Seasons

The game involves four seasons that run based on three-month intervals. A new campaign begins at the start of spring 2018. Each season lasts approximately [x] minutes of real time on normal play speed; each season lasts approximately [x] minutes at the fastest fast-forward speed.

Below are suggested tasks the player should expect to repeat each game year.

## Spring: March 22nd to June 21st

1. Assess available employee labor.
2. Plow, cultivate, fertilize, and sow fields.
3. Replace annual plants that died over the winter with new plowing.
4. Spray fields to defend them against insects, weeds, and fungi during warmer weather.

## Summer: June 22nd to September 21st

1. Some time remains to start fresh fields. Be aware of crop growth cycles to avoid planting seeds that will not mature in time to harvest by mid-November, or else they will die or go into hibernation for the winter. Perennial plants automatically go into hibernation towards the end of fall and their picture changes to a brown stalk covered by a plastic bag; they automatically resume their growth cycle in spring.
2. Water fields
3. Spray fields to defend them against insects, weeds, and fungi during warmer weather.
4. Harvest any early-blooming crops and/or greenhouse crops.
5. Assess available employee labor against crops that will bloom for harvesting soon. Hire seasonal labor (if available) to manage end of year harvest schedules.

## Fall (Autumn): September 22nd to December 21st

1. Hire seasonal labor (if available) to manage end of year harvest schedules.
2. Spray fields to defend them against insects, weeds, and fungi as needed. Preventative sprays applied during the growing season will not carry over through winter to the following year's spring.
3. Plan greenhouse crops for the winter
4. Assess available feed supplies for animals.

## Winter: December 22nd to March 21st

1. Purchase machinery to repair and flip for resale (if available in Scrap or Bad condition)
2. Complete training courses at the Farm Owner's House
3. Tend greenhouses and animals
	1. A small poultry coop or small cowshed, at max capacity, appears to consume about 500 feed units per season. (Needs confirmation)
	2. An animal building does not require constant supervision by an employee. Employees can be released from this assignment to be cycled between animal buildings; else they will go idle when not feeding the animals and harvesting their products. The building will issue a Low Food alert when the player should send an employee to be a caretaker.
4. Human Resource management
	1. Assess what skill perks are available in your existing labor pool.
	2. Fire excess laborers to reduce cash outflows during non-productive winter months. Employees cannot do any work on outdoor fields during winter; they can only be assigned work in animal buildings, greenhouses, or other production facilities such as Storage for Silage.
	3. Consider firing and rehiring laborers at lower monthly wage rates; increasing an employee's skill levels through training investment does not increase their wages, therefore it is more cost effective to cycle through hiring and releasing than retaining expensive employees long-term. There is no benefit to retaining the same employees year-over-year. The wage range appears to vary from the low $400s to the high $700s.