Why Realistic Farming is Easy in Cities Skylines!

[@FallenAzazeI]

Area #3 seems to be the best location to me, can spend a while sprawling it out, incorporating the water next to it and it could be called the University of Abertea in reference to university of Aberdeen

[@Tim_van_de_Leur]

The small island would be great for some castle/tourist trap

[@georgewallace4907]

Seems more of a refrence to the University of Abertay in Dundee

[@ChimpManZ1264]

There's also a place called Teeside in Northern England on the river Tee, he could literally call it Teaside.

[@ChimpManZ1264]

@@automation7295 The river is a fair distance away.

[@RebelPhoenix13]

Area #3 but on the opposite side of the river IMO.

[@kevin1smid]

Hey Biffa, small farming explanation. A combine harvester drops straw behind it and the grain goes out through the pipe into a trailer, so no bales there. The straw is then at a later date put into neat rows using a windrower, after that the rows are picked up and baled by a baler. Hope this helps in making your farm realistic! The plastic bales are filled with grass to make silage (fermented grass), to feed to animals during the winter. So for a grain field you just want the unwrapped yellow bales!

[@blarneyboy123]

Kevin knows what he’s talking about here Biffa.

[@poilboiler]

Many hours of farming simulators? :D

[@onlythehutch6559]

The combine leaves the rows of straw behind it for baling as you don’t need a windrower for grain but the combine could as be spreading the straw out in this case you don’t bale it so no bales should be placed. Windrowers are only used I for grass to sweep the grass up left my the mowers into rows

[@AxR558]

@@onlythehutch6559 Yep exactly this, the straw can be spread to be ploughed back into the soil to add organic matter which is good for moisture retention of the soil.

[@joshuaweigelt9286]

He is correct^

[@shawnhart3500]

If you go into your Realistic Population settings, you will find that schools automatically have an option to be adjusted to realistic population instead of the box standard limits that the creators have assigned to it. Turn it off and it will improve your capacity on all your school buildings.

[@knightedwolf]

was going to mention this, but there you go

[@MCScrapE]

You could also increase your education budget

[@sbutcher79]

I wish I knew this. I just deleted several months of work because of this frustration.

[@ttooze]

Wooden telegraph poles to replace the default electricity cables would be such a nice touch

[@ldcxd36]

A few things for consideration with the farm from an old farm boy... - Definitely need a farming windmill. - Cotton uses ridiculous amounts of water to grow, about 10,000 litres per 1kg of cotton, plus the UK weather isn't optimal for cotton farming. I would either change it or if you are set on keeping it, from a realism perspective, you would want to add some water harvesting ponds & a few irrigation ditches. Sadly no pivot irrigators or cool animated farm dogs in the workshop. - Usually a place to buy farming machinery would be more on the main road entering the country town vs the side of a farm as well. Maximum amount of visibility if farmers have to go into town for necessities etc which translates into more sales :-) If Paradox ever does come out with a Cities Skylines 2, they may owe it to your awesome vids. Maybe we should be using a hashtag or something to get their attention across all kinds of social platforms... :-)

[@Justaleaf4099]

Area 2 or 3 would probably fit a Uni better than area 1, good examples of uk Uni’s built into suburb-ey areas are the 2 Nottingham Universities (University of Nottingham & Nottingham Trent University) with UoN main campus having a good mix of green space & suburb areas and NTU Clifton campus being a good example of a modern uni campus in the suburbs

[@khatran551]

I don’t think area 3 would be a nice place to put the university because it’s right next to an industrial estate. Area 2 would be the best

[@Clavichordist]

Area 2 is on my list as well.

[@mrabi_yt.]

Speaking of the area 3 and industry, you could put trees on the roads in the (failing) industry so it’s less noisy.

[@johncbayliss]

Area 3 looks like a nice option for a riverside campus Biffa

[@kaltaron1284]

Agreed. The other side of the highway would also be a nice option or maybe use it for an extension or rival university.

[@timothyclark4661]

Yeah, I like the idea of something by the river!

[@ChimpManZ1264]

Definitely river for a main campus. Just seems like a location you'd attract students to as they live their Uni life and common in Northern Cities that don't have the tourist beaches like Bournemouth do in the South.

[@mrabi_yt.]

I like the area too! #3team

[@wilkoufert8758]

Make it mixed use with offices and leisure?

[@playtimewithdragonfire]

LOL. I was going to tell you the harvesters was backwards. Then you turned it around. Since that is a wheat field it would be pit into a grain cart for transport to the grain silo. A baler would be for hay and straw for feeding livestock.

[@Metadas]

41 mins of procrastination "Cant work when Biffa posts a video", Down tools everyone you cant miss this.

[@stevenatkinson2393]

It's a life pause nothing happens until after biffa has finished

[@amdkillaplays]

I'm so glad you turned the harvester around. The tractor pulling the trailer you have is fine, a baler is a seperate machine for collecting the chaff from behind the harvester

[@RhodriLloydEvans]

Throwing the odd large tree into the fields would add some realism and make them a bit more interesting.

[@jayuk672]

i agree and random footpaths through the fields, i have done many walks in the UK when i end up just randomly walking through a field full of crops ,farmers have to maintain these paths its the law , also fields are not so often surrounded by trees , you see more fields with hedgerows or stone walls .

[@mcwolfbeast]

Area #2 is nice - fairly good access, far enough away from the centre of town (and less expensive for a big institution to build) and I'd think #3 would be reserved for posh housing anyway along the river.

[@yellowbird8690]

The problem with your train; looking at 31:36 the cornering road on the right is a little too close to the track. The game is maybe trying to make half a level crossing there, and so freaking out the routing thingy. Go with area #3. Create a riverside area and maybe call it Blightea-on-Trikkle.

[@speelydan]

9:01 - temporarily delete the road, then it should show you the blue arrows that designates where road access needs to be. Remove relevant trees, replace road. 9:57 - I may be wrong, but I think that green trailer next to the green tractor, belongs to the green tractor. The other three next to it also look like they would go with it. (16:47 - never mind, you already know.) 20:27 - City Planner would be so proud of you.

[@Chee7sAEpp]

Suggestion: plonk a huge tree or two in the middle of the wheat fields. Gives it a more rural look imo. Also a "fence" or broken stone wall to fence some of the fields off Edit: some small camps of trees on the roadside where a farmer hides his tractors and tools

[@AceWolf2009]

Some spots of woods in the middle of fields would give it a better look. But not just for hiding equipment. Farmers Gere use woods to give Deer and other animals a place to hide and populate, etc and help during hunting season.. Though, that is in the U.S. idk anything about the Uk, which I get the feeling is the look Biffa is going for with this build..

[@jgreen2015]

Remember.. The default industry and it's specialisations are also needed to feed the local shops with generic goods. Without generic and specialised zoning, your city will just import all your general shopping needs

[@jgreen2015]

Also... The combine harvester is facing the wrong way lol It wouldn't be coming out from the long wheat towards the cut wheat. The wheat behind the combine would be cut with the shears at the front cutting the long wheat

[@kaltaron1284]

@@jgreen2015 Did you write this before he turned it around?

[@jgreen2015]

@@kaltaron1284 yes

[@GermanNightmare1976]

Oh, come on, Biffa. That Harvester needs to face non-harvested parts of the field with the moved part behind it. ;) Glad you caught it! As always, such a pleasure to watch. Excellent, excellent!

[@nicholasbignell9702]

Area 3 for the Uni please. BTW, loving this series, although never seen cotton fields in the UK and usually it is hedges along fields with a few trees rather than lines of trees.

[@mrabi_yt.]

@@automation7295 Trees in industry for area 3!

[@Sage2D2]

Look for "Rural" powerlines on the workshop, they would fit in really well

[@beastateverythin]

I am consistently impressed by Blightea-on-the-wold! It’s a delightful series and your enjoyment of the UK build is infectious

[@Axel-mc5wf]

The bales you are talking about are made of straw that the combine places in a swath behind itself. Then you pick it up with a baler. The thing you have done now unloading grain into a wagoon are correct. You could always watch some farming simulator if you want to know more

[@stevenatkinson2393]

There are that many real life farming channels that deserve a look not just farm simulator games channels

[@greatatlas9494]

Aunt nobody got time for that

[@richardlanglois172]

Hi Biffa. The XL and XXL farms etc are not "terrain-conforming," per se; rather they're a plane, arranged along the z-axis of the four points of the field. Using the Network Multitool to "straighten out" the declination of the roads, and then the smoothy-smoothy tool should help align the ground to the plane of the field. Beautiful detailing. I'm never able to do detailing really, and it's so amazing watching you do it.

[@pixzichix]

I like area 2. Its centralised but far enough away to not effect the main centre of town. Ideally you need ditches around your fields. Farmers would often make drainage channels into them so fields don't hold water which results in a damaged harvest. Never heard anyone call them Weetabix's, we use to play on them as kids. Would be nice to see sheep farms spotted about and cows and such near the farm sheds. Sheep are used to eat up stalks and left over crops so they would often be dotted about between other fields. Loving the farm area so much though :).

[@AdamLindsayFootMusic]

Already think u shud call the farm 'Teadley Squat Farm'. A Clarksons farm reference. Love the video btw

[@mgunter]

Add zoned farming or forest industry to have tractors on the roads.

[@TheTechCguy]

A city that has farms helps a lot! More domestic food meaning less imports to worry about receiving! Win-win!

[@paulknight5018]

@Biffa a load of the farms near me (Hampshire have grass fields) with solar panels so that would be a realism thing. The river halve of area 3 should be the location of the Universitea like Cambridge with lots of different tea related college names Magtealine College (Magdaline), Petearhouse college (Peterhouse), Trinitea College (Trinity) and Corpus Christea (Corpus Christi) spring to mind. Before anyone calls Biased, I point I went to Portsmouth Universitea! Feel thirsty now need some Yorkshire Tea.

[@dmore]

I think Area #2 makes sense for the Uni. They’d want to be near the richer families to attract those who can afford the tuition fees (seeing as this is an English town I’m guessing, as opposed to Scotland, so tuition fees apply). Area #3 being waterside would be highly desirable so I think property companies and businesses/tourism would battle to get that for themselves.

[@T3ki1a_]

Biffa! There's something on the workshop called "Rural Electricity poles" or something like that! They look good, are smaller and fit a small town theme

[@thatperson6818]

You should try and make a small campsite area near the farm as many farms rent fields out for tents and caravans in the summer! Also- You called the Primary schools elementary schools, which is something they would never be called in the Uk. If you want variety you could try calling some of them first schools or middle schools!

[@randomonkey]

You should pepper some trees in the middle of the crop fields, they always seem to just work around them rather than chopping them down and having the fields completely perfect.

[@PinderProductions]

I feel like you need a public walking path going across the fields, there were loads of them where I grew up where you just walk round the edge of a farmers field stepping over gates.

[@TheOriginalBadger]

The wrapped bales are silage bales, and you wouldn't find them in a wheat field. A wheat field could be seen full of unwrapped straw bales, but not the wrapped ones. And they don't come out of a harvester, so yeah, if your going to have bales, there definitely needs to be a baler somewhere. VL = Very Large?

[@sherrisville]

Great build Biffa. Loving the details. Some of the farm roads might look nice if the trees were moved back a bit to leave space to plop some grass and dry stone walls or barbed wire fences. Hope there will be a public footpath through the farm land from the transport hub area :)

[@HDCast]

18:01 it’s Geowizard doing a straight line challenge!

[@L08Productions]

Area 3 and that's where the metro area should be too. That island in the river seems like a cool spot to have a bunch of tall buildings around it with a park area on the island.

[@crimsonfoxx2997]

Area 2 seems pretty fitting, I'm sure the college students would enjoy being so close to a natural park

[@miy-kal_]

Area 2 for the uni the park in front of it will look great I think. 2 things about the farm area. as you said your not a farmer (me neither my village is surrounded by them) could you please remove the haybales out of the wheat fields. those bales are just grass. and as a Dutch native I love those Dutch fields (the correct name for them is tulip fields tho) and at least for the farm area you could use those american wooden electricity poles (the ones OverchargedEgg uses) I think you can get a way with it.

[@susantummon3463]

Seeing you place all those bushes alongside the wheat fields brought back memories of Nerdcubed painstakingly placing bushes one by one in his city of Dave the City. My how the game has changed!

[@timbatist8326]

I think Area 1 could be used for the University. It can be connected using trains and other public transport. Area 2 can be used as residential area (maybe more luxurious houses) and area 3 can be used for tourism maybe. I would like to see area 3 becoming a tourism area, nice and cosy at the riverside.

[@RaumschiffA4]

Very nice! Next up a manor house and estate? With a blimp line like everywhere in the uk ofcourse.

[@dmore]

Are there any Dry Stone Dyke wall/fence assets in the workshop? Having those around your fields/along the country roads instead of or in addition to those bushes, would add that extra level of UK country realism!!

[@cochemoche]

Yeah, there may be too many trees/bushes and not enough little stone walls!

[@LiqdPT]

Yup, from what I've seen UK farms need stone walls

[@palindromee]

Hey Biffa - you've got a grain truck! It was on the same section as the combine harvester. Also, you changed most the populations of the elementary schools - so make sure to do that with the ones you're putting down now! also Team 2 😂

[@ant7563]

Glad you chose the village area, it just seems like a good transition from town to country living.. Kind of like the towns and villages in the westcountry

[@FoxDowson]

Loving the farming area. I feel that some fields should have pesky trees and/or rocks that the farmers need to work around

[@KindredBrujah]

Usually if your trains can't complete a route it's because you've only got a single curve where it joins another line. Looks okay on yours though, so not sure here. Deleting and recreating the line will probably sort it.

[@PaulNorman]

When I was building on that map I replaced the hedgerows by rural roads with greenery on the side. and then built around those existing roads.

[@EarlZetland]

Loving this series so much. Suggestion for the name of the farm - go dangerously British, and name it after one of the farms in the Archers (Grange Farm, Bridge Farm?). Some big old trees in the middle of fields would be true to life, and also some fields with rows of pylons going straight over them.

[@tigonologdring9189]

That was actually very funny... coming from a Norfolk farming family. What folks think farms and farmland is like I find quite fascinating.

[@MackerelCat]

Catching up on some missed episodes of Blightea. Absolutely love the detail and effort you put into this one. Thanks Biffa, really enjoy your channel so much❤

[@BenSenneck92]

You should build a large fracking site on the big oil ore area by the village - complete with protesters

[@jave2274]

that is one thing bothering me so hard in this game, city services always feel like they are only able to handle 5 -10 people. And then, there is no high density buildings like schools on the ground + living on the upper floors. you always end up with these inner citys with this big gaps where the services are located. At least here in europe, this just isnt the way cities are functioning.

[@riecejoynes1681]

I have a suggestion for the farms. Often you'll find cobbled stones that separate different owners' land, if you were to have multiple owners in the farmland then you could separate the farms up, if there's a mod for that.

[@erichludwig2095]

NGL, I was so relieved when you turned the combine around the correct way. Maybe the new farm area could be called Steeped Tea Farms. Or maybe that name could be saved for a stepped farm in the future. I love your work

[@ddayreal]

❌*Possible Farmland Upgrade*❌ When visiting family in the east of Scotland, I’d often see ruined settlements or castles from like the 1400’s in the middle of a field. I think this would be a great aesthetic addition for this series.

[@c1ubmandan]

36k population before that University type is available... Realistic population gonna make that a long way away.

[@capedkat]

I was thinking area 2 even before I learned we got more options. It's flat and it's big☺ I love the farm build! I always love farms! Does it have worker barracks yet? I remember my days in the fields. During lightning storms you aren't allowed on it, so we used a very old caravan. Loved that thing; it contained a camping stove & instant-coffee, a deck of cards and it kept us perfectly safe.

[@tillk.6945]

I think a cargo train station would also be usefull and realistic If you expand the farming areas.

[@sts7958]

17:52 the bale are made after the combine has done the field, you put the wheat in the trailer like you do it in the episode and the straw, you get it from the residues the combine left 21:29 the wrapped bale are made from grass, and used to make sillage to feed the cow

[@fizzyfozzy1850]

My grandpearents own an old farm from the 1700's called bank top farm and seeing as the farm is close the the hill where the transport section is i feel its a fitting name. Lots of love to ya biffa ❤️

[@pauljohnson2023]

BACKWARDS Biffer!! The relief when you finally turn the combined harvester around was real.

[@Felicety1989]

Oh my, this brought out old childhood memories of jumping on plastic wrapped hay-bales all day long :-) We annoyed the farmer quite a bit with that XD

[@tornado_smith]

Genuinely impressive half arsed farming knowledge Biffa. Keep up the good work.

[@RamblinRick_]

14:20 What mod is used to draw farm field free-hand? Second, are those fields functional, or just decorative?

[@LiqdPT]

The tricky part about putting in a university is that it needs 36,000 pop. You're at 16,000 now, so you need to more than double. As such, people will probably have moved into most of the areas you've highlighted before you can build.

[@anrikurisuto4432]

I feel like Area 2 would be a nice place, with the park in the background of the main building, or something along those lines? Area 3 might be interesting as well, but too close to the industry would be a waste. And I thought there was supposed to be highrise buildings. Area 1 would be better as more living space, I think.

[@ethanduller808]

Hey Biffa, I think a UK solar field would be a good addition to the farm area. A common sight when driving through the country nowadays. I’ve seen a realistic looking one on the workshop 🙂

[@guy_autordie]

The houses at the beginning ! My grand-mother lived in one like this in Calais.

[@carpemkarzi]

Area 2 looks good Also with the farms, you need an old barn randomly set up in a field

[@DrakeGamer85]

Ideal farm name should be Garway Estate Farm or Garway Farmstead. These are not only nice British-sounding names, but Garway happens to be the surname of the man who first sold tea in the UK - Thomas Garway in 1657, who sold the beverage for the first time that year in their London coffeehouse. Interesting fact for anyone who reads this: he had to make a pamphlet to explain the new beverage he was selling (imagine how that must have been, before people accepted a cuppa as something to enjoy XD)

[@Jay_Johnson]

don't forget to leave some pasture land for the sheep they look pretty cramped where they are at the moment...

[@ExperiencersInternational]

On those types of farms, I think a 60 would be more realistic, rural roads where I live are usually 60.

[@gazzamuso]

But on a dirt road? All the gravel would fly into everyone's windshields at that speed

[@ExperiencersInternational]

@@gazzamuso lol, fair enough

[@WeAreThePeople1690]

@@gazzamuso the country roads in the uk are still a hard surface like tarmac or concrete. We don't have many dirt roads unless it is a track down to a farm or something. So 60 being the national speed limit for those roads would be right.

[@cryhavikk]

I'm watching this about two weeks late but, the bales wrapped in white are usually silage. Silage comes from green fields (usually just tall grass) so it wouldn't be in a brown field. Unless you wanna say it's a late harvest, you can certainly still use it after it's browned you'd just have to use it almost immediately instead of storing it in a silo.

[@jcosunshine]

Excellent episode! I'm really enjoying this series. I vote for area 3 for the university. I truly love how the farming area is coming along, your detailing is GREAT!@ Always good to see you when you pop into Overcharged Egg's premieres on Friday mornings. So nice of you to join us. ❤️

[@MetroTitanD78]

One thing that would look cool and realistic is a line of Pylons crossing the fields that you see pretty much everywhere in the UK. Also the Farming Equipment Shop would look quite good on a main road next to either a petrol station or car show room.

[@ThePoxun]

My mum used to declare "look at the lambs!" while we were driving on the motorway. Of course by the time we actually looked we were so far past the field we never saw them.

[@danonck]

I enjoyed Clarkson's farm and I definitely enjoy Biffa's farm as well!

[@NotThomas5]

Growing up in Cornwall we used just call places by the name of the owners! I reckon "Farmer Tetley's" fits it well!

[@SargonDestroyerofWorlds]

We would call the wrapped bails Marshmallows.

[@barblx_t7892]

One good idea for the uni is, have the campuses split over multiple sites as most universities now have multiple campuses. Another suggestion would be having rural roads at 50MPH or maybe 60MPH as most rural roads near cities are fast roads rather than 30MPH

[@AMV12S]

Area #1 is the place where I would build, but Area #3 would be pretty nice with an university along the river... So my vote is #3.

[@AMV12S]

@@automation7295 +/-, it had a own island.

[@PHX787]

10:18 that tractor sitting there is somehow adorable

[@rensklaassen4470]

Unicampus: I would suggest placing it next to your train/bushub and industry. Here in the Netherlands we got some next to hubs, just because of the proximity to the hub. Use the road from the roundabout as access and have a nice pedestrian crossing over the 4 lane road to the campus fron the hub.

[@sardorkb]

Area 3 seems nice for uni with the water running there, can add up some relaxing parks along the water inside the uni.

[@SoerenBruunJensen]

For added farming realism, you should move the large grain-bins to a freight-trainstation in the small village (for ‘export’ of the grain by train) and the tractor-sale to the outskirts of the village to cover the entire farming area.

[@CJLloyd]

Come on, Biffa! You should know that no British farmer would leave trailers out in the open like that with nothing to cover them. With our climate, they'd be mobile paddling pools within a few weeks. 😂 No but, seriously, loving the build. 😊

[@melissamagalhaes8577]

If you are still looking for the prop to drop the cut grains you already have them from the same Asset Creator it says grain cart dumping and there are three different ones. You can see them at 16:20.

[@turtleofthemoon]

I vote area 3 for the university, I think having it by the river would be really nice and it leaves the option to use that little island or spread to the other side of the river if the campus needs to expand. Also, don't know if this is a US vs UK thing but everyone I knew always called those haybales "marshmallows" because they're usually wrapped in white plastic as they're baled. (I think we may have said "naked marshmallows" once or twice when we saw ones that hadn't been wrapped, which doesn't actually make sense but is kind of hilarious.)

[@izabelato1002]

Area 3 looks like a beautiful area to expand on

[@masterroshi1737]

Hi, Biffa. I allways forget to write this, but last video with the "underwater earthquakesensor" reminded me :) Seach "Actually Underground Power Cables" at the workshop. I think you will find this useful to transfer power, even underwater :)

[@l4ur4b]

I don’t call hay bales Weetabix but in my family if we are describing a pub or village out in the countryside we’d say it’s “itmon” (in the middle of nowhere). I remember calling itmon when i saw any lone hay bales in the middle of a field

[@jasonh8753]

Bales come from either cotton, or from harvesting grass/straw not wheat. Wheat gives you the grain (what goes in the wagons) and plant material which is usually just littered back on the ground for composting back into the soil.

[@missyg_]

It would be nice to have those cute low stone walls dividing some fields. Nice work.

[@djerykhornubis2466]

Hi Biffa. I love you're doing that! That is always the forgotten part of Cities:skyline builds to me. There should be fields taking half the map! We see that when we are on a plane.

[@cocobowen11]

Watched for years and barely comment, but I think if you don't build a UNI in Area 3 i may cry!!! Pleasure to watch as always

[@derbygaz]

Just a quick comment about the schools Biffa, the terms used are wrong for the UK. Elementary's should be either an Infant or Junior schools unless they are in the same complex then it is a Primary School. High Schools should be Secondary's unless they specialise in certain subjects i.e. sciences, sports, technology then they become Academies

[@windzswept]

Technically any secondary school can be an academy... prior to Academies schools could specialise in a particular area and they had a different name. But, yes, Primary schools are primaries not elementaries.

[@Flame-Fire-Original]

Name suggestion for the farm: Earl Greys Farm (since Earl Grey Tea is a type of black tea)

[@kylek3627]

Would love it if you could name the new farm “Goodfellow Farm”. My grandparents both passed away recently and that was the name of their farm.

[@Bubbarain717]

Farm name. GreenTea Acres reference to Green Acres and Green Tea.

[@zamboughnuts]

Haven't seen this mentioned - You can use the speed limit tool to change the default limit for a certain road asset (lower right icon in the speed limit tool) so you could have all the rural roads automatically doing 30