Giant's Moral Stance On Herbicide

[deerefarm]

I forget which thread we were talking about herbicide and the penalty you take for using it, where the penalty can go as high as 15%. Well I decided to take on some contract work to bring in some more money for the farm and the "spraying" contract pay rather well. I've noticed this before so I often take them on because of that and they're rather quick to do.
Well I got to the field I was supposed to spray and noticed that the weeds were at the 1st growth stage and could be gotten rid of with a weeder, if that option was available. But no the only option was to use "Round-Up" (TM) and as Giant's would have you believe "nuke" the field with chemicals instead of taking "their" moral approach and using a mechanical weeder like they make you do on your own fields.

To me that's a double standard. Am I wrong???

P.s. I know where I first saw it discussed, it was during one of Mr. SealyP's videos.

[bossmanslim]

Pretty sure there is not a penalty to using herbicide other than the continual cost of having to buy it every application. There is a 15% penalty if weeds are in the field when you harvest.

[deerefarm]

The info comes from the "Giant's" Academy. +20% for removing weeds, all implements, 15% for using chemicals. I usually use a hoe or regular weeder as Herbicide isn't cheap.

[bossmanslim]

The info comes from the "Giant's" Academy. +20% for removing weeds, all implements, 15% for using chemicals. I usually use a hoe or regular weeder as Herbicide isn't cheap.

Ugh, I'd like the data based rational for this.

Either way, I'll continue to spray because it is significantly easier and wait for a mod that removes this penalty.

Based on how slow weeders are and the other issues, plowing would be second option for weed control.

I suspect the reason spraying is the default for weed control is because they can't guarantee the weeds will be at the first growth stage when the contract is taken, meaning a weeder would result in a failed contract.

[this_is_gav]

You can get 100% yield (assuming all other factors are satisfied of course) with herbicide if you apply it before the weeds have appeared (eg right after sowing). After that there is a apparently 5% penalty per weed growth state (I only say apparently as I've not tested it - someone else may have). You can't use a hired helper applying pre-emergent herbicide either.

While it wouldn't be that clear-cut in reality of course I suppose the continued growth of weeds would affect most crops around them, so there is some logic there.

[NDDan]

I’ve tested it and reported in an earlier thread. If you spray pre-emergence or when weeds are small, you get 20% bonus. If weeds are medium, 10%. If weeds are large, 5%.

[farmerdonnie]

lol

[norfolk farmer]

I’ve tested it and reported in an earlier thread. If you spray pre-emergence or when weeds are small, you get 20% bonus. If weeds are medium, 10%. If weeds are large, 5%.

That makes more sense as weeds will be taking away nutrients from the crops, yet how the screenshot reads it just says penalty for using herbicide.

[cwattyeso]

I can definitely agree that the way Giant's presents and displays this information to players is very good at causing confusion amongst players. They clearly state it's a Yield Penalty. That for most people makes no sense and as Mr Sealy P said in his video, why would you bother spraying when you factor in the cost of Herbicide? You'd be basically spending money to reduce your own yield. I do think Giants is definitely pushing for players to use Weeders and the one and only Hoe they have in the game more in FS22. In FS19 there was no point ever using a weeder because of the very limited window they could be used and you were far better off just spraying from the get go. However now in FS22 with the Seasons Cycles and the Slower Growth Time even if you play with Seasons off there is now more time and ability to use weeders.

Now that's fine for me as a player, however if Giants really want to push players into using weeders and hoes more in the game, perhaps they should have fleshed out that category of equipment a bit more and given players more choice and variety. There is only one hoe in the base game, so players only have one option for removing weeds at Growth Stage 2 unless they choose Herbicde. As for weeders we just have the same ones we had in FS19. We don't even get the big fancy ones from the Bourgault Pack in FS22.

[punchi]

Like above said, its just an gameplay decision. Nothing to do with reality, but otherwise weeders/hoes dont make any sense if you would only do it the easy way and always spray.
Guess thats the price bonus you would get when selling "organic" grain etc.

[deerefarm]

I can definitely agree that the way Giant's presents and displays this information to players is very good at causing confusion amongst players. They clearly state it's a Yield Penalty. That for most people makes no sense and as Mr Sealy P said in his video, why would you bother spraying when you factor in the cost of Herbicide? You'd be basically spending money to reduce your own yield. I do think Giants is definitely pushing for players to use Weeders and the one and only Hoe they have in the game more in FS22. In FS19 there was no point ever using a weeder because of the very limited window they could be used and you were far better off just spraying from the get go. However now in FS22 with the Seasons Cycles and the Slower Growth Time even if you play with Seasons off there is now more time and ability to use weeders.

Now that's fine for me as a player, however if Giants really want to push players into using weeders and hoes more in the game, perhaps they should have fleshed out that category of equipment a bit more and given players more choice and variety. There is only one hoe in the base game, so players only have one option for removing weeds at Growth Stage 2 unless they choose Herbicde. As for weeders we just have the same ones we had in FS19. We don't even get the big fancy ones from the Bourgault Pack in FS22.

And that's exactly what I mean, why wasn't this feature fleshed out a little better? Other contracts in the game, fertilizer for example, let you use solid/liquid/manure or slurry to complete the contract. Cultivating contracts don't mind if you use either a shallow or normal cultivator to complete the task, the choice of which affects weed growth. The field info screen for the field you're doing contracts on even tells you the weed state and what to use, but sadly the only choice you have is to spray herbicide. It wouldn't have been that hard to implement a simple "if A = B then use X".... What's even worse is you can make a profit of using mods like the "multifruit filling station" where you buy herbicide at a discount, then when you turn in the contract you get paid full rate for what you didn't use, thus turning an even bigger profit.

[cwattyeso]

Too be honest until I just read that post I had completely forgotten that in FS19 we had Weeding Contracts and we had Spraying Contracts for dealing with weeds on the AI fields, the weeding contracts only allowed you to use weeders and the spraying contracts you had to use herbicide. Two different choices made available to the player. However I think you are quite right that in FS22 the only contracts that come up are Spraying Contracts, regardless of what growth stage the field or weeds are in. Feels like Giants have taken a backwards step there if they don't allow Weeding Contracts in the game anymore with actual Weeders or Hoe to be used.

[adammac5858]

And this is why I just turn weeds off.

And fields stones, turn that stuff off too.

[Crashmac]

Instead of a moral stance, it could be used to simulate organic crops. Organic typically sell for a premium which the extra yield could be used to roleplay a bonus for an "organic" crop.

[kahfs]

Farmers of today are said to cause many environmental problems and have to deal with more and more regulations. While Farming Simulator is just a game, it is also portraying a profession. It would be a great idea in my opinion, if we, the players, were confronted with some of these challenges. As already mentioned, organic farming would be an interesting concept to see in the game. CO2 emmisions would be another.