The Worst Stardew Valley Crops, Ranked

Players flock to indie farming sim Stardew Valley for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn by the gentle soundtrack, others by the cave-diving combat, and yet more by the opportunity to build friendships and romances in the sleepy little mountain town.

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A few, however, are ruthless capitalists who take over Grandpa's old farm to see how much gold they can squeeze out of every square pixel of land. Some farm templates (such as the Beach Farm) have limited space for growing crops, which means coin-hungry gamers need to make careful choices about what they plant in that precious soil. Here are some of the worst crops they could spend their seed budget on, complete with prices from Pierre's General Store and the normal quality selling price of the finished goods.

10 Parsnip

Quickly Wears Out A Welcome

As the first crop that players are able to buy in-game, Parsnips serve an important purpose for new farmers. When funds are low in the initial days of whipping Grandpa's battered old farm into shape, their low price and short growth time allow players to make a quick buck while living hoe-to-mouth.

However, that's where their utility ends. After the first couple of weeks in Stardew Valley, even the most novice player has outgrown the need for Parsnips. Their low profit margin soon ends up being more of a burden than a benefit, especially when the player's early energy meter is quickly used up by clearing and watering a few pixels of land.

9 Green Beans

Awkward Planting Woes

Relatively expensive for being available in the game's first season, Green Beans can be a bit of a trap for first-time players to fall into. Due to being planted on a trellis, gamers are unable to walk through them like most crops, and they can't be harvested or watered on consecutive tiles for the same reason. This can lead to players losing precious profits if they plant before figuring out the crop's restrictions.

Despite being a crop that turns over multiple harvests once fully grown, Green Beans have to be approached with care in order to prevent first-time players from weeping over bare trellises and low bank balances.

8 Rice

Low Profit, High Time

In simple profit terms, Unmilled Rice will leave players broke as a joke if they rely on it as a source of income. It's simple numbers: Rice Shoots cost 40g at Pierre's, take seven days of watering, and the raw product is sold for only 30g. Morris would be tearing his hair out if JojaMart had that sort of business sense.

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While the processed version is far more profitable (milled Rice sells for a hefty 200g each), it not only requires the player to go to the trouble of building a mill but also takes an extra day to produce. Impatient gamers may wish to skip this despite the fun look of Rice Shoots growing next to the water.

7 Blue Jazz

Wasted Inventory Blues

With a seed price of 30g and selling at only 50g, many veteran players don't find it's worth their time to use up precious farming space for Blue Jazz. A faster turnaround time might make some reconsider, but seven days of watering adds up to very little profit.

One factor that could make some argue for the crop's usefulness is its single cooking recipe, as Blue Jazz is a key ingredient in the Skull Cavern-beating Lucky Lunch. Still, it's a lot of effort to put in for a small Luck boost.

6 Corn

Seeds Made Of Money

Despite being one of the few crops that players can grow for multiple seasons, Corn offers a low profit and requires the same daily watering as other, less expensive seeds. Its fourteen-day growing cycle may end in repeated harvests, but even then it only gives up the goods every four days.

Corn is also only used in one cooking recipe, doesn't make the Loved Gift list for any villager, and its hidden use in the Oil Maker doesn't produce anything considered an Artisan Good by the game, only basic Cooking Oil. It may be useful for players trying to stock up on food for a heavy Skull Cavern run, but for the amount of money invested, they may as well swing by the Saloon and buy ready-made snacks instead.

5 Tulip

Flower, No Power

Tulips have an even lower net profit than fellow Spring crop Blue Jazz (just 10g as opposed to Blue Jazz's 20g), and the two share a particularly annoying feature: the way flowers stack in a Stardew Valley player's inventory.

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Each quality and color of the flowers takes up its own inventory space, meaning farmers have to have other storage space available (such as Chests) or make multiple harvesting trips to sell their wares in between. One factor that may lead players to sacrifice some of their precious crop space for the inventory-busting Tulip is the fact it's one of sweet village grandma Evelyn's Loved Gifts, but gamers focused on profit will likely give this a miss.

4 Fiber

Weed Woes

Fiber doesn't come top of the worst crop list, because relying on it for materials says more about a player's in-game priorities than its overall utility. It can be helpful if a new player decides to sell the Fiber gathered from initially cleaning up the farm or cutting weeds, but the recipe arrives late enough in-game that many have likely learned to hang on to their basic materials well before then.

The main use for Fiber as a crop is more of a time-saving hack - if it's planted before Winter ticks over into Spring, then the player doesn't need to re-till all their land to plant fresh crops while the sun shines.

3 Poppy

It's Not The Thought That Counts

Many seasoned Stardew players count flowers among the weakest crops in the game, and Poppy is one of the worst of a bad bunch. The profit margin isn't huge (40g) on a one-time harvest, and they have the same inventory stacking issues as other flowers which come in multiple colors.

Possibly the most annoying aspect of farming Poppy, and the one that sets it apart from other low-yield flowers, is the fact it's an almost universally hated gift among NPCs. If that wasn't enough to put players off, it's also only used in a single food recipe (Poppyseed Muffin) which doesn't give any useful buffs or even a decent amount of energy. It regularly comes up in the Traveling Cart's inventory, should players need it for the Community Center.

2 Sunflowers

Pretty Expensive

Economically, Sunflowers are almost unquestionably the worst crop investment a player can make. The seeds are not only the most expensive in the game (200g at Pierre's), but they're also the only ones that cost less at JojaMart (125g). For all that, the flowers only sell for 80g a piece at base level.

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Although some argue that the crop's unique feature, in that it produces a variable amount of extra seeds when harvested, makes it worthwhile, it will still take players multiple rounds of planting and harvesting before they stop losing money. If frequently going to buy new seeds is annoying, then this pretty two-season crop could become a favorite, but for most gamers, it's only useful as a gift (and even then only loved by one NPC: Haley).

1 Wild Seeds

Wild Goods, Mild Results

If crops like Ancient Fruit and Starfruit are considered top of the leaderboard by many veteran players, then Wild Seeds must be at the very bottom. While admittedly useful for taking on the Community Center, the seasonal selections become totally redundant if players engage with the game's foraging aspects.

By the time the different variations become growable outside their season (in the Greenhouse or after receiving the blueprints to make a Garden Pot indoors), it's likely that the player has already completed that Community Center bundle. Given that there aren't many food recipes that rely on seasonal foraged goods, there are negligible benefits to gifting foraged goods, and the only way to buy Wild Seeds is if they show up in the Traveling Cart's inventory at a hefty price (105 - 1000g), both gold-seeking players and completionists will struggle to justify using up valuable farm space for Wild Seeds in any season but Winter.

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Stardew Valley

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Released

February 26, 2016

ESRB

E for Everyone (Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)

Developer(s)

ConcernedApe

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ConcernedApe

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Proprietary

Multiplayer

Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

Stardew Valley does not currently support crossplay between different consoles and PC

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PC, Xbox One, Android, iOS, PS4, Switch

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RPG, Simulation

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