The economy is a loop: farms grow or raise goods, spend money on supplies and equipment, then sell harvests and finished products. Your choices affect your own cash—and, because Millbrook shares prices and buyers, can affect what other farms earn too.
The game has two kinds of selling. The town market handles farm goods and supplies; consumers buy finished products. As your farm discovers more systems, you can also trade directly with other players through orders and contracts.
Buy the seeds and supplies your farm is allowed to use, then sell eligible harvests and products from the Market panel. Every farm in the world uses the same commodity prices: sales add supply, purchases add demand, and the market adjusts once per farm day.
A day’s price move is capped at 8%. Prices stay between 30% and 300% of an item’s base price, and quiet markets drift back toward base. A crowded harvest can therefore soften a price, but one busy day cannot send it endlessly up or down. The Market shows today’s price and how it changed.
Once you make a finished good, open the Exchange & bank panel and look under Consumers. Households, shops, restaurants, export buyers and other segments each want a share of a product’s daily demand. The panel shows the current price, how much the whole world has already sold today, and whether that buyer accepts your product.
Demand is shared by all farms in the world and resets each farm day. Sell within a segment’s remaining demand for its full quoted price; extra units earn less, down to 40% of that price. Selling into several suitable buyer segments can be better than flooding just one. Labels, local appeal and a registered brand can improve prices for the segments that reward them.
As discoveries open the farm gate and contracts, you can make a deal with a neighbor instead of relying only on the town market. A farm-gate offer names a good, quantity and price. The commodity exchange has bids (offers to buy) and asks (offers to sell): compatible orders match, and unfilled amounts wait on the order book.
In worlds with the price corridor, an importer and exporter provide a wide last-resort range: 10% to 1000% of base price. A sprint host can turn that backstop off. Supply contracts go further: the buyer chooses a seller, quantity, fixed price and deadline; the buyer’s money is held in escrow and paid out as goods are delivered.
An order's 0.5% fee (at least $0.10) is charged when it is posted. Cancelling an order returns its unfilled cash or goods escrow, but not the fee; matched units have already settled. Orders expire after 7 farm days; the real wait depends on the world clock (four hours per county day, 30 minutes in sprints, and one minute in the demo).
When the farm keeps books, the bank may lend against 30% of its farm value, adjusted by repayment history. An operating loan runs one season at 0.2% per farm day; a term loan runs 4 seasons at 0.1% per farm day. Late repayment moves through a warning and 2 farm days later a 5% penalty; after a further 2 farm days the bank begins selling stored goods as collateral.
The Farm books separate revenue, operating expenses and capital spending. Sales and contract payments are revenue; supplies, upkeep and fees are expenses; buildings, animals and land are capital. The overview’s daily records, inventory value and next-day forecast help distinguish a profitable operation from a full barn that has not sold anything yet.