Farms are among the first improvements that a Builder can create in Civilization 6, and at the beginning of a game they bestow an additional Food yield and half an additional Housing upon a tile. This makes Farms a possible tool for encouraging Population growth in Civ 6, though some players may wonder if they are worth constructing at all. Indeed, Builder charges are a very valuable resource, and this guide looks to address if fans should be using them to establish Farms.
To speak very broadly, Farms are not particularly good in Civilization 6, and players are advised to spend their Builder charges on other improvements (like Mines) and chops if at all possible. That said, if a city really needs access to some additional Food or Housing then building a few Farms can be helpful, though fans should plan appropriately to make sure that they maximize the potency of these improvements.
This means finding locations where three Farms can be placed in a triangle formation in order to receive the adjacency bonus granted by the Feudalism civic. This bonus causes Farms that are adjacent to two other Farms to produce an additional Food, and indeed that is the best way to give some real value to these improvements. To note, Farms can only be built on Hills after the Civil Engineering civic has been discovered, and thus players should primarily plan to build their Farm triangles on flat land.
Additionally, fans should try to construct their Farm triangles so that they are shared across multiple cities in Civilization 6. This will allow the Farms to be easily swapped over to a second city if the first one reaches a point of having no additional Housing to grow into, alleviating some of the concerns about these improvements going to waste as a game goes on.
In summary, players should primarily be using their Builders for Production-focused improvements and harvesting in Civ 6. If Farms really are needed, then fans should do their best to place them in triangles and in such a way that they are not useless once their home-city reaches a Population limit. Even in this configuration, though, players are better off not building Farms in great abundance.
Civilization 6 is available for iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.