Farms are an essential part of Minecraft, especially in Survival and Hardcore mode. They can be a constant source of food and resources. Expand the definition a bit and we can also include experience. If you’re looking for inspiration (or to copy a design), we’ve got a few farm ideas that’ll tickle your fancy.
Automatic Sugar Cane Farm
Look beyond Sugar Cane’s use for food in Minecraft and you’ll find that it’s surprisingly important. If you’re looking to craft paper for your Enchantment Table or craft powerful potions, like Potion of Invisibility, you need a lot of Sugar Cane.
Sugar Cane itself is relatively easy to find given that it grows on dirt and sand, but that’s a lot of work. It’s far more efficient to create an automatic sugar cane farm right outside your home.
By combining a piston and an observer, the machine automatically reacts when the sugar cane grows tall enough. It breaks off the top of the plant without destroying it completely, meaning you don’t have to replenish it.
Indoor Farm
How about something both aesthetically pleasing and useful? Since you don’t need sunlight to grow plants, and just any light source will do, why not have an indoor farm?
You can go as big or as little as you want, and since it’s inside, you don’t have to worry about trekking outside and running into any baddies.
I personally like sectioning off a corner of the house and setting up some lanterns nearby. You can plant some potatoes, maybe a few carrots and some wheat for trading. Stick a few containers along the wall and you’ve got yourself a pretty cozy setup!
Staircase Farm
You know what’s boring? Flat, square farms. It’s an efficient use of space, sure, but it’s not very creative and looks rather basic. If you’re a fan of smart designs, you’ll love staircase farms!
All you’re really doing is attaching farms to the side of your staircase. It blends in really well with stairs and looks rather nice when you have multiple levels. If you’re someone who likes to build bases that adhere to the terrain rather than terraforming, this is the design you want.
More importantly, with the farms being a part of your base, you can safely pick your fruits and vegetables without dealing with hostile mobs.
Early Game Survival Farm
Don’t you hate when some dorky YouTuber or streamer shows off their “starter” farm and it’s an elaborate mess? Yeah, me too. Fortunately for you, we have a design that’s actually simple and perfect for an early game setup.
Located at the edge of a beautiful forest, you not only get a great view but all the necessities for your continued survival. It features two separate areas for farming, though you’re welcome to expand, a campfire, and a small home for sleeping.
It’s not elaborate, it isn’t fancy, but it’s simple, efficient and you can have everything up and running really quickly. In Survival Mode and Hardcore Mode, speed is absolutely essential.
Villager Crop Farm
Villagers have an excellent work ethic, don’t you think? They get up in the morning, every single day and off to their jobs they go. Villagers never complain and they live off the sweat of their brow. So, naturally, we’re going to take advantage of that.
By setting up an inescapable farm, villagers will unknowingly pick, plant, and store crops for you. With a few modifications (such as a door for little villagers), the farm also doubles as breeding grounds for the villagers. Just be sure to change the villagers’ profession first.
Yes, it’s all a little weird and you’re technically enslaving villagers, but luckily, they’re just ones and zeros. They were jobless, aimless, and you gave them purpose!
Simple XP Farm
Grinding experience in Minecraft can be a drag, but it doesn’t have to be. Rather than farm old fashioned way, you can set up an automatic cooking contraption to collect XP for you.
What you need are a few furnaces, a fuel source (like coal), chests, and a couple hoppers. With this contraption, it’ll funnel food and your fuel source to the furnaces, cooking them automatically, then depositing the delicious food into the chest at the bottom.
It’s not the most efficient way to grind experience, but it doubles as a source of food, making it one of the best Minecraft farm ideas. As long as you keep the contraption stocked with fuel and raw fish, you’ll always have something to eat.
Semi-Automatic Crop Farm
We only call this farm semi-automatic is because you need to put a small amount of work. You’ll still have to plant your crops, but the picking is done automatically through the use of water.
By tying the redstone to a dam of your making, it’ll release water, breaking the crops automatically. The water then ferries the crops to the bottom of the ramp to be collected by hoppers.
With this design, you can make it as long as you need it. More importantly, you’re welcome to plant just about any crop that can be harvested this way, though mature bamboo is out of the question.
Easy Automatic Bamboo Farm
You really can’t ignore exploration in Minecraft, so when the time comes to venture outside your safe zone, scaffolding is one of the most valuable tools to have. It acts as a bridge, a ladder, and fuel source for furnaces, which is pretty handy in a pinch.
Sounds good, right? Well, unfortunately, you’re going to need a steady source of bamboo to make that happen. They only grow in jungle biomes, but once you get your hands on some, you can plant them in a wide variety of blocks like grass, dirt, coarse dirt, sand, and more.
Luckily, you don’t have to be in a jungle biome to grow bamboo. Bring some back to your base, set up an easy, automatic bamboo farm with an observer and a piston and you’ll have all the bamboo you’ll ever need.
Honey Farm
Honey is a fairly versatile item in Minecraft. You can use it for sugar, eat it to heal a decent amount of hunger, and cure poison. However, if you try to swipe honey from a hive, the bees won’t appreciate it and attack. You might even get poisoned by bees in the process (and possibly die).
What you need is a bee farm, one that gives you a good supply of honey without causing problems. The best part about this farm idea is that you can design the farm to your specifications. All that matters is that you extract honeycomb the right way and build a kind of greenhouse around them with plenty of flowers to pollinate.
When you go to harvest honeycomb, it’s best to light a campfire nearby. The smoke keeps the bees docile, allowing you to take honey without the consequence of being stung.
Automatic Cow Farm
Chickens, pigs, sheep—they all have their unique uses, but cows are the most versatile. You can harvest meat, leather, and milk, making them an excellent source for food, armor, relief from status effects, and crafting books. The question is: Do you really want to be standing around all day killing cows? Of course not!
Instead, you can leave the killing to an automatic cow farm. With a simple pen, water, magma blocks and a hopper, you can push cows to their death and the hopper will syphon the remains to nearby chests.
It’s a good thing they’re just a bunch of pixels because this method wouldn’t be humane by any standard.
That’s the last of the best Minecraft farm ideas, so if you’re looking for more content, use the links below. We highly suggest checking out the best Minecraft mods!
