The best Farming Simulator 25 tips and tricks for beginners fit in one sentence: start a New Farmer save on Riverbend Springs with the tutorial on, grow simple grain crops first, take contracts for quick money, and wait on animals until your fields are paying. Everything below comes from GIANTS Software’s official FS25 manual, its Steam patch notes up to Patch 1.25 (October 20, 2026) and the Beans & Alpacas expansion notes (October 27, 2026). Where a tip is our own advice rather than an official fact, we say so.
We haven’t played Farming Simulator 25. What this guide adds is the manual’s crop data turned into one money-per-hectare table, plus a first-year order of play (checked November 2, 2026).
Table of Contents
Farming Simulator 25 tips and tricks: quick answer
- Mode: pick New Farmer. GIANTS’ manual says you get “a good selection of machines”, some land, and money “shouldn’t be your main concern”. It recommends this mode “for absolute beginners”.
- Map: start on Riverbend Springs (North America) with the tutorial enabled. That’s Gamepressure’s beginner advice too.
- First crops: wheat, barley and canola. They need only basic machines, and the manual suggests a grain header first “as it can harvest many crops”.
- Fast money: contracts from the menu. You can use your own machines or borrow the required equipment.
- Yield: fertilize twice per crop, lime when the field info asks for it (about every third harvest), remove weeds early and roll after sowing (+2.5% yield).
- Animals: start with chickens. The manual calls them “pretty easy to care for”.
- Save money: lease expensive machines, check the used vehicle sale, and pay loans back quickly, because interest is charged every month.
Which mode should a beginner pick in Farming Simulator 25?
The three presets mainly change your money, and the manual says you can customize the settings of each one. Starting cash below is from PC Gamer (November 2024). The descriptions are GIANTS’ own wording.
| Mode | What you start with (official manual) | Starting money (per PC Gamer) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Farmer | Machines, some owned land and a farmhouse; “recommended for absolute beginners” | €100,000 | First save |
| Farm Manager | No machines or land, “a good amount of money”, and a loan to pay back | €1,000,000 | Players who want to choose their own fleet and fields |
| Start from Scratch | “Little to no money”; you may need contract work before you can buy land and machines | €500,000 | A harder second save |
The two sources don’t fully match. The manual calls Start from Scratch the leanest start, while PC Gamer lists more cash for it than for New Farmer. One way to read it: New Farmer’s smaller sum comes with land and machines already paid for. Players on the Steam forums point out that the new-game screen also lets you set your own starting money and loan, so check those sliders before you confirm. Gamepressure adds that New Farmer comes with “a large supply of seeds” and a few cows.
Other settings beginners can change in the pause menu, per Gamepressure: seasonal growth, snow, economic difficulty, vehicle durability and days per month. The manual confirms that seasonal growth can be switched off “allowing you to plant and harvest anytime”. If the crop calendar feels like too much at first, our advice is to switch it off for your first year.
Which map is best for beginners?
The base game has three maps: Riverbend Springs (North America), Hutan Pantai (East Asia, built around rice paddies) and Zielonka (Central Europe). The two expansions add Kinlaig (Highlands Fishing) and Catuaí, the Brazil-inspired map from Beans & Alpacas. Catuaí has dry and rainy seasons instead of snowy winters. Our advice: learn the basics on Riverbend Springs, since its crops need no paddy fields or new machines. Leave Hutan Pantai’s rice and Catuaí’s coffee and bananas for a second save.
How to make money fast in Farming Simulator 25
1. Take contracts first
Other farmers on the map always need help. The manual says contracts are “a great way to earn some money, get a feel for machinery” and let you try crops and jobs your farm doesn’t have yet. You can bring your own machines or borrow the required equipment. Open the contracts screen in the menu, or talk to neighbours directly. Thrustmaster’s FS25 guide suggests choosing contracts near your farm and chaining similar jobs in the same area. That’s also our advice, because driving time is unpaid time.
Two official fixes matter here. Since Patch 1.7, rain no longer cuts the contract yield when you harvest with your own harvester. Also, if two harvest contracts deliver the same crop to the same station, your delivery counts toward the one with more progress.
2. Store crops and sell at the right time
Prices change through the year. The manual says to check the prices screen and keep crops in a silo until the price is right. Our advice: build a silo early.
3. Lease before you buy
Leasing costs a starting fee plus a running fee, and the manual recommends it “especially” for expensive machines. It also points to the used vehicle sale for reduced prices. Our advice: lease any tool you need for one job a year, like a beet harvester.
4. Use loans carefully
At the end of every month you pay interest on your loans, so the manual’s advice is to “pay them back as fast as you can”. Players on the Steam forums report that you borrow in 5,000 steps on the finance page. Our advice: borrow for land, which keeps earning, not for a shiny new tractor.
By our math from the manual, rice earns about €43,600 per hectare at average prices, but it needs paddy fields and a rice planter, so save it for a second season. Image: GIANTS Software
Best first crops in Farming Simulator 25 (money per hectare)
The manual lists the yield per hectare and the average selling price for all 25 field crops. We multiplied them to show what one hectare earns at an average price. We assumed the prices are per 1,000 liters, as the game’s prices screen shows them. These are gross figures: seed, fuel, fertilizer and machine costs aren’t taken off.
| Crop | Yield per ha | Avg. price (manual) | Gross per ha (our math) | Plant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | 17,800 l | €1,011 | ~€18,000 | Sep-Oct | Jul-Aug |
| Barley | 19,200 l | €938 | ~€18,000 | Sep-Oct | Jun-Jul |
| Oat | 11,400 l | €1,596 | ~€18,200 | Mar-Apr | Jul-Aug |
| Canola | 11,600 l | €1,808 | ~€21,000 | Aug-Sep | Jul-Aug |
| Soybeans | 9,000 l | €2,333 | ~€21,000 | Apr-May | Oct-Nov |
| Corn | 18,400 l | €1,139 | ~€21,000 | Apr-May | Aug-Nov |
| Sunflowers | 10,400 l | €2,018 | ~€21,000 | Mar-Apr | Oct-Nov |
| Sorghum | 16,400 l | €1,290 | ~€21,200 | Apr-May | Aug-Sep |
| Peas | 9,600 l | €3,119 | ~€29,900 | Mar-Apr | Jul-Sep |
| Green Beans | 13,950 l | €2,160 | ~€30,100 | Apr-Jun | Aug-Nov |
| Cotton | 9,940 l | €3,755 | ~€37,300 | Feb-Mar | Oct-Nov |
| Rice | 13,200 l | €3,300 | ~€43,600 | Apr-May | Aug-Sep |
| Potatoes | 82,600 l | €666 | ~€55,000 | Mar-Apr | Aug-Oct |
| Sugar Beet | 115,600 l | €516 | ~€59,700 | Mar-Apr | Oct-Nov |
What the table shows: at average prices, the common grains all earn roughly the same, about €18,000-21,000 per hectare. Root crops and cotton earn more but need special planters, harvesters and transport, and potatoes need 3,733 liters of seed per hectare against 308 for wheat. Rice needs water-retaining paddy fields. That’s why our advice for a first season is:
- Autumn: sow wheat or barley (September-October).
- Late summer: canola goes in during August-September and pays a little more per hectare.
- Spring: add oat, soybeans or sunflowers so not every field is ready in the same two weeks.
- Year two: lease a potato or sugar beet harvester once you have the fields and trailers for root crops.
Straw is a bonus: after wheat, barley or oat you can bale the swath for animal bedding.
Field work tips that raise your yield
The manual marks several steps with “Improves Yield!”. In order of a crop cycle:
| Step | What the manual says | Beginner tip (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Lime | Apply after every third harvest when the field info asks, then plow or cultivate it in | Check the field info before buying seed |
| Plow | Needed after root crops and at intervals; a subsoiler is cheaper and faster, but can’t create fields or stop weeds | A cultivator is enough most years |
| Fertilize | At least once per crop cycle; a second pass after a growth stage brings it to 100% | Solid fertilizer is the cheapest start |
| Roll | After sowing; +2.5% yield | Skip it if money or time is short |
| Weed | Weeder for small weeds, hoe for medium, herbicide sprayer for large (with a yield penalty) | Weed early so you never need herbicide |
| Mulch | On stubble from wheat, barley, oat, sorghum, sunflowers, soybeans and corn, before cultivating | Do it right after harvest |
| Stones | Roll small stones; collect big ones with a stone picker and sell them at the debris crusher | Stones damage harvesters, so clear them |
Free fertilizer: oilseed radish is a catch crop that can’t be harvested. When it’s fully grown, cultivating it into the soil adds one fertilization stage. Animal slurry and manure work too, and so does the digestate you get back from selling manure or silage at the biogas plant.
Goats eat only grass and hay, and the manual calls them easy to handle, which makes them a good second animal after chickens. Image: GIANTS Software
Which animals should beginners start with?
Gamepressure advises focusing on crops in the first hours and adding a small cow or chicken farm later. We agree. All animals need food, water and (for most) straw, and food has to be stored before winter. Here’s the manual’s line-up, with the easiest first:
| Animal | Eats (manual) | Produces | Beginner note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chickens | Wheat, barley, sorghum | Egg pallets | “Pretty easy to care for” (manual); move pallets with a forklift |
| Goats | Grass, hay | Goat milk | “Easy to handle”; milk becomes goat cheese at a dairy |
| Sheep | Grass, hay | Wool | Take wool pallets to the spinnery |
| Bees | None | Honey | Hives raise canola, sunflower and potato yields nearby |
| Cows | Grass, hay, silage, TMR | Milk, slurry, manure | More milk on Total Mixed Ration |
| Water buffalo | Grass, hay, silage, TMR | Buffalo milk, slurry, manure | Process the milk into mozzarella |
| Pigs | A corn or sorghum base, grains, proteins and root crops | Slurry, manure | The most complex diet |
| Horses | Hay, oat, sorghum | Trained horses | Ride them to raise their value |
Animals breed when well fed and old enough, if the pen has space. Since Patch 1.25, you can also hire animal workers for horses (riding, grooming) and alpacas (leading, shearing). Beans & Alpacas adds alpacas and Brahman cattle. Our pick for a first pen is chickens, because they eat the wheat and barley you already grow.
Use AI workers and GPS from day one
Press H in a working vehicle to hire an AI worker, who is paid automatically from your account. Holding the button opens settings for working width, headlands and skipped lines, per GIANTS’ AI worker preview. Every tractor can also use GPS steering assist. Our advice: let a worker sow one field while you do a contract on another.
Things beginners should avoid
- Buying a tractor that’s too weak. Every tool has a required power, and the shop shows it. If your tractor isn’t strong enough, the manual warns you’ll “have a hard time” with the tool.
- Too many fields too soon. The manual suggests buying smaller fields close together and combining them with a plow.
- Running out of winter feed. Store hay, silage and straw before snow if you keep animals.
- Paying for mods. Install mods through the in-game ModHub, which GIANTS tests and curates. Since its August 24, 2026 statement, GIANTS says mods “have to be free” and bans paid access.
Twisters and hail can damage fields and bales left outside, and you can't harvest in rain or snow. Watch the forecast icon. Image: GIANTS Software
Is Farming Simulator 25 still worth starting in 2026?
It is still getting updates: Patch 1.25 came out on October 20, 2026, and the Beans & Alpacas expansion followed on October 27. The base game is $29.99 on Steam, and the expansion is $29.99 (both checked November 2, 2026). The expansion is included in the Year 2 Season Pass, and a Beans & Alpacas Edition bundles the base game and the expansion, for four maps in total. The game is on PC, Mac, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. GIANTS also runs a free Farming Simulator Academy with tutorials for every crop and animal, including coffee, bananas and alpacas.
If you like slower farm life, see our games like Stardew Valley and farm and city builders like Township. For more management-sim money guides, try our Manor Lords build order guide and the Supermarket Simulator pricing guide.
FAQ
What is the easiest way to make money in Farming Simulator 25 for beginners?
Contracts. They pay without you owning the field, you can borrow the machines, and you learn the work along the way. Pair them with your own grain fields and sell from storage when prices rise.
What should I plant first in Farming Simulator 25?
Wheat or barley in September-October, or canola in August-September. All three work with basic machines and a grain header. By our math from the manual, they earn about €18,000-21,000 per hectare at average prices.
Should I turn off seasonal growth in Farming Simulator 25?
You can. The manual says turning it off lets you plant and harvest anytime. For a first save we’d turn it off and switch it back on once the field steps feel routine.
Which animal is best for beginners in Farming Simulator 25?
Chickens. The manual calls them easy to care for, and they eat wheat, barley or sorghum, which you can grow yourself. Goats are the next easiest.
Sources: GIANTS Software Farming Simulator 25 manual (English PDF); GIANTS’ Steam announcements for Beans & Alpacas, Patch 1.25, Patch 1.7, AI workers and GPS and mods; the Steam store page (prices checked November 2, 2026); the Farming Simulator Academy; PC Gamer; Gamepressure; Thrustmaster; and Steam community discussions. Per-hectare figures and all “our advice” tips are GamingRoute’s.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
