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Soil Fertility (based by biomes, dimensions, and other factors)

When I first started playing Minecraft, I was always confused by the fact that I could plant crops on any soil in any biome. Why does wheat grow just as well in the jungle as the desert? Well, I'm not sure if it's possible to implement this into the game, but here goes:

Farmland would have a new statistic, "Fertility". For example, in an Extreme Hills biome, the planted crops there would grow at 100% efficiency (or just normal growing speed). If you grew crops in the desert it would only be at 80% the efficiency. If you grew crops in the savanna it'd be 90%. The jungle would have only 95% (because rainforest fertility, in reality, is actually rather poor). Oak, Birch, and Dark Oak forests, and plains would have 110%. Farming under a certain Y level could lessen fertility too, and in the high Y levels where it snows.

There could even be a way to manually fertilize soil via bonemeal or the upcoming composter, with a maximum fertility level, of course. Fertility would only affect crops that grow on farmland (wheat, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, melons, beetroots, etc.) and would not affect the growth of cocoa beans, netherwart, or chorus fruits.

But if there was a way, they'd make it so that Cocoa Beans, Netherwart, and Chorus Fruits would get a substantial bonus when in their home biome (Cocoa-Jungle), (Netherwart-Nether), (Chorus-The End).

Maybe it's a silly idea, but it could be an interesting thing to add... perhaps it's about time Minecraft gets an Agricultural Update?

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    I agree but i think the benefits and disadvantages should be more extreme like desert should be 50% 

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    But that would be too much of a difference, don't you think?

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Yes, but then again, you are trying to grow crops in a desert.

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    Registered User commented
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    I was just about to file a new post but this one sums it up okay.

    There's two different ways to differentiate the crop yield: either growth time should depend on biome, or crop yield when harvesting should depend on biome.

    In a desert, things other than cactus should grow really slowly. 25% speed would be fine, or drop only a piece of cactus 25% of the time when harvested.

    Sugar planted in jungles should grow fast, or yield more when harvested, etc.

    Trees should also grow differently if they are not native to a given biome. Planting a jungle tree in a snowy biome should either grow extremely slow or not at all.

    This should be a simple change and it would really give people more or a reason to explore and consider biome when building a base.