Farmland

Farmland is a technical block on which seeds can be planted and grown. To make farmland, you can use a hoe on dirt or grass. If you destroy a farmland block, which can be destroyed without a tool, it will drop dirt. After using a hoe on a block of dirt, the top of the dirt's appearance changes, becoming ridged and bumpy like tilled soil and the top layer is removed. Due to the way farmland blocks are textured, it appears as if the block sinks into the ground because the texture for the sides is shifted down instead of the top pixels being removed. A block of farmland becomes darker to replicate the appearance of wet soil when it is hydrated by a nearby block of water. If left alone for a period of time, a block of hydrated farmland will "decay" and become dry farmland or "decay" into a dirt block, if already dry. Grass and Mycelium do not spread onto farmland.

Occurrence
Farmland occurs naturally in NPC Villages where wheat is grown on them. Patches of farmland are surrounded by logs.

Farming
Farmland is used for farming wheat, melons, or pumpkins. To begin farming you need to craft a hoe. The hoe can be used to till dirt or grass into farmland by right-clicking.

A farmland block will be created dry. If it is near water, the farmland block will become hydrated. Seeds can be planted in any farmland block where they will eventually grow. By placing torches close to sown farmland, crops can be grown at night or even underground. This will also prevent aggressive Mobs from spawning near them. Nonetheless, if there is grass near the torches, this could also allow passive mobs to spawn which could then destroy the wheat by walking on it (pre 1.9, when passive animals would only spawn once; pumpkins and melons are not affected as they are physical blocks). When blocks of crops appear on farmland, the farmland reverts to dirt. Different types of seeds grow differently on dry farmland and also differently on hydrated farmland.

Hydrated Farmland Tiles
A hydrated Farmland block is the preferred block for farming. Hydrated farmland will yield a fully developed wheat crop in a little over a single day/night cycle.

For a Farmland Block to become hydrated, the following conditions must be met:


 * 1) Water up to four blocks away horizontally, including diagonals.
 * 2) The water must be on the same level or 1 block above farmland block level.  Water beneath or below a farmland block will not hydrate it.
 * 2554-10-18 19.28.48.png

The blocks between the farmland block and the water make no difference. For example: in a 9 x 9 grid of Farmland blocks, replacing the center block with water will hydrate all of the surrounding farmland.

Farmland can also be hydrated by rain. After the rain stops or nearby water is removed, it takes a few minutes for farmland to become dry again.

Farmland Block Decay
Under certain conditions, a farmland block will "decay" becoming a dirt block, regardless of what it was initially. This will happen if any of the following occur:


 * If the farmland block is dehydrated and nothing is planted on it for too long.
 * If the player or any animal walks on the block too many times.
 * Sneaking allows you to walk on farmland blocks without destroying them. (This did not work in SMP until Beta 1.3_01, when it was fixed.)
 * Placing fences below farmland blocks makes the farmland and crops immune to decay caused by players or animals walking on them (fixed in Beta 1.9pre6).


 * If a piston arm is extended over a farmland block such as when harvesting fully-grown Wheat.
 * If a piston pushes a farmland block down.
 * If a solid block covers top surface of the farmland block such as when Pumpkin or Melon block appear.

History

 * Prior to Beta 1.2, there was a bug which would allow you to destroy any block (even bedrock) by placing a dirt block under a block, tilling the dirt, and planting seeds on the dirt. This would cause the block above the tilled dirt to disappear without giving a resource.
 * Earlier in the game(which version?), there was a bug where farmland took much more time to mine than dirt.

Trivia

 * When you till a dirt block, the top layer is removed. But due to the way tilled dirt blocks are textured, it appears as if the block sinks into the ground. The texture for the sides is shifted down instead of the top pixels being removed.
 * Dirt that is underwater can still be tilled into farmland, although this is pointless as one cannot plant seeds on it.