With 40 plots it should be almost impossible to happen by chance alone (1: 1 trillion probability) - so there might be something strange going on besides the issue that I had experienced.
Personally I don' mind the changes to farming that much and found LOTL 2 and 3 quite viable for me - just had to punch some grass/flowes or cut some trees before harvesting, so that I would get 'further ahead' in the not so random sequence of the RNG