

The water can be covered with any block, but using a slab, carpet, lily pad, or other block that can be walked onto without jumping is better to prevent trampling. Leaving the water source uncovered poses a risk of falling into it and then trampling some of the farmland when jumping out of it. For larger farms, this plot can be repeated in both the X and Z directions. This gives 80 blocks of farmland which can be fenced with 40 pieces of fence including gates and is the most efficient arrangement for simple farms.

However, once the player has a comfortable amount of resources, setting up some fenced farm plots prevents mobs from trampling the crops and attacking the farmer.Ī basic repeatable farm plot consists of a 9×9 square of farmland with the center square dug out and filled with a water source block. Note, however, that this "dry farming" makes crops grow slowly.Īt the beginning of the game when buckets are not available, you can till the dirt at the edge of a pond or lake or river, perhaps digging a trench to extend the water supply inland or straightening the shoreline by adding or removing dirt blocks at the top layer of the water's edge. The farmland does not revert until after the crop is harvested, and even so that can generally be avoided by immediately replanting. Thus, it is possible to grow crops without water (say, in the Nether) by hoeing the dirt and immediately planting a crop. If farmland becomes completely dry and a crop is planted on it, the farmland does not revert to dirt.

The water can be a "still" source block, or flowing, but either needs to be within four blocks of the farmland horizontally, on the same vertical level or one level above. If there is no water nearby, farmland dries out and reverts to dirt, but only if there is no crop yet planted on it. These crops can only be planted on farmland, which is produced by using a hoe on dirt or grass blocks. Carrots (or dandelions) can also be used for rabbits. Given some gold, carrots can be crafted into golden carrots, one of the best foods in the game.Ĭrops can also be used to lure and breed various farm animals: Wheat for cows and sheep (or the rare mooshrooms), seeds ( any kind) for chickens, and any of carrots, (raw) potatoes or beetroots for pigs.

