Highlights

• The most profitable season in Stardew Valley is Fall, followed by Summer and Spring, offering a wide variety of crops.
• To maximize profits, players should consider key factors like seed cost, planting timing, and building placement.
• Stardew Valley offers a diverse range of highly profitable crops, such as strawberries, starfruit, and ancient fruit, that can yield substantial returns.

While Stardew Valley is a game that encourages patience and going at one's own pace, it can be frustrating to figure out which crops are worth the time of investment without a guide. In Stardew Valley, no two crops are equal, and some of Stardew Valley's best crops make a significantly better profit than others.

Each season has a variety of offerings for the player, but Fall takes the cake for the overall most profitable season, followed by Summer and Spring. Thanks to the 1.5 update, the choice of crops has widened and slightly changed the way of making money. However, most of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley has to offer are not necessarily restricted to the endgame of Ginger Island, so players are spoilt for choice when deciding which fruits and vegetables they decide to grow.

Updated June 22, 2023, by Sophie McEvoy: Stardew Valley players eagerly await the 1.6 update, focusing mainly on facilitating modded content, including crops. Those that don’t use mods won’t see any new crops added to the game, unlike the 1.5 update in 2020, which introduced new produce in addition to Ginger Island. However, there are still dozens of profitable crops in Stardew Valley to grow, including items from the base game and the update. Players can utilize both the original farm and the Ginger Island farm to make the most money, especially since the Ginger Island Farm isn’t restricted by seasons, so players can grow all these money makers to yield maximum profit.

23 Before Buying Seeds In Bulk

Be Knowledgeable

There are a few things every player should keep in mind when looking to maximize profits with Stardew Valley's best crops. It's not enough just to have enough money to purchase the seeds – veteran players know to prepare ahead of time with useful buildings, an efficiently planned plot of land, and the right tools and food for long days of farming.

• Day of the Month: The value of some crops comes from getting multiple harvests in a season. Plant seeds that continually produce crops early in a season to maximize profits.
• Sprinklers: These are crafted with the Farming skill or earned for certain quests, and they water crops automatically every day in the nearest 4, 8, or 24 tiles, depending on tier.
• Buildings: Build a Shed at an easily accessible location for farm supplies, storage, artisan goods, furnaces, etc.
• Farm Layout: Plan plots with Fences to mark corners, and mark Sprinkler locations too. Count each unused square to be in the plot – this is the max number of seeds for this plot.
• Cost Calculation: For each planned plot, multiply the number of tilled squares by the cost of each seed –, this is how the player will have to invest in each plot.

After taking these planning steps, add or remove squares in each plot to reach a total that comes as close to your current Gold total as possible. This maximizes your investment, and as long as you are diligent and tend to your crops every day you will see your Gold total grow exponentially, as the number of seeds you can buy the next season increases.

22 Strawberries

Seed Price: 100g

Strawberries are easily the most profitable crop in Spring, but with a hitch: the player can't buy Strawberry seeds until Spring 13 at the Egg Festival. Save up some money with parsnips in Year 1 to buy a few of these 100g-a-piece seeds, and remember to sell them the night before the festival. This plan makes the Strawberry the most profitable Spring crop Stardew has.

If planted on the day of the egg festival, strawberries will have 2 yields before Summer. If the player keeps ahold of their Strawberry seeds and waits to plant them until Year 2, they will have five yields, making for one of the best crops Stardew Valley has.

21 Rhubarb

Seed Price: 100 - 150g

Rhubarb is only available via the Desert Bus, which is unlocked upon completing the Vault bundle in the Community Center. In the southwest section of the desert, players will find a shop that sells a variety of specialty goods and seeds.

Rhubarb sells for 220g, more than twice its purchasing price of 100g. It takes 13 days to mature, though, so make sure to hop on the Desert Bus on Spring 1 and plant these crops before the next day for maximum yield. When placed in a Keg or a Preserves Jar, the selling price of Rhubarb increases up to 1,320g depending on the quality.

20 Garlic

Seed Price: 40g (Year 2+)

Garlic seeds are only available from Pierre’s General Store from Year 2, providing players with an additional crop to play with after a successful first year. While Garlic isn’t the most profitable crop in terms of yield, players that have chosen the Agriculturist profession and utilize Speed-Gro will increase the amount of Garlic grown.

Players that have followed the Tiller Profession will see an increase in price for Garlic sold to 132g at Iridium quality. For those who utilize the Artisan skill, investing in a Preserves Jar will produce Pickled Garlic, which can sell for 170g at the highest quality. This increases to 238g with the Artisan skill.

19 Kale

Seed Price: 70g

Year 1 is all about growing Parsnips, Strawberries, and Cauliflowers. One veggie often missed during Spring is Kale, which certainly doesn’t get enough love. These leafy greens take 6 days to harvest, which is a great choice to combine with Parsnips, as they take less than a week to grow.

For players starting out, Kale and Parsnips are good money makers early on in the game. Kale’s a good harvest for Year 2 as well when taking the Artisan produce that can be made into account. With Artisan skill, Kale Juice can sell for 345g and Pickled Kale for 378g at the highest quality.

18 Cauliflower

Seed Price: 80g

Cauliflower may take 12 days to grow, but it’s certainly worth it. While one Cauliflower seed will yield two veggies during the season, if players choose the Agriculturist profession and use Hyper Speed-Grow, they can generate double the amount of Cauliflower in one seed.

It’s also one of the few crops that have a chance to grow into a giant crop, which can drop 15-21 Cauliflower when harvested with an axe. This only happens when Cauliflower is planted in a 3x3 pattern. Players can earn up to 350g at the highest quality, which increases to 385g with the Tiller profession. Pickled Cauliflower boosts this to 400g, then 560g with the Artisan skill.

17 Coffee

Seed Price: 100g - 2500g

Coffee might not seem like a profitable crop at first glance. The beans are a 1% drop from Dust Sprites in the Mines and can be bought from the Traveling Cart for anywhere from 100g to 2500g (!). A Seed Maker makes finding coffee beans much easier, and when harvested every two days, they have a chance to drop multiple coffee beans.

While they don't sell for much on their own, a stack of five can be turned into coffee in a keg, which can then be turned into Triple Shot Espresso for a tidy 450g boost. Plus, it can be harvested through Spring and Summer, which helps reduce energy spent replanting crops constantly.

16 Starfruit

Seed Price: 400g - 600g

Starfruit is, in many ways, both the most iconic and most profitable crop in Stardew Valley. It sells for a massive 750g, twice its buying price of 400g from the Oasis Shop, which must be unlocked by completing the Vault Community Center bundle.

Starfruit is a lucrative crop on its own, with incredible bonuses for a high-quality harvest, but it really becomes ridiculously profitable when turned into Artisan products. Starfruit Jelly, for example, sells for 1550g, and Starfruit Wine can sell anywhere from 2250g to 4500g, with a maximum of 6,300g with the Artisan skill.

15 Blueberries

Seed Price: 80g

Blueberries are a crop that only grows in the summer, costs 80g per seed, and will drop three blueberries worth 80g every four days once the plant matures. Blueberries are a crop that the farmer won't have to plant over and over again, making it a sustainable option for players who want to explore more of the game.

If planted on the first day of the season, the profit skyrockets because of the extra harvesting time. These are some of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley has for Artisan products or on their own, as they don't have to be replanted, and they're a must-have for a Summer farmer looking for easy money.

14 Red Cabbage

Seed Price: 150g (Year 1), 100g (Year 2)

Red Cabbage is a Year 2 exclusive plant (the player cannot find them anywhere in Year 1 except for the Traveling Cart) that sells for way more than twice the buying price. Pierre's General Store sells these for 100g a pop, but they sell for 260g at harvest, making for one of Stardew Valley's best crops.

If planted at the beginning of Summer the player can get a neat three harvests from one field dedicated to Red Cabbage. It does not re-grow automatically, though, so be sure to prepare ahead of time with backup seeds.

13 Melon

Seed Price: 80g

Melons are one of the most profitable crops to grow during the Summer, as they are one of the three varieties of seeds that can grow into giant crops. Giant Melons will grow within a 3x3 pattern, dropping between 15 and 21 normal-quality items when harvested with an axe. While giant crops can’t be grown in the Greenhouse, they don’t die like other crops at the end of a season. So, players can keep them on the farm for decoration or harvest the results.

To make the most out of a Melon harvest, turning them into Artisan products will sell for a base price of between 550g to 1,500g. With the bonus of the Artisan skill, this increases up to a lucrative 2,100g.

12 Hops

Seed Price: 60g

While Hops can be sold individually as produce, their primary use is for making Pale Ale. Hops Starters take 11 days to grow and will grow every day after. Players will make a higher return on selling Pale Ale than selling the product on its own, increasing from 50g to 600g at its base value and 840g with the Artisan skill.

Pale Ale is made by placing Hops in a keg, but the product players can increase the price twofold at Iridium quality by aging it in a Cask. Pale Ale takes one to 2 days to make in a Keg, resulting in Pale Ale making the second-highest profit in a Keg, behind Starfruit.

11 Cranberries

Seed Price: 240g

Aside from Sweet Gem Berries and Ancient Fruit – both rare crops not available at Pierre's – Cranberries are the most profitable crop in the game bar none. Seeds are 240g each, it takes seven days to mature and produces two seeds every five days that sell for at least 75g each. Like Blueberries, Cranberries don't need to be replanted and they produce all season long.

These are an excellent crop to keep in storage for the long winter – keep the star-quality crops in a chest for a reliable Winter source of income through Wine and Jelly.

10 Pumpkin

Seed Price: 100g

Pumpkins are a crop that, similar to Red Cabbage, sells for a huge amount more than its initial price. While seeds only cost 100g each, a Pumpkin sells for 320g, and they have a chance to become a giant crop. When it comes to Stardew Valley's best crops per season, it's hard to beat a Giant Pumpkin.

Pumpkins are another crop in Stardew Valley that has the chance to become giant if planted in a 3x3 grid. So, if the player has a 9x9 field, there will be nine opportunities for the pumpkins to become gigantic in each 3x3 square. This chance becomes even greater as the size of the field increases.

9 Sweet Gem Berry

Seed Price: 600g - 1000g

Sweet Gem Berries are not a conventional, pop-round-to-Pierre's kind of crop. Grown from Rare Seeds, which are only obtainable from the Traveling Cart or a Seed Maker, this crop sells for a steep 3000g at its base quality. The seeds cost anywhere from 600g to 1000g each, and the Traveling Cart only sells them up to five at a time, depending on the day.

In Spring and Summer, the Traveling Cart will always have a few for sale on Fridays and Sundays, so be sure to keep track of the day of the week and stock up throughout the seasons. Keep in mind, though, that these can't be stored for Jelly or Wine and are best sold or turned into more seeds.

8 Amaranth

Seed Price: 70g

The base crop value for Amaranth sells more than Wheat in the Fall but takes longer to grow. However, compared to some of the more valuable crops players can develop during the season, Amaranth takes a shorter amount of time to flourish. Therefore, growing Amaranth is a quick way of making money during the Fall between crops like Sweet Gem Berries, Pumpkins, or Cranberries.

Players can also up the value of Amaranth by turning it into Artisan produce, with base items selling between 337g to 350g, with the added Artisan perk increasing this upwards of 490g. Amaranth is also required by Marnie during a quest on the 3rd of Fall. Completing her task rewards 500g and one Friendship Heart.

7 Fairy Rose

Seed Price: 200g

Players wouldn’t typically think of using flowers to make money through crops. But the Fairy Rose is particularly valuable and is the most profitable flower of the bunch. This can be exploited even more so through making honey, as the base value of Fairy Rose Honey is a whopping 680g compared to Honey’s base value of 100g.

And with the Artisan skill applied, selling Fairy Rose Honey can add a 40% increase in revenue, leading to a selling point of 925g a jar.

6 Artichoke

Seed Price: 30g

Like Garlic, Artichoke Seeds are only available to buy from Pierre’s General Store in Year 2 - though they sometimes show up when planting Mixed Seeds. Once an Artichoke has grown, it can be placed in a Seed Maker to make Artichoke Seeds. This vegetable takes 8 days to grow, and it’s a quick money maker as it can sell for a base value of up to 320g, depending on the quality.

When made into Pickled Artichoke, it will sell for 370g. But with the Artisan skill, this goes up considerably to 518g. Artichoke is also liked by the majority of villagers as gifts, apart from Abigail, Hailey, Jas, Sam, and Vincent.

5 Grapes

Seed Price: 60g

Grapes can be foraged during Summer and act the same way grown Grapes do, in that they can be used in a Keg to make wine. Grape Starters can only be bought during the Fall, but if players are lucky, they may find them in packets of Summer Seeds. These can then be transformed into Grape Starters by using the Seed Maker.

Grapes can be found at progressively higher qualities, but the only way to consistently produce them at a high quality is by growing them. A high-quality Grape Wine can sell anywhere between 210g and 480g, skyrocketing to 672g a bottle with the Artisan skill.

4 Ancient Fruit

Seed Price: 100g - 1000g

Ancient Fruit, grown from Ancient Seeds, is one of the most profitable crops Stardew Valley players can plant. It can only be obtained as a rare drop from enemies, a rare drop from digging, and with the Seed Maker. The Ancient Fruit nudges out the Sweet Gem Berry as the most valuable crop in Stardew Valley because it doesn't need to be replanted, and grows through all seasons - including Winter if planted in a Greenhouse.

While it takes a full season to mature, if the player plants an Ancient Seed on the 1st of Spring, the rest of the year will yield one harvest every week. When a regular quality Ancient Fruit sells for 550g, this quickly becomes a massively profitable operation that brings in a heap of cash every week through Artisan produce.