Stardew Valley: Artisan or Agriculturist

Every time you reach a milestone level (5 and 10) on one of your skills in Stardew Valley, you’ll be offered to pick between two professions.

These professions can be described as skills that give you perks based on what the profession is. Today, I’ll be covering the difference between the Artisan and Agriculturist professions and the better pick between the two.

Both the Artisan and Agriculturist are unlocked once you reach Farming level 10, provided you chose the Tiller profession as your level 5 option in Farming.

Upon hitting this milestone, you’ll be offered a choice to pick between the two the next time you go to sleep. Before I tell you which one is better and why – you should know both.

The Artisan profession increases the base sale price of all Artisan goods you produce by 40%.

Generally, this means that all items you produce from machines such as Kegs, Preserves Jars, Cheese Press, and the like will receive a permanent 0.4x increase in their sale price.

The Agriculturist profession, on the other hand, increases the growth rate of all your crops by 10%. I’d say this is a pretty straightforward one – any and all crops you plant from here on out will permanently grow 10% faster.

Note that this 10% increase is on top of any fertilizers and other buffs you use to speed crop growth rates further.

You can find a complete list of comparisons between different professions and their applications on this official Stardew Valley Wiki!

Now that you understand what both of these professions do, I’ll move on to their pros and cons and which one you should ultimately choose.

Is It Better To Choose Artisan Or Agriculturist?

Artisan or Agriculturist Level Up Screen

In a general context, Artisan is the better profession by far. The 40% increase in the sale price for all Artisan goods is more than enough to counter the buff provided by the Agriculturist profession. Artisan is especially useful during your late game, as it enables you to generate tons of profits relatively quickly.

I’ve explained that, out of these two, the Artisan profession is better. But why exactly is that? Although Agriculturist provides you with a strong buff, and the increased speed of crop growth is definitely helpful, it pales in comparison to the Artisan.

From tons of experience in the game, I recommend that you go for Artisan. The only exception to this is if you solely rely on Farming and selling crops for income in the game. In that case, Agriculturalist is the right option.

Even then, I’d recommend switching up your ways of playing the game because, technically, you could beat the game without farming at all!

One of the best late-game strategies for making money is to use multiple Kegs and make Wine (Ancient Fruit). This method receives a huge buff if you employ the Artisan profession.

You’ll also notice that the Artisan profession is much more useful as compared to the Agriculturalist in terms of frequency. The latter will only allow you to get 1 more crop harvest per cycle, which can be extended up to 2 in some cases.

This is much less frequent and profitable than the buff provided by Artisan, which will apply to every single (Artisan) good you produce regardless of seasonal and time restrictions.

Can You Change Between Artisan and Agriculturist?

Yes, it is possible for you to switch between professions. If you want to change from Artisan to Agriculturist (or vice versa), you can do so by interacting with the Statue of Uncertainty.

This statue is located in Pelican Town’s Sewer, right next to Krobus. To change your profession, you’ll have to donate 10,000g to the statue and then select the skill type that you want to change.

Once you go the bed that night, the “choose a profession” box will appear once again, allowing you to re-select the level 5 and 10 professions of that particular skill!