Please note the data here is intended for VIP players (in-game level 18), including their in-game discounts!!! Let me know if any errors exist, and I will fix them. The point of this guide is to alleviate the tedious nature of the game so you can enjoy fluffing and folding your virtual paradise :)

Onto the guide:

This guide goes over various aspects of farming efficiency. While I only go into great detail on plants for farm plots, I will give a short tip on tree-farming. You can auto-pickup fruit by planting or placing an item to the bottom-right of any tree. Since dropped fruit counts as a placed item, the fruit cannot occupy the same space as an item on the ground. Therefore, the fruit is forced into your inventory. Plant flowers in those spaces for a visual bonus! Here are two sample tree layouts:

On crop farming:

Equation for experience points:
*exp = 3 (crop yield; 2 instead, if chili pepper) + 3 growth stages passed (or 2, if chili pepper) + 1 (plot plowed; always 1 per plant) + “x” units water used (depends on plant)

i.e. exp = 3+3+1+x; where x = water usage or 2+2+1+x if chili pepper

This is the quick version of my guide. If you need specific info, check the data tables below!

Fast and slow-growing crops each have their advantages.

• Fast-growing crops grant more EXP/min.
  Pro: These are best for active players who are focused on gaining levels and completing quests.
  Con: Fast-growing crops provide low monetary gain unless actively maintained.
  
• Slow-growing crops have a large individual value.
  Pro: These are best for inactive players who do not want play often, but still want to casually enjoy the game and make steady progress.
  Con: Slow-growing crops have a high cost to plant, so you may not be able to invest in other things the first few rounds of farming.

Fast-growing crops that yield the most experience points:

• Broccoli at 1 EXP/min or 60 EXP/hour
  
• Tomatoes at 1.08 EXP/min or 65 EXP/hour
  
• Corn at 1.11 EXP/min or 67 EXP/hour

Featured crops for casual players:

• Carrots, with a net profit of $1100 per plant at max crop yield
  
• Leeks, with a net profit of $1470 per plant at max crop yield
  
• Penny Buns, with a net profit of $1690 per plant at max crop yield

Best value for EXP gain:

• Cabbage at 0.12 EXP/$
  
• Pumpkins at 0.18 EXP/$
  
• Corn at 0.45 EXP/$
  
• Tomatoes at 0.7 EXP/$

• Time is expressed in minutes or hours. Look closely!
  
• 24 farm plots are available to use.
  
• Net profit rates are provided per hour and minute to cater to your play style. If you play Castaway Paradise actively - go by the minute and hour. The hourly rate assumes you're immediately replanting any harvested crop - regardless of the sell value. If you only play briefly to check your plants, just look at the max sell value.
  
• Net profit assumes you obtain the max crop yield for every plant.
  
• The max crop yield for everything is 3, except chili peppers (only 2 for some reason). The plant description says something odd, but I can't get chili peppers to yield 3 units of food.
  
• The catalog shows the seed purchase price and growth time for stage 1 ONLY, and rounds time upward. eg. The store description for Leek says it grows to stage 1 harvest in 2 days, when it's actually 1 day, 16 hours.
  
• "Stage 1 water usage" is what you use when planting the seed.
  
• Gross income per minute is mostly pointless to know, so I will only include the net (the gross income per min would only be helpful if you got free seeds from quests!). "Net" means income - expense (divided by time).

...to Mike J. for the game key!

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I've unlocked all the trees available in the game so far, and I thought it handy to put the sell price/food unit here in this guide. I haven't tried to make a profit off tree farming, but you can certainly grow trees, multiply them, auto-pickup the fruit (by placing an item below & to the right of a tree), chop down all the trees for exp farming (then re-grow them all in the same slots and repeat), etc.

• Peaches have the highest sell price/unit at $170 each.
  
• Juniper berries are in 2nd place, at $160 each.
  
• Cacao pods and plums are tied in 3rd place at $150 each.