Stardew Valley Farming Professions
Farming is the skill where the profession choice moves the most gold. Tiller leads to Artisan, which lifts wine, cheese and jelly by 40%, and that single bonus outgrows everything else on this page once you have kegs running. The catch worth knowing before you pick: Artisan quietly skips two goods you can make from your own crops.
How you level it: Harvesting crops. Petting, milking or shearing an animal, and picking up an animal product inside a barn or coop, each give 5 experience. Using the hoe or the watering can gives none.
If you take Tiller at level 5
Tiller
Level 5Crops worth 10% more.
The bonus covers every vegetable and flower, plus any fruit you grew rather than foraged. It does not apply to artisan goods, so it stops mattering the moment you put the crop in a keg.
Then at level 10 you choose between
Artisan
Level 10Artisan goods worth 40% more.
Two artisan goods are left out, and both are ones you can make from a crop: Oil and Coffee. Tree syrups are excluded too, which is what Tapper on the Foraging side is for.
Agriculturist
Level 10All crops grow 10% faster.
The reduction is applied to the crop's growth time and then rounded up to a whole day, so on a fast crop it can round away to nothing. It stacks with Speed-Gro.
Which to take: Artisan is the bigger number by a wide margin once you have kegs running, and it is the pick most players end on. Agriculturist earns its place on a farm built around raw sales and tight replant cycles, where a day shaved off every crop compounds.
Tiller is a level 5 Farming profession.If you take Rancher at level 5
Rancher
Level 5Animal products worth 20% more.
Then at level 10 you choose between
Coopmaster
Level 10Befriend coop animals quicker. Incubation time cut in half.
The halved time covers the Incubator, the Ostrich Incubator and the Slime Incubator. It also improves coop product quality.
Shepherd
Level 10Befriend barn animals quicker. Sheep produce wool faster.
It also improves barn product quality.
Which to take: Pick the one that matches the building you actually filled. Coopmaster suits a coop-heavy farm and anyone hatching ostriches, and Shepherd suits barns and a wool operation.
Rancher is a level 5 Farming profession.You can change your mind later
Donate 10,000g and pick one skill. That night you get its level 5 screen again, then its level 10 screen. Your existing bonuses drop the moment you choose a skill to change, and sell-price bonuses will not apply to anything already sitting in the shipping bin that day. The Sewers
Frequently asked questions
Tiller or Rancher?
Tiller if crops are your income, and it is the only route to Artisan, which is the largest farming bonus in the game. Rancher if your money comes from animals, because it raises animal product prices by 20% and leads to the two professions that improve barn and coop quality.
Artisan or Agriculturist?
Artisan, in almost every case. A 40% lift on wine, cheese and jelly is a much bigger number than a 10% cut to growth time, and it grows as your keg count grows. Agriculturist suits a farm that sells crops raw and replants on a tight cycle, where a day saved on every planting compounds across the season.
Does Artisan boost every artisan good?
No. Oil and Coffee are both artisan goods and both are excluded, which catches people out because both come out of machines the game otherwise treats the same way. Tree syrups are excluded too. Those are covered by Tapper on the Foraging side instead.
What does Tiller actually apply to?
Every vegetable and flower, plus fruit you grew rather than foraged. It does not touch artisan goods, so once a crop goes into a keg or a preserves jar, Tiller stops mattering and Artisan takes over.
Does Agriculturist stack with Speed-Gro?
Yes, the two reductions add together before the result is rounded up to a whole day. That rounding is why Agriculturist sometimes saves nothing at all on a short-growing crop.