Artisan or Agriculturist: Which Profession Is Better in Stardew Valley?

In the past, we’ve discussed the differences between two farming level 5 professions, the tiller, and the rancher. The general consensus was the tiller profession is the better of the two due to giving you access to a better overall profession once you reach level 10 in farming skills. Now the moment has come to discuss those two choices as well. Once you reach level 10 you will be able to choose between artisan and agriculturist. Both professions are great and both offer unique bonuses. In that case let’s see, when it comes to artisan or agriculturist, which profession is better in Stardew Valley?

Artisan is a better profession than agriculturist since it offers incredible money-making potential when it comes to artisan goods. Artisan goods are worth a lot of money by default the extra 40% gained in profits really adds up to insane amounts of money over time. If you, however, want to focus on optimizing your crop output, in that case, the agriculturist might be a better choice for you. But, keep in mind you will be missing out on a lot of money.

The general consensus is that the artisan profession is better due to being quite lucrative. For some players though, crafting artisan goods might be harder and they probably want to focus on simply selling their crops as-is. Due to that, we’re going to analyze both professions in more detail, if you’re interested stay with us and keep reading!

What is the artisan profession in Stardew Valley?

The artisan profession is one of two professions you can choose as soon as you reach level 10 in farming skill in Stardew Valley. Of course, the prerequisite is that you’ve chosen the tiller profession back when you reached level 5 in farming skill.
The artisan profession offers an excellent bonus that makes your artisan goods worth 40% more.

Artisan goods are created by using artisan equipment and take a long time to be ready. The best example of artisan goods are honey, wine, cheese, truffle oil, and many other goods that are not so commonplace in the world of Stardew Valley. By default, artisan goods are worth a lot of money and they are great and loved gifts for numerous NPCs around Pelican Town. But this is not the main reason to choose artisan as a profession, the main reason is the 40% price boost when you’re selling them that you get.

A lot of effort goes into creating artisan goods and the price reflects that the artisan profession is the one that has the potential to earn you the most money. Even if you’re not as focused on your crops, by choosing an artisan you can get by with a limited amount of animal resources.

Once you choose the artisan profession, your best bet is making ancient fruit wine which translates to a massive amount of money. If the players have artisan profession and the ancient fruit wine is of the highest quality that equals to potential 4620 gold in profits. You will have enough money to upgrade everything you need in no time.

Even if you have trouble finding ancient fruit seeds, other artisan goods like mayo, truffle oil, and goat cheese are still excellent sources of money compared to the effort needed to earn it.

Of course, we’ve mentioned that a lot of equipment needed for artisan goods is expensive and not available to you early in the game. In that case, you might reconsider the choice, and once you have everything you need you can always pay 10 000 gold to switch professions.

What is the agriculturist profession in Stardew Valley?

The agriculturist profession is the other choice you get when you reach level 10 in farming. This profession is not picked as often as the artisan profession but it’s still pretty fun with lots of opportunities for profits in the long run.

The agriculturist profession makes all crops grow 10% faster. You can see the potential this profession has when it comes to crop output. Even though earning potential is not as high as when you chose artisan, characters oriented toward growing crops will still benefit from it.

A 10% faster growth rate seems like a small bonus, and in the long run, will not translate to significantly more crops being grown. But for characters that can’t invest in machines to process all the artisan goods yet, it will translate to just enough extra income to get your artisan business up and started.

Even if you do choose agriculturist as your profession, you always have an option of changing your profession for 10 000 gold. And you probably will since no amount of grown crops can equal profits made from ancient fruit wine.

Agriculturist or Artisan profession which is better in Stardew Valley?

With everything said, it’s obvious that if you want to earn as much money as possible you should go for the artisan profession. The machinery needed to process artisan goods is a bit expensive and a large investment, but the potential payoff is much larger. You will return all your investment in record time and be able to upgrade your farm maximally while generating mostly passive income provided by artisan goods.

Agriculturist is a good early-game choice for players that do not have the resources to invest in artisan goods. But, over time, the 10% increased speed growth is not worth it and you will lose too much money.

Use this profession only at the beginning of the game when most of your profits come from selling crops. As soon as you see a little extra income start investing in artisan machinery and change your profession for 10 000 gold.
But, in the end, choose whatever suits your playstyle best. Stardew Valley is in the end all about relaxing fun so focusing on money too much can be counterproductive to the game’s goals.