I have some ideas but just wanted to get some feedback and brainstorming from the crowd. I'm trying to make the most efficient wheat, carrot/potato, melon/pumpkin, sugarcane, sheep (for wool)/cow/rabbit and tree farm (two plots for trees that can be swapped with standard types) on a single layer, e.g. no second stories, floating levels or towers. I prefer either manual or semi-auto to any bonemeal based auto-farming. Not looking for mega yield, just efficiency (that could potentially be expanded in a repeating pattern for greater yield) with a little bit of aesthetics. Doesn't have to use every square of the 60x60 and needs to leave some space of course for a homestead. Space left over is actually preferable. This is what I'm currently looking at for my wheat farm: x = wheat, W = water 12x15 plot xWxxWxxWxxWx And possibly something like this for a wool farm. Thoughts? P.S. My current stead is at SMP1, 1551 if anyone wants to take a look at my current setup.
Here's the build I used for wheat, carrots and potatoes at my base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx0XmRsLmIA It's super easy. There is some redstone involved but very little. You just pull a lever and the water brings all the crops to a row a hoppers at the front. Then you replant and repeat. Yes you can use a villager type set up for fully automatic but this way you'll get more. You can make these as small as 8 blocks long to the full length of your res. If you have the materials and want to see one up close I can help build one.
