Food (Civ6)

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Food is one of the main statistics in Civilization VI. It is the basis for the growth of city population and is counted on a per-city basis.

Mechanics

Food is the primary factor fueling population growth in a city: without Food, there is no growth. Food is produced individually by each city in various ways, the chief among which is the land around the city: thus, food potential availability should be the first concern when planning where to settle new cities.

Each Citizen in a city consumes 2 Food per turn. If the city produces more food than its citizens currently consume, it has a food surplus, which will gather in a pool. When the current pool fills, city population will increase by 1. If the city has a food deficit, curent food pool is depleted, and city population will eventually decrease by 1. If the situation is balanced, there will be neither growth, nor decline.

Note that population growth is further affected by other factors. For more precise information, head here.

Sources

The main source of Food is the land and its features, so the more Citizens working fertile tiles around your cities, the better.

Terrain

Almost all terrain and its features grant base Food yields when worked. The full list is as follows:

Base Terrain

• Grassland: +2 Food
• Plains: +1 Food
• Tundra: +1 Food
• Lake: +1 Food
• Coast: +1 Food
• Ocean: +1 Food

The only terrains without Food yield are Desert and Snow, so normally you should avoid settling there.

Features

• Floodplains: +3 Food ( variable Food yield, according to how ensuing floods have affected them)
• Marsh: +1 Food
• Oasis: +3 Food
• Rainforest: +1 Food

Since all of these are available right from the start of the game and without any research, locating them and strategically placing your cities in range of them will determine how fast (or how slowly) they will grow in the early to middle game. You should scout your surroundings well!

Resources

Many resources also contribute Food when worked. These include:

• Bananas: +1 Food
• Cattle: +1 Food
• Fish: +1 Food
• Rice: +1 Food
• Sheep: +1 Food
• Wheat: +1 Food
• Horses: +1 Food
• Niter: +1 Food
• Citrus: +2 Food
• Spices: +2 Food
• Sugar: +2 Food
• Wine: +1 Food

Fish, Rice and Wheat also provide additional Food yield with their respective tile improvements. Rice and Wheat provide additional Food yields with a Water Mill (whether or not they have been improved).

Tile Improvements

The Farm is a basic tile improvement specifically dedicated to Food production, and besides it is available from the start of the game without research. It adds +1 Food; but researching Feudalism and later Replaceable Parts activates adjacency bonuses with other Farms which may cause a single Farm to produce a whopping +7 Food!

Other Improvements also grant bonus Food yields; they can only be built on certain Resources, however. These tile improvements are as follows:

• Plantation: +1 Food with Scientific Theory
• Pasture: +1 Food with Exploration
• Fishing Boats: +1 Food; +1 Food with Plastics
• Seastead: +2 Food

Improvements are a major way to boost Food production in all stages of the game. But even more important is the adjacency bonus provided to the Farm by Feudalism and later Replaceable Parts! This has the potential to boost your Population growth immensely, both because of the boost in Food yield, and the increase of the Housing limit in the city. You should study its mechanics well and make use of them whenever possible.

Governors

• Liang provides the ability to build Fisheries, an aquatic tile improvement that provides 1 Food and 1 extra Food for every adjacent sea resource.
• Magnus' Surplus Logistics title provides the city he is in with 20% more Food (Growth). Also, your Trade Routes ending here provide +2 Food for their starting city.

Religious Beliefs

There are two religious Pantheons that grant bonus Food from certain improvements. Goddess of the Hunt grants +1 additional Food yield from Camps, and Goddess of Festivals grants +1 additional Food yield from Wine, Incense, Cocoa, Tobacco, Coffee, and Tea Plantations.

Buildings

Unlike other main stats, there is no District directly dedicated to Food, though the City Center has +2 Food as a base yield, and the Neighborhood has a major positive impact on Population growth. However, several buildings from both the City Center and other districts increase Food output. These include:

• Granary: +1 Food (City Center)
• Water Mill: +1 Food (City Center)
• Gurdwara: +2 Food (Holy Site)
• Lighthouse: +1 Food (Harbor); it also increases the base yield of Coastal tiles in the city's territory by +1
• Seaport: +2 Food (Harbor)

The Feed the World religious belief also provides Food from Shrines and Temples.

Trade Routes

Domestic Trade Routes always grant additional Food to their city of origin. The exact amount depends on the districts available at the destination:

• City Center: +1 Food
• Holy Site: +2 Food
• Campus: +1 Food
• Entertainment Complex: +2 Food
• Theater Square: +2 Food

The Policy Card Collectivization grants +4 bonus Food from all domestic Trade Routes.

Domestic Trade Routes can be extremely useful for jump-starting a city's population growth if the city isn't in a very fertile area. For these cities they may continue to be critical for city growth later, simply because the city has exhausted the available fertile tiles around.

Likewise, the policy card Arsenal of Democracy provides +2 Food to both cities from Trade Routes to an ally's city. Apart from this, international Trade Routes very rarely grant Food - they serve other purposes.

Wonders

There are four Wonders that grant bonus Food upon completion:

• Huey Teocalli: +1 Food for each Lake tile in your empire
• Petra: +2 additional Food yield on all Desert tiles in this city
• St. Basil's Cathedral: +1 Food yield on all Tundra tiles in this city
• Temple of Artemis: +4 additional Food

However, multiple natural wonders grant Food bonuses to the civilizations that own them:

• Chocolate Hills: +1 Food
• Eyjafjallajökull: +2 Food yield to adjacent land tiles
• Great Barrier Reef: +3 Food
• Hạ Long Bay: +3 Food
• Mount Kilimanjaro: +2 Food yield to adjacent tiles
• Pantanal: +2 Food
• Ubsunur Hollow: +1 Food

Unique Bonuses

There are only a few unique pieces of infrastructure and civ/leader abilities that grant special Food bonuses:

• The unique district of Kongo, the Mbanza, grants +2 Food.
• The unique tile improvement of India, the Stepwell, grants +1 Food, +1 Food if adjacent to a Farm, and +1 Food with Professional Sports.
• The unique tile improvement of Australia, the Outback Station, grants +1 Food, +1 Food for every adjacent Pasture, and +1 Food from every 2 adjacent Outback Stations (after researching Rapid Deployment).
• The unique tile improvement of Indonesia, the Kampung, grants +1 Food for every adjacent Fishing Boats.
• The tile improvement of Liang, the Fishery, grants +1 Food and more Food based on each adjacent Fishing Boat.
• The unique tile improvement of the Cahokia city-state, the Cahokia Mounds, grants Food for adjacent districts.
• The unique tile improvement of the Nazca city-state, the Nazca Line, grants Food for adjacent Desert and Desert Hills tiles.
• The unique tile improvement of Canada, the Ice Hockey Rink, grants 2 Food with Professional Sports.
• The unique tile improvement of the Cree, the Mekewap, grants Food for adjacent Bonus Resources.
• The unique tile improvement of the Netherlands, the Polder, grants 1 Food and more Food for adjacent Polders and additional Food with Replaceable Parts.
• The unique tile improvement of the Inca, the Terrace Farm, grants 1 Food and more Food for adjacent Mountains.
• Nkisi, the civilization ability of the Kongolese, grants them +2 Food for each of their Relics, Artifacts, and Great Works of Sculpture.
• Grand Barays, the civilization ability of the Khmers, grants them +2 Food from Farms adjacent to Aqueducts.
• Monasteries of the King, the leader ability of Jayavarman VII, grants bonus Food to Holy Sites equal to their adjacency bonus.
• Mana, the civilization ability of the Māori, grants them +1 Food to every Fishing Boat.
• Mit'a, the civilization ability of the Inca, grants every Mountain +1 Food for every adjacent Terrace Farm.
• Songs of the Jeli, the civilization ability of Mali, grants City Centers +1 Food for every adjacent Desert or Desert (Hills) tile.
• Three Kingdoms, the civilization ability of Korea, grants +1 Food to Farms if they are built next to a Seowon.
• Mediterranean's Bride, the leader ability of Cleopatra, grants other civilizations +2 Food from international Trade Routes to her cities.
• Qhapaq Ñan, the leader ability of Pachacuti, grants +1 Food to Domestic Trade Routes for every Mountain tile in the origin city.
• The Last Best West, the leader ability of Wilfrid Laurier, grants him the ability to build Farms on Tundra, and these Farms gain +2 Food.
• Favorable Terms, the leader ability of Poundmaker, grants +1 Food to Trade Routes for each Camp or Pasture in the receiving city.