Farming Guide: Best Routes, Greenhouses & Resource Grinding

Farming produces renewable biological resources you can use in your factory for food, materials, or fuel. In FOUNDRY, farming centers on structures that grow plants from seeds or harvest natural deposits, and it scales with power and workstations.

What farming provides

Renewable biomass for food or processing into other resources.
Plant-based resources can be used directly (food) or as inputs for production chains.
Some mineral-like deposits (e.g., crystals) are mined by specialized extractors that behave like farms for non-organic resources.

Growing methods

Greenhouses and planted plots

Greenhouses (or equivalent planted tiles) let you grow plants from seeds anywhere you place them. They provide controlled conditions for reliable yields compared to wild growth.
Seeds are the starting item; plant seeds into cultivated soil or greenhouse plots to grow trees, bushes, or crops.
Greenhouse tiles stabilize environmental factors that affect plant growth (light, temperature, humidity), improving throughput and reducing crop loss.

Enhancing output

Placing farming structures near or connecting them to power sources and support buildings increases yield. Use power cores or workstation upgrades where applicable.
Structures that increase work efficiency (like Robot Workstations) or supply more energy (like Xeno Power Cores for specific extractors) can drastically increase throughput of harvesters and extractors.

Special extractors and non-organic "farming"

Some devices mine deposits that function like farms for rare resources. For example, the Xeno Crystal Extractor must be placed on top of a "Crystal Deposit" to mine Xeno Crystals. Its output can be boosted using Xeno Power Cores and Robot Workstations.
Treat these extractors as part of your broader farming network when planning logistics and upgrades.

Resource conversion and synergies

Biomass and plant products can often be processed into higher-density fuels or refined materials. When multiple input sources exist (e.g., different ores or plant types), check conversion ratios to choose the most efficient feedstock.
Example: In the case of ignium-related resources, processing (coking) can change energy density per mined unit; Coked Ignium is produced at a 2:5 ratio relative to Ignium Ore, yielding slightly better energy per mined unit despite lower raw energy per unit.

Design tips

Centralize seed storage and processing near greenhouses to minimize transport time.
Use power and workstation upgrades near major farms and extractors to maximize output.
Combine organic farms with manufacturing that consumes biomass to create closed-loop production (food → workforce sustainment; biomass → fuel).
For scarce deposits (crystal, ignium), dedicate specialized extractors and prioritize upgrades to those buildings over generic farming tiles.

Future / roadmap

Farming expansion ideas include broader use of biological resources in factories and the ability to plant trees and bushes freely with seeds, increasing player control over landscape-scale farming.