Summary
Players flock to indie farming simStardew Valleyfor all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn by the gentle soundtrack, others by the cave-diving combat, and yet more by the opportunity to build friendships and romances in the sleepy little mountain town.
A few, however,are ruthless capitalistswho take over Grandpa’s old farm to see how much gold they can squeeze out of every square pixel of land. Some farm templates (such as the Beach Farm) have limited space for growing crops, which means coin-hungry gamers need to make careful choices about what they plant in that precious soil. Here are some of the worst crops they could spend their seed budget on, complete with prices from Pierre’s General Store and the normal quality selling price of the finished goods.
20g
35g
Season
Spring
As the first crop that players are able to buy in-game,Parsnipsserve an important purposefor new farmers. When funds are low in the initial days of whipping Grandpa’s battered old farm into shape, their low price and short growth time allow players to make a quick buck while living hoe-to-mouth.
However, that’s where their utility ends. After the first couple of weeks inStardew Valley, even the most novice player has outgrown the need for Parsnips. Their low profit margin soon ends up being more of a burden than a benefit, especially when the player’s early energy meter is quickly used up by clearing and watering a few pixels of land.
60g
40g
Relatively expensive for being available in the game’s first season,Green Beanscan be a bit of a trap for first-time players to fall into. Due to being planted on a trellis, gamers are unable to walk through them like most crops, and they can’t be harvested or watered on consecutive tiles for the same reason. This can lead to players losing precious profits if they plant before figuring out the crop’s restrictions.
Despite being a crop that turns over multiple harvests once fully grown, Green Beans have to be approached with care in order to prevent first-time players from weeping over bare trellises and low bank balances.
30g
Sping
In simple profit terms,Unmilled Ricewill leave players broke as a joke if they rely on it as a source of income. It’s simple numbers: Rice Shoots cost 40g at Pierre’s, take seven days of watering, and the raw product is sold for only 30g. Morris would be tearing his hair out ifJojaMart had that sort of business sense.
While the processed version is far more profitable (milled Rice sells for a hefty 200g each), it not only requires the player to go to the trouble of building a mill but also takes an extra day to produce. Impatient gamers may wish to skip this despite the fun look of Rice Shoots growing next to the water.
50g
With a seed price of 30g and selling at only 50g, many veteran players don’t find it’s worth their time to use up precious farming space forBlue Jazz. A faster turnaround time might make some reconsider, but seven days of watering adds up to very little profit.
One factor that could make some argue for the crop’s usefulness is its single cooking recipe, as Blue Jazz is a key ingredient in theSkull Cavern-beatingLucky Lunch. Still, it’s a lot of effort to put in for a small Luck boost.
150g
Summer/Fall
Despite being one of the few crops that players can grow for multiple seasons,Cornoffers a low profit and requires the same daily watering as other, less expensive seeds. Its fourteen-day growing cycle may end in repeated harvests, but even then it only gives up the goods every four days.
Corn is also only used in one cooking recipe, doesn’t make the Loved Gift list for any villager, and its hidden use in the Oil Maker doesn’t produce anything considered an Artisan Good by the game, only basic Cooking Oil. It may be useful for players trying to stock up on food for a heavy Skull Cavern run, but for the amount of money invested, they may as well swing by the Saloon and buy ready-made snacks instead.
Tulipshave an even lower net profit than fellow Spring crop Blue Jazz (just 10g as opposed to Blue Jazz’s 20g), and the two share a particularly annoying feature: the way flowers stack in aStardew Valleyplayer’s inventory.
Each quality and color of the flowers takes up its own inventory space, meaning farmers have to have other storage space available (such as Chests) or make multiple harvesting trips to sell their wares in between. One factor that may lead players to sacrifice some of their precious crop space for the inventory-busting Tulip is the fact it’s one of sweet village grandma Evelyn’s Loved Gifts, but gamers focused on profit will likely give this a miss.
1g
Spring/Summer/Fall
Fiberdoesn’t come top of the worst crop list, because relying on it for materials says more about a player’s in-game priorities than its overall utility. It can be helpful if a new player decides to sell the Fiber gathered from initially cleaning up the farm or cutting weeds, but the recipe arrives late enough in-game that many have likely learned to hang on to their basic materials well before then.
The main use for Fiber as a crop is more of a time-saving hack - if it’s planted before Winter ticks over into Spring, then the player doesn’t need to re-till all their land to plant fresh crops while the sun shines.
100g
140g
Summer
Many seasonedStardewplayers count flowers among the weakest crops in the game, andPoppyis one of the worst of a bad bunch. The profit margin isn’t huge (40g) on a one-time harvest, and they have the same inventory stacking issues as other flowers which come in multiple colors.
Possibly the most annoying aspect of farming Poppy, and the one that sets it apart from other low-yield flowers, is the fact it’s an almost universally hated gift among NPCs. If that wasn’t enough to put players off, it’s also only used in a single food recipe (Poppyseed Muffin) which doesn’t give any useful buffs or even a decent amount of energy. It regularly comes up in the Traveling Cart’s inventory, should players need it for the Community Center.
200g
80g
Economically,Sunflowersare almost unquestionably the worst crop investment a player can make. The seeds are not only the most expensive in the game (200g at Pierre’s), but they’re also the only ones that cost less at JojaMart (125g). For all that, the flowers only sell for 80g a piece at base level.
Although some argue that the crop’s unique feature, in that it produces a variable amount of extra seeds when harvested, makes it worthwhile, it will still take players multiple rounds of planting and harvesting before they stop losing money. If frequently going to buy new seeds is annoying, then this pretty two-season crop could become a favorite, but for most gamers, it’s only useful as a gift (and even then onlyloved by one NPC: Haley).
All Seasons
If crops like Ancient Fruit and Starfruit are considered top of the leaderboard by many veteran players, then Wild Seeds must be at the very bottom. While admittedly useful for taking on the Community Center, the seasonal selections become totally redundant if players engage with the game’s foraging aspects.
By the time the different variations become growable outside their season (in the Greenhouse or after receiving the blueprints to make a Garden Pot indoors), it’s likely that the player has already completed thatCommunity Center bundle. Given that there aren’t many food recipes that rely on seasonal foraged goods, there are negligible benefits to gifting foraged goods, and the only way to buy Wild Seeds is if they show up in the Traveling Cart’s inventory at a hefty price (105 - 1000g), both gold-seeking players and completionists will struggle to justify using up valuable farm space for Wild Seeds in any season but Winter.
