Problem is, there is so much food in the game you don't even NEED a farm, even in A16, A17 and in A18 I rarely ever had a farm going as I just had no need for it. I actually care more about growing aloe vera plants than I do any crop used in food. Food is just too common, even in a16/17 I used to eat the canned food i'd find even with its chance of food poisoning, so I never really needed to craft much.
Loot in general in A18 is too good though, day 19 with lucky looter 1 and thats it I fairly often find tier 5 things, IMO by day 19 I should be extremly lucky to find anything tier 3. This is why every build I make is a 0 int build. Mind you thats also partially as int is not a global controller of what tier you craft anymore. I'm patient I can wait, my current game day 19 still no chem lab schematic or crucible yet, but my trader during 1 restock had TWO chem labs at once, which I bought both. I had the 4 beakers i'd have needed in storage already if I found the recipe, but meh, i'll take it anyway I can get it. I rarely craft things, as usually by the time I gather the parts to make say a steel tool, i'd have already looted one as good or probally better than i'd make.
About the only stuff I craft often is: Glue, duct tape, bandages, gun powder, weapon/armor mods, and sometimes ammo. However my ammo stockpile right now is half a storage chest full so i've kinda stopped ammo production as I am just finding more than I use. I cooked up a bunch of sham chowder, fish tacos and such, but I've not had to use any of it, due to how common food is in pretty much every poi.
You may say: "Won't you run out of poi's to loot?" My reply? It'll never happen as I can just take a quest from a trader which when I get to the poi resets it so I can loot it, due to this you can pretty much live in the same little town and not need to leave it. Even on a no loot respawn game it'd be like this, as long as you take a trader quest the poi you have to go to will reset and refill with loot.
My games sadly usually end before day 21 though, as I just get too powerful and too bored to bother keep going. I'm lv 43 all my armor is t5-6 already from loot, and most of my weapons are t4-6. I have pretty much endless food already, water as well. I can't find any reason to keep going as there is no real endgame yet. Like I said, the loot especially how often you find anything above tier 1, needs a serious nerf hard. I shouldn't have a full set of t5-6 gear by day 19 with no points in lucky looter at all. Even with it, I should only have 1 t5 item at most from loot by that point. thats how it was in a16. By day 50 in a16 without lucky looter, I was lucky to find quality 300 ish items.
I honestly don't know how people can go till day 40 or 60+ in a17/18 and not get bored out of their skull as there just is nothing to do or strive for once your established.