Certified Organic Farming

[John Petersen]

Hello. I really like your Farming Simulator games. I'm very happy with them.

As an avid RL gardener I am shooting for organic farming in my back yard. I would very much like to own and work a Certified Organic Farm in Farming Simulator. A farm based on RL Certified Organic Farming.

I see you're adding horses-- they would make great plow pullers for a Certified Organic Farm.


Maybe some things to add to COF:

-Ferts: Worm farming, worm composting, vermicompost, worm casts, worm cast tea; Maybe some more green manures with harvesting potential; Composted cow manure. You might be able to add a whole mixing tools and ratio mechanics that goes with it.


-Nutrient and Water control- NPK, micro nutrients, macro nutrients, ph, water quality etc. I played a game a long time ago where the player would have to control all of these things or the crops would respond accordingly. The majority of FS players probably don't want to play this particular style--yet. It might be a cool dlc or something. But for me, I want to apply any farming knowledge to my garden.


Thanks for your time. Back to the farm.

[lefe1]

I'm Not in anyway putting you down or making fun of you.. but I would not buy that game and I been a FS fan since FS13.. maybe others would but not me..

[BigC92]

I would love to see a functioning garden, kinda setup like the greenhouses, but you choose what to grow, but what your asking is way to much, ill give you credit for brainstorming, but i wouldn't buy the game either, all you need is manure, water, and to pull weeds now and again. And i have a 22.5 HP Craftsman Lawnmower with an electric lift to pull a plow/cultivator, just saying.

[Guitarman]

In theory I'd love to see organic farming in the game. But the others are right its way too much. There's a ridiculous amount of constraints to get certified, not to mention the reviews and all the other things that go into it.

Take field size, if I'm right (under soil association regulations, might be different elsewhere) no one point on the field can be further than 200m from a green habitat (such as hedge, or bank). Or its something along those lines, it was a while since a read the specification.

To calculate and enforce that for every field would be a nightmare if people wanted to just farm, every field would have to be planned and micro managed.

For now I dont see a problem with just using a weeder over spraying weeds off in fs19. Along with things like chopped straw and manure mod to get everything fertilised.

[mattbrun12]

Technically you can do organic farming now. Everything you listed about testing the soils are things that conventional farms do as well, it's the products you use to adjust those numbers that makes a farm organic or not. I would rather they spend time developing equipment, maps, textures and the ground instead of adding things that would not be used by the majority of the people playing. Just don't use fertilizer or spray, like Guitarman said, use manure and the weeder. Also, a horse pulling a plow doesn't make a farm organic. My neighbor is a certified organic farmer and he has big tractors just like everyone else.

[Procobator]

Like others said. You can play organic now. Just don't plow(NRCS regulations for soil management) spray or fertilize anything. Manure and slurry will be tricky because it would need to come from organic sources. Also, all feed for animals need to also come from organic sources. It will definitely add some restrictions to your game. Too much for myself but maybe it would work for you?

[malachi6]

Farming sim is a vehicle simulator. Going organic would kinda defeat the point and make the game very niche.

Also, given that not many people would want to play organic. The development costs for it as an additional feature would not be worth the return. A better solution would be the modding community.

[jamesadams933]

I think they could implement a simple version of it fairly easy, you use no chemicals on that field it sells for a bit more type thing

[Gimli54]

I would have to agree that they could implement a way to reward people who went the extra mile to try and run organic farms but I for one (and I could imagine there are others with a similar view) would have to say that going extremely in depth for organic farming wouldn’t appeal to a wide range of the fan base like I said they can start adding and changing things to reward more to organic farmers and maybe down the road add some mechanics that would appeal to organic farmers but I don’t think focusing on that for one iteration would be wise

[kahfs]

John Petersen. It is all about make belief. Although it is not completely realistic and mayby not 100% organic, I frequently pretend, that my FS farms are organic. I install placeable mods for fertilizer (solid and liquid) and seed production and use my own crops/waste to produce it. And I feed the animals with my own crops. At the moment I'm also trying out the Jambon Factory mod. So, I pretend I'm selling organic porc meat.

On a small scale, it would be nice if, following certain "organic faming" rules, you could be rewarded a slightly higher sales price for your products. On the other hand, if you play with the MoreRealistic mod, you can scale the prices of most crops and farming products yourself. I downscaled the prices to fit average real life prices this way.

[secondsCount]

... I know I'm replying to an older topic here, but it is an idea I've thought about from time to time.

I think they could implement a simple version of it fairly easy, you use no chemicals on that field it sells for a bit more type thing

This would be the best place to start. But it requires a bit of code to create an "organic" status for each field and to add a higher price for the product from and organic field. All fields would have the status set to "organic". So, if you use a mechanical weeder and just animal manure (organic manure) then your field status is maintained and you get a premium price for your crop. As soon as you spray with chemicals or use chemical fertilizers your status is lost. (...but there could maybe, be a reset after some period - eg. 72 hours. Like there is a reset for selling prices now). Players not interested in organic farming would just play the game as per normal, and notice no difference.

This way there is no "management nightmare". You make an effort to go organic, or you just ignore it and play the game.

I would have to agree that they could implement a way to reward people who went the extra mile to try and run organic farm

To keep everything simple, use the Giants placeables concept. Here are a couple of ideas.
1. Worm Farm:- a placeable worm farm would take manure, slurry, chaff, and turn it into organic fertilizer. You'd fertilize your field with this, and thus maintain your "organic" status. (Don't get bogged down in technical concerns about whether animal manure is organic).

2. Composter (Compost Machine):- a placeable composter, similar to the above idea, but takes any organic matter (any carbon source) like chaff, silage, hay, grass, mowed crops, forest waste, etc. PLUS, a nitrogen source (slurry or animal manure,) PLUS [optional] micronutrient (eg. mined guano for P & Ca & micro-nutrient). Large amounts of carbon and small amounts of nitrogen (Nitrogen to Carbon 25-30:1). It produces organic fertilizer that can be spread on the fields. (I haven't seen any Guano mining mods, but Guano is considered a sustainable farming solution in some parts of the world).

3. Stubble reseeding:- there are already options in FS19 where you can reseed a field without needing to cultivate. So you should be able to spread one of your organic fertilizers over the top of a harvested field, and then sow into this (without cultivation, without disturbing soil microbial balance, and without soil structure damage).

4. Nutrients and water control:- there is already an irrigation system mod for FS19 that you can use to fertilize (instead of using a tractor), but we want to avoid using chemical fertilizers. Hopefully, a simple adaption could give options for organic watering and micro-nutrient management.

Because FS19 is just a simulator, I'd stay right away from all the technical and legal definitions about what is, and what is not, organic farming. Also, those definitions are not the same in different countries. If you wish, you can worry about feeding your animals with organic produce from organic fields, or only composting carbon sources from organic fields, but don't code this into the game because it would only complicate everything. The above simple approach - an "organic" status on every field and placeable enhancements - would be achievable. Just needs someone to do a bit of modding!