on your notepad. After you do this awhile you'll get a pretty good picture of what the highest price you can ever expect a particular crop to sell for and plan your sell or hold strategy based on that.

Regarding the claim that selling the same thing over and over really causes causes prices to drop, that seems like more speculation to me and I'm not sure the price economic model is that detailed. In FS11, grain prices seemed random and changed once per day at midnight. I suspect it's still random in FS13 but prices change hourly now so it's a little harder to keep tabs on. I know I don't check prices every hour and take notes on maximums, that's just too tedious. Besides I'm playing on hard and money is difficult to come by so I'm still very much in the stage where I'm constantly saving for my next equipment purchase. So when a great demand comes along, I usually sell everything.

[Boosted]

I don't think the "suspicious" person is returning a lower yield due to continues plantation of the same field but rather, lower payment for the field do to market flooding of the particular product.

That's a good point and could very well be correct. One could easily make the mistake of thinking lower yield because the grain price changed unbeknownst to them and they got less money than before for the same trailer load of stuff. What I like to do is keep a notepad nearby and write down the starting price of all crops, this forms a baseline. Then as you see higher prices, record those on your notepad. After you do this awhile you'll get a pretty good picture of what the highest price you can ever expect a particular crop to sell for and plan your sell or hold strategy based on that.

Regarding the claim that selling the same thing over and over really causes causes prices to drop, that seems like more speculation to me and I'm not sure the price economic model is that detailed. In FS11, grain prices seemed random and changed once per day at midnight. I suspect it's still random in FS13 but prices change hourly now so it's a little harder to keep tabs on. I know I don't check prices every hour and take notes on maximums, that's just too tedious. Besides I'm playing on hard and money is difficult to come by so I'm still very much in the stage where I'm constantly saving for my next equipment purchase. So when a great demand comes along, I usually sell everything.

You are correct, prices do fluctuate up and down at random everyday, however if you take large loads, or multiple loads of the same crop day after day the price does drop. when I played initially in easy mode, I saw wheat go from like $1500 to $850 after dropped off almost 2 full semi trailers of wheat.

EDIT: I'm not sure if this affects all drop points, but it will deff lower the price at the station in which you dropped the crop at.

[CornetPlayer]

Selling large amounts of product drives down the selling price. When I started (Normal mode), canola was a guaranteed money-maker: $1250. I sold lots. Now, the price hovers around $800, if I'm lucky.

[traveler159]

I'm playing normal.

I stacked barley, got up to 900k in silos over 90 hours (Wich never rotten btw). Sold it when it was on high demand at 1012/ton at inn. Before I could sell my last trailer, the price went down to 512/ton.

The price will stabilize on its own after you sell pretty much of everything. My price for canola was down to 600/ton at the inn, but it is now back to around 1200.

So you pretty much have to plant/harvest everything in order to get decent prices.

As for the silos, Im up to 1 000 000 potatoes. So I guess there is no limit.

[NickelPlate]

I've been selling nothing but canola every game day for the last week (in game days) because it just keeps coming up as great demands at different sell points. So I keep planting and harvesting it as long as their is a demand for it. The price honestly is fluctuating up and down. I generally just plant whatever I have the least amount of in storage, rotating as necessary and try to keep everything in storage so when the great demands come up I've got something to sell at an inflated price.

[Fauztran]

Although I understand that the prices fluctuate, I've always felt since FS2011, that Canola is the money maker without looking at it closely. Is it really, though? Is canola the money maker or only when its in big demand? Ignoring demands, which crop averages the best income?

[Staalker]

In my testing, Barley was the best money maker until you could afford sweet beets.

Here's why.

Barely is the highest priced straw grain, and it yields very close to wheat and corn. In addition to the grain itself, you also get straw which allows you to make bales to sell.

Compared this to wheat, and you will always make more money.

Canola, while nearly double the price of straw grains yields about half of what wheat and barley do. If you could sell canola for 1200, which is a typical early game price, you'd be able to sell barley for 600 typically. If a field would give you 5000 canola, it would give you 10000 barley. So, pretty similar in what you will make off of it.

But canola does not give you straw, and the bales can be sold as well.

Also, the price of barley doesn't fluctuate as much as canola.

Sugar beets will typically offer the largest gain, because a single field will get you double or triple what you get from the grain crops. However, the set up to do sugar beets is costly, and trying to do it too early would leave you struggling. But once you can afford the equipment, it should pay for itself quickly with just a few fields. And the price of root crops (potato and sugar beets) don't fluctuate that much. They stay steady unless you flood the market.


Now, as for crop rotation. I have tested various fields and found that the yield does not decline if you plant the same crop over and over again. Since the game has no way for you to track what you planted on a field last, it would be silly to make that true.

However, prices for crops DO decline if you flood the market.

As an example, I took three massive fields and managed to sell over 1 million barley in a 7 day period. During that time I made a hefty sum from it, but noticed the price dipping by larger amounts when it went downward. The starting price had been 742 per ton, but after 7 days and 1 million units flooding the market, the price was just over 300.

The price did still go up and down each hour as it always does, but each day that I dumped a large load at the mill, if the price went down it would go down in a large chunk. From 742 to 600. It may climb back up to 650 before the day was done, but then it would dip again to 500.

It takes a lot of time and flooding of the market with a singular crop to make the price drop, but it's doable.

However, doing so could work in your favor. I watched wheat climb to 900 and canola was over 2000. By flooding the market with one crop it lowered it's global value, but raised the global value of other crops in it's place.

it's a dynamic economy, and if you time and play it right you can force prices up on a crop and sell a massive amount quickly to make a killing. But be careful when you do, it can dip the price of that crop quickly, before the previous crop has stabilized and recovered in pricing. Leaving you with a lot of low price crops. And you don't want a 100k units of wheat in your silo just rotting away.

For the most stable market, you want to rotate crops. Not for yield, but for value. Filling the market with a variety of crops means prices stay stable.

Cheers.