Food Industry
One of the more simple industries in the game is the food industry. Most of the buildings are farms, and as you
might suspect, they create food.
Tip: You can only build these if your map contains fertile areas (one of the four possible
resources when you create your city). If you chose a map that does not contain fertile areas, the only way to obtain
Food Industry is by trading with others through the game’s Marketplace.
Generally, when you start your city you’ll want to see where your fertile areas are, and save that land for Food Industry. Plan accordingly – farms don’t like pollution, so don’t build any dirty industry near your fertile areas.
Once you start building your farms, note that you can build a Silo for every 10 farms you have.
Farms can be a little tricky to build – if the angle isn’t right, it won’t let you build it. Farms also have a minimum and maximum size, so you may have to experiment a little and do your best to make sure you don’t end up with small unused spaces.
Big or small? A little testing showed that although the income often varies widely (for no apparent reason), the income farms generate tend to be proportional to the size. That means there’s no direct financial advantage whether you make them small or make them large – it’s the total land area that will matter. However, you do get a Silo for every 10 farms. Many smaller farms will obviously give you more silos than fewer large farms. That said, each farm is surrounded by a road, which means many small farms will waste more real-estate because of all the extra roads that are created. Your best bet may be to just build reasonably, and focus more on utilizing all the space available, while maximizing traffic flows.
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Food Industry Chart
| Building | Employs | Creates | Needs | Benefits From | Suffers From |
| Cereal farming | Unqualified (Medium) | Food Industry | Water | Silo & Fertilizer | Air Pollution |
| Vegetable farming | Unqualified (Medium) | Food Industry | Water | Silo & Fertilizer | Air Pollution |
| Fruit farming | Unqualified (Medium) | Food Industry | Water | Silo & Fertilizer | Air Pollution |
| Livestock farming | Unqualified (Medium) | Food Industry | Water | Silo & Fertilizer | Air Pollution |
| Silo (requires 10 farms) | Unqualified (Low) Qualified (Medium) |
Food Industry (increases production) |
10 farms | Nearby Freight | - |
| Fertilizer | Unqualified (Medium) Qualified (Medium) Executives (Low) |
Food Industry (increases production by 30%) |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
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Suggestions and Notes
- Check the market early on. If Food Industry tokens are selling fairly high, it may be a good idea to fill up all your fertile land with farms early on, and sell the tokens for a helpful money boost.
- Note that the farms do use water. Don’t go crazy with them if you can’t afford to keep them well watered!
- While the farms don’t care much about freight, silo’s do care about freight. Make sure you give them decent road access!