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FarmsMay 20, 2026 5 min read

How to Build an Automatic Crop Farm

Never harvest by hand again. This villager-powered farm plants and collects crops for you.


A steady food and emerald supply starts with an automatic crop farm. The easiest design uses a farmer villager who plants and harvests for you.

How it works

A villager with the Farmer profession will automatically plant seeds and harvest ripe crops on nearby farmland. When their inventory fills, they throw excess food — which you catch with hoppers into a chest.

Basic build

  1. 1.Build a 9×9 farmland plot with a water source in the centre so all soil is hydrated.
  2. 2.Surround it with a wall so the villager can't escape.
  3. 3.Place a composter to give the villager the Farmer job.
  4. 4.Under the farmland, run hoppers into a chest to collect the food the villager tosses.
  5. 5.Add a bed so the villager stays and is "willing" to work.
TipWheat, carrots, potatoes and beetroot all work. Carrots and potatoes are great because villagers replant them automatically.

Simpler alternatives

  • Water-stream harvest: flood a crop field with a flick of a lever (dispenser + water) to sweep ripe crops into hoppers — you replant manually but harvest instantly.
  • Sugar cane / bamboo farms: an observer watches the plant grow and triggers a piston to break it, dropping it onto a hopper line — fully automatic and great for paper.

Turn the surplus into paper for maps, or trade it to villagers for emeralds. For a food supply too, pair it with an animal farm.

#Farms#Crops#Automation