How to Build an Automatic Sugar Cane Farm: Paper and More

A sugar cane farm is a great way to automatically produce various resources. Nowadays, there are exciting Redstone blocks that do the work for you. You just need to set up the farm, and it will work on its own. Additionally, it can be expanded infinitely, so you have no limits. But why do you need so much sugar cane in Minecraft? We’ll also look at different use cases and provide you with one of the simplest guides to building your own sugar cane farm in Minecraft!

Why Do I Need Sugar Cane?

Sugar cane is a green block that can naturally be found in the world of Minecraft. It primarily grows along the coast and can be found on both grass and sand. The climate doesn’t matter; it even grows next to an ice block. However, it appears more frequently in swamps and deserts. Naturally occurring sugar cane is up to three blocks high. In very rare cases, you might find some that grow up to four blocks high.

You can easily break the sugar cane with a simple punch and take it with you. It can only be replanted next to a direct water source. It must be placed on a variation of dirt or sand to grow. While in the Java Edition it must grow naturally, you can use bone meal in the Bedrock Edition.

Sugar cane has two different recipes: paper and sugar! But what can you craft from them?

Sugar:

• Books
• Banner Pattern
• Cartography Table
• Map
• Rockets

Paper:

• Cake
• Fermented Spider Eye
• Pumpkin Pie
• Brewing Potions

Building an Automatic Farm

You will probably need most of the sugar cane for paper, whether for books or rockets. Waiting and harvesting it yourself is definitely not helpful and can take a long time. This is where the automatic sugar cane farm comes into play! It is really easy to build, and you don’t need a great understanding of Redstone. Once the farm is built, you can expand and customize it as you wish.

List of Building Materials

• Building Material
• Glass
• Water Bucket
• Some Sugar Cane
• Hopper
• Chest
• Mud (alternatively Dirt and Water Bottles)
• Redstone Dust
• Piston
• Observer

Step-by-Step Guide for Sugar Cane Farm

1. Digging the Trench

We’ll show you a small version of the farm that you can expand based on your own ideas. First, mark your parameters. A channel with two blocks width and a sort of trench is the requirement and helps to make the design as compact as possible. You can embed the whole thing in the ground or, as we did, surround it with any building blocks. We chose a length of 8 blocks.

2. Collection Station and Mud

Next, the trench is filled. The deeper side is for the hoppers that will later collect the sugar cane and direct it into a chest. You probably already know this mechanism from our other farms. The larger the farm, the more iron you will need. But don’t overdo it.

Now let’s look at the mud block in more detail, as it will be used over the hoppers. One of the most interesting functions of mud is that it is not a full block. If you walk over it, you will notice that your character sinks a little. This also happens with items lying on the mud. The sugar cane is practically pulled through the mud into the hoppers, which not only saves space but also makes your farm 100% efficient! Nothing is lost, and the sugar cane can grow undisturbed on it.

But where do you get mud from? Well, you can find it in the Mangrove Swamp biome and mine it there. You can also use dirt, coarse dirt, or rooted dirt with a water bottle to get mud. A super simple technique that allows you to quickly and easily produce mud without having to search for a biome.

Place the mud over the hoppers. Fill the trench next to it with water so the sugar cane can grow.

3. Redstone

Now we’ll take care of the Redstone, which is really not difficult. First, place a row of blocks over the water and behind it. Then, get your pistons ready and attach them to the blocks above the water source. The wooden head of the pistons must point towards the mud, where the sugar cane will grow later.

Next, lay a row of Redstone behind the pistons. This will transmit the signal. A direct source is not necessary; the observer takes care of that. This cool Redstone component reacts to changes and emits a Redstone signal based on them. The piston below then responds to this.

Observers are made from Redstone, cobblestone, and quartz, so you’ll need to go to the Nether. You can learn more about this in one of our articles (Surviving in the Nether: Advanced Tips and Tricks) . The block has a funny face and must also point towards the mud. When placing them, it’s best to do it from behind as observers always face away from you.

Then you need to place a row of blocks behind the observers that will transmit the signal downwards. Test it by placing a block in front of the observer’s face. It should detect the change, and the piston should briefly extend. This is how it will work with the sugar cane later. Repeat the process for all other fields.

4. Final Touches

The farm is actually ready for use now! You can plant your sugar cane on the mud at the bottom and let it grow slowly. Fill the rest of the farm with a block of your choice. Glass always looks good because you can watch to see if everything is working. Use full glass blocks so nothing stays on the edge. Voilà, your sugar cane farm is complete!

When the sugar cane grows and reaches a height of three blocks, the observer will detect it and extend the piston. This will break the sugar cane, which will fall through the mud into the hoppers below. The good thing about this design is that only the piston underneath is activated, not the ones next to it.

Conclusion

A sugar cane farm is a must-have for any good Minecraft world! With the help of an observer, it can now be operated completely automatically, so you just need to build it and then wait for your harvest. In the end, you will probably have more sugar cane than you can use. Use it for books, cakes, or fireworks. Produce endless sugar cane on your own server and keep control over your resources. Rent your Minecraft server and build efficiently!