Stardew Valley is a game that can be enjoyed in a variety of different ways, which is why so many players have poured thousands of hours into their beloved farms. Being able to play a game the way you want makes for a wider audience and high replayability. Some players enjoy the atmosphere of a rural lifestyle, caring for animals and forming close relationships with the townsfolk they find themselves enmeshed with. Others enjoy the creative elements of the game, where one can customize and create their own unique farm and home to their liking.
Some players, however, crave that cold, hard cash. Seeing just how much money one can make (and how many achievements they can snag) is thrilling in its own right, and there are endless farm layouts and designs to maximize profits and rewards. This list will feature money-making operations created by players that undoubtedly made them the richest farmer in the land.
Updated March 22nd, 2021 by Hayley Mullen: With the wildly successful introduction of Stardew Valley’s 1.5 update, players have been pouring hundreds of hours into their games in order to maximize their profits and have the best farms possible. With the addition of new crops, trees, recipes, challenges, and more, there are plenty of new amazing farms to see that are making serious bank.
15 Pineapple Profits
This new fruit is one of the best for making wine, not just because of the serious profits but also because it is the crop that keeps on giving (similar to Corn or Blueberries.) Pineapples have been a long-awaited addition, and Ginger Island was the perfect way to add them in, allowing infinite growth of crops that need hot weather to survive and thrive.
It takes 14 days for the crop to go from seed to fruit, and it will make another pineapple every 7 days. The average Pineapple earns 300g, while an Iridium-quality pineapple with the Tiller profession will net 660g. Turning Pineapples into wine will earn much more: a whopping 2,520g for one Iridium-quality bottle along with the Artisan Profession. So how much money could Reddit user Batintfaq’s pineapple farm make each harvest? If each fruit became an Iridium-quality wine bottle, they would make over 1 million gold with each harvest.
14 Beautiful Beach Farm
Update 1.5 has brought not just the amazing Ginger Island to players, but also the possibility of choosing the Beach Farm for their playthrough back in the valley. This layout comes with crates that wash up on the beach and give items, as well as plenty of ocean fishing space. Crops can’t be grown in the sand, but that hasn’t stopped players from designing amazing farms.
This concept for a farm takes up every inch available to maximize profit from crops, kegs, trees, animals, preserve jars, and even fish ponds. The possibilities of such a large farm are really endless, and highly recommended for those who don’t mind having less crop soil to work with.
13 Beach Farm 2: Mahogany Mayhem
Reddit user wolvinie has crafted such an intricate and captivating farm that we had to take notice. Everything is in a perfect place: Animal alley with cheese machines right nearby, fish ponds on the sandy beach next to the kegs and preserve jars, a small field for crops, and a massive patch of Mahogany trees that dole out precious Hardwood. There’s also every fruit tree able to grow in the valley next to more fish ponds and preserve jars, allowing for easy access and less running around overall.
The chicken coop not only has a lovely nook near the cave and some mayonnaise machines, but the silos are close enough to the house to remind you to refill Hay if necessary. Of course, profit isn’t everything; this farm also looks like an absolute paradise, too, so props to the farmer.
12 Fairy Rose Riches
Reddit user GisellePalmer clearly knows what flowers are worth growing in such precious, limited soil space, and if you don’t know, we’ll fill you in. A new recipe, Fairy Dust, was added in 1.5 and can be obtained after a long trading quest amongst NPCs. The dust requires one Fairy Rose and one Diamond to make, and it can be used on any refining equipment to immediately receive its product.
Obviously, this item is desirable just considering how much time it can save the player. No more waiting days for Kegs to make wine out of expensive fruits; just sprinkle Fairy Dust and get your bottle instantly. If you have lots of fruits to ferment, this can lead to millions in profit in just a single day, as long as you have enough Fairy Dust, of course. Suddenly, a flower rather ignored in favor of the supreme Fall crop the Pumpkin is now at the top of many players’ lists.
11 Fruit Orchard Overture
Many folks have fond memories of visiting fruit orchards in their lifetimes, but for those who don’t, Stardew Valley is here to provide that orchard aesthetic. This dedicated farmer has all six original fruit trees that can be purchased from Pierre’s Store. Arranged into six big columns of delicious fruit, one can only imagine the profit during each season, especially when turned into jelly or wine. This doesn’t even take into account the new crops and trees of Update 1.5 that can be planted on Ginger Island (mango and banana trees), meaning that much more profit is possible.
10 Maximum Crop Gains
Starting off the list right is firebound12’s farm layout from about 2 years ago, which attempts to maximize the amount of auto-watered and Junimo-collected cropland possible. The player also doesn’t shy away from having many Animal Barns as well, all neatly lined up along the east of the farm.
firebound12’s layout also incorporates a small Bee House area in the north, as well as a Slime hatching zone near the southern pond. The plants that are being intensely farmed are Cranberries and Ancient Fruit, two fruits well-suited to making major moola.
9 Calico Desert Kegs
Once players realized they could put machines outside of their farms, profits skyrocketed. One such area of “free real estate” is Calico Desert, seen in this screenshot taken before version 1.4 of the game. Reddit user firebound12 has been very busy in Stardew Valley, not only on their own farm, but also covering the desert in Kegs that likely contain expensive wine for maximum gold earnings.
After being able to craft so many Kegs, emptying and filling them would likely become a day-trip every week or so, meaning firebound12 indeed works hard for the money. Imagine the difficulty Pam must have driving around them!
8 Ancient Fruit Frenzy
Considered the most profitable fruit to make wine from, Ancient Fruit can be difficult to obtain at the start of the game, with both the Ancient Seed artifact and the Traveling Cart’s odds of spawning seeds being small and unpredictable. Once Ancient Fruit is acquired, however, is when the cash really starts to roll in.
Author masmuspul has utilized every single tile of space on their farm to create a million-dollar operation in Stardew Valley. With seven sheds lining the right side of the farm and six animal facilities, it seems all kinds of products are produced on their farm, not just Ancient Fruit. Having Junimo Huts lined up perfectly to collect the ripe fruit makes the process that much easier.
7 Lava Eel Elegy
If you were a Stardew Valley fan that didn’t realize the water of a fish pond changed color depending on its occupants, you might be quite surprised to see Reddit user MeanderingCat’s huge field of Lava Eel Fish Ponds. MeanderingCat has 99 ponds across the entirety of their farm, which brings a literal meaning to “the floor is lava.”
Luckily there are two regular water ponds on the property, just in case farming Lava Eels gives them a nasty burn or two. Considering the base price of a Lava Eel is 700g (without considering Proficiency), the price tag of Lava Eel Roe is sure to make MeanderingCat rich.
6 Bee House? More Like Bee Home
Reddit user Prens27 has been a busy bee creating the biggest Bee House farm possibly ever posted to the Stardew Valley Reddit page. Nearly every possible tile is filled with either a Bee House or Poppies, which makes the Honey more valuable. Poppy Honey is the second most expensive Honey, with the first being Fairy Rose Honey.
With the Artisan Profession, Honey is worth 40% more, meaning each jar from this farm will be worth approximately 532 gold. It’s a shame that the bees can’t be seen buzzing around, but the profit is certainly enough to make up for it.
5 Automated Money Farm
The best part about owning a farm where money grows out of the ground? When you don’t have to work as hard to manage it. The best part of AndyW21’s farm layout, besides the Gold Clock, is the Junimo Huts organized to harvest every crop in the pristinely arranged field. Animals are also allowed to roam around outside along the boardwalk area the farmer has created, near the row of Crystalariums other assorted crops. The three Warp Totems are particularly impressive, meaning that this setup has allowed AndyW21 to earn massive amounts of gold and warp easily to several different locations.
4 Much Room For Mushrooms
This epic Mushroom Farm is credited to Stardew Valley player Perrie, who has their file on upload.farm. This farm boasts at least 200 Mushroom Trees, which spawn during a rare event in Fall. By placing a Tapper on a Mushroom Tree, the player can obtain Common Mushrooms, Red Mushrooms, and Purple Mushrooms, which at Perrie’s sheer amount of Mushroom Trees would lead to a massive profit in fungus.
This farm would also offer quite a good chance to obtain the very rare Mushroom Cap, which has a 1% chance of being found when a Mushroom Tree is chopped down. Chopping down a Mushroom Tree also provides mushrooms, so profit can still be made in the player’s hat-hunting mission.
3 Coffee Craze
Many people rely on Caffeine to help regulate their sleep cycle and get going in the morning, but this player clearly does more than just rely on it. SidewinderN7’s masterpiece, titled “I like coffee.” is a work of art, with every possible available tile filled with coffee plants, sprinklers, or scarecrows. One could go cross-eyed trying to count how many individual coffee plants there are. This might be more realistic to what an actual coffee farm looks like, with little space and not enough workers to reasonably harvest all of it within a day.
Considering each plant gives four beans every two days, let’s consider how much one could theoretically harvest in a day. if 15 gold x 4 (beans) is 60 gold, then we would multiply 60 x 3000 (tiles) to equal 180,000 gold every two days. That is, if it’s possible to harvest it all in two days.
2 Fishy Farm
Another wonderful example of the new update’s Fish Pond capabilities, Reddit user DalaranH makes a visually charming fish farm while still allowing for a Slime Hutch, Barn, and Chicken coop, and spaces for Sheds if they so desired. The symmetry and organization earn it bonus points, but the most interesting part is the wide variety of fish and sea creatures they have in their ponds, from Squids to Lava Eels.
Roe is worth much more when aged in a Preserves Jar, so one could imagine the profits accumulated (and the Sushi acquired) from all the fish on DalaranH’s farm.
1 Diamonds Are A Farmer’s Best Friend
Another popular area of free real estate players often take advantage of is the Quarry, able to be accessed after completing the Crafts Room in the Community Center. Reddit user fleshyCantaloupe has utilized the Quarry’s space to maximum efficiency, having every possible square contain a Diamond-filled Crystalarium while still allowing movement throughout the machines.
Considering the quarry only spawns minerals, rocks, and trees, resources that can be acquired several other places within the game, making use of such open space where NPCs don’t frequent is highly recommended to beginning players.
NEXT: Stardew Valley: The 10 Most Expensive Items You Can Sell
