There’s no wrong way to play Stardew Valley. Every player has their own preferences and goals, whether it be maximizing relationships, restoring the Community Center, or spending hours on the shores fishing. For those trying to maximize profits, you’ll need to know which crops provide the most value.
It can be a tad daunting to look at all the seeds you can purchase at Pierre’s store, and as the in-game years go by, there are new items to consider as well. And once you build the greenhouse, you have all the different seeds from every season to consider, too.
If gold is your strongest motivator in Stardew Valley, then planting and harvesting the most valuable crops will be your biggest priority. When we talk about value, we’re talking about getting the biggest return on your investment (seed costs). Which crops return the most yield for the amount of money you put in?
Most valuable spring crops in Stardew Valley
The most valuable spring crop you can plant is Strawberries. But there’s a catch as you can only buy Strawberry seeds on the day of the Egg Festival on the 13th. Each Strawberry seed costs 100 gold, and at base value, a Strawberry sells for 120 gold. But one plant will produce a Strawberry every four days.
If you plant Strawberry seeds on the day of the Festival, you can get two to three harvests, depending on if you use fertilizer. But if you plant Strawberry seeds on the first day of spring, you can get five to six harvests. Here are some suggestions for how you can approach Strawberries:
- Buy seeds in year one and save them until year two, giving you a full spring season to get maximum harvests. Or you can save them until you have the greenhouse built.
- Buy seeds and plant them right away to get a couple of harvests. Keep some of the harvested Strawberries and collect seeds using the Seed Maker to have for the start of year two.
Other than Strawberries, here are some other valuable crops to consider growing in spring:
- Rhubarb: Costs 100 gold and sells for 220 gold, but can only be purchased from the Oasis store in the desert. Takes 13 days to grow, so a maximum of two harvests during the spring.
- Cauliflower: Costs 80 gold and sells for 175 gold, but Cauliflower planted in a three-by-three pattern can turn into a giant crop that produces more. Takes 12 days to grow, so a maximum of two harvests during the spring.
- Green Beans: Costs 60 gold and sells for 40 gold each, but one seed produces multiple harvests for the entire season. Takes 10 days to grow, then produces a Green Bean every three days, meaning a maximum of six harvests.
Most valuable summer crops in Stardew Valley
You may not grow many of these in your first year, but Starfruit is still the most valuable crop to grow in the summer. And years down the line, your farm should be heavily reliant on Starfruit.
Starfruit costs 400 gold per seed from the Oasis, which is very high. But a base value Starfruit sells for 750 gold, and it can be turned into Wine that can sell for as little as 2,250 or as high as 6,300 (Iridium quality with Artisan profession enabled). Starfruit takes 13 days to harvest, meaning you’ll get a maximum of two harvests during the summer.
Other than Starfruit, here are some other valuable crops to consider growing in the summer:
- Blueberries: Blueberry seeds cost only 80 gold and they generate multiple harvests, with each harvest producing three Blueberries that each sell for 50 gold. Takes 13 days to grow, then produces three Blueberries every four days, meaning a maximum of four harvests.
- Red Cabbage: Costs 100 gold and sells for 260 gold, but it’s only regularly sold starting in year two. Takes nine days to grow, so a maximum of three harvests can be yielded during the summer.
- Hops: Hops on its own is not very valuable, but it produces multiple harvests from one seed very rapidly and can be made into Pale Ale using a Keg. Costs 60 gold per seed and takes 11 days to fully grow, but it can be harvested every day.
Most valuable fall crops in Stardew Valley
Technically, Sweet Gem Berry is the most valuable crop you can grow in the fall, though you can only buy seeds for it (at 1,000 gold a piece) if they appear in the Traveling Cart on Fridays or Sundays.
The Sweet Gem Berry takes a whopping 24 days to grow from a Rare Seed, but its base sell value is 3,000 gold. Make sure, though, you save one Sweet Gem Berry to gift to Old Master Cannoli in the Secret Woods if you want a Stardrop reward. But the Sweet Gem Berry cannot be turned into a more valuable wine, juice, or jelly.
Other than Sweet Gem Berry, here are some other valuable crops to consider growing in the fall:
- Pumpkin: Costs 100 gold and sells for 420 gold, and like Cauliflower it has the chance to grow into a giant crop if planted in a three-by-three format. Takes 13 days to grow, so a maximum of two harvests during the fall.
- Cranberries: Costs 240 gold per seed, but produces multiple harvests of two Cranberries each. Each Cranberry sells for 75 gold. Takes seven days to grow and reproduces every five days, meaning a maximum of five harvests during the fall.
During the winter, the only thing of value you can grow is winter forage items using Wild seeds.
Other than the crops listed above, there are plenty of other crops to grow that provide value outside of just pure gold return, such as Corn, Wheat, Coffee, Unmilled Rice, all the crops that make up Community Center bundles, and whatever your preferred bachelor’s favorite is. And once you get the Seed Maker and the Greenhouse, you can pretty much grow whatever you like whenever you want to.
