A Master Farmer is a farmer who cannot be attacked and can only be acted on by pickpocketing. It takes level 38 Thieving to pickpocket them. If the theft is successful, then the player will receive 43 Thieving experience and a random seed or seeds, excluding tree and fruit tree seeds. If the theft attempt fails, then the player is stunned for three seconds and takes damage depending on current lifepoints, from 40 up to 250 lifepoints.
The average experience rate at 75+ thieving is 45k-55k exp an hour. The maximum experience rate is 115k per hour. The maximum of 2700 pickpockets can be done in an hour, in an average of 45 per minute. Normally, a thief will steal seeds worth under a few hundred coins, but may get a Ranarr seed (976), Snapdragon seed (293), Lantadyme seed (726), Torstol seed (540) or Watermelon Seed (3,590).
Players pickpocketing a Master Farmer in Draynor Village.
After a theft attempt from a Master Farmer, the player will be unable to buy seeds from Olivia, a seed seller who is in Draynor Village market, for the next fifteen minutes. One way to overcome this is to have a vial of stench (a), a reward from A guild of our own, one of the Thieving Guild capers.
At higher thieving levels, pickpocketing Master Farmers can produce large amounts of coins for the thief. With 99 thieving, Ardougne cloak 3 and Gloves of silence, a player can make anywhere from 300,000 - 400,000 coins an hour as people have reported to have done over 100,000 successful pickpockets in a row. It is believed, that with 99 thieving, Ardougne cloak 3 or 4 and Gloves of silence, you can still fail a pickpocket attempt on Master Farmers. It is unknown if this is true or not. However, with 99 thieving and a thieving cape about 200 seeds can be stolen before getting caught.
After the graphics update on 25 May 2011, the layout for Draynor's market had been changed. It became a bit smaller and less open making it somewhat easier to steal from the Master Farmer.
Locations
A Master farmer can be found:
- In the market at Draynor Village (Near the bank). This farmer only needs to be left clicked to pickpocket, it is the only way to interact with him.
- In the sheep pen south of Varrock.
- By the farming shop north of East Ardougne.
- Near the seed shop in Taverley
Notable Master Farmers
- Martin the Master Gardener - Found in Draynor. He wears the Farming skillcape, and can be pickpocketed. He seems slightly harder to pickpocket than the other Master Farmers and also requires a right-click to pickpocket, so it is advised to pick the other Master Farmer near him, however Martin can be trapped in the pig pen so is optional if you don't want to follow the Master Farmers around. He is also the starting point of A Fairy Tale Part I quest.
- The Master Farmer located in North East Ardougne can be looted twice in one attempt, by trapping him in the farmer trade shop and cornering him and clicking your cursor consecutively. After about 5–6 minutes of this, he will respawn outside of the shop. Getting him into the trade shop is extremely hard doing it solo, but can be easily done with 2-3 people.
- Master Farmer in Draynor Village can be easily stuck behind Diango's Toy Store with fences.
Strategy
For a fast way to pickpocket from Master Farmers, use the seed drop list below, decide what seeds that you require, buy or acquire one each of the seeds and keep them in your inventory while thieving from the Master Farmer, this will create a place holder for the seeds you most require from them, the good seeds will be kept if you should be rewarded one of them. Please note that seed prices change constantly, check the Grand Exchange to find current prices.
Walking inside the Draynor bank will heal you so there is no need for food.
Suggested list of wanted seeds;
- Allotment Seeds - Sweetcorn, Strawberry, Watermelon.
- Hops's Seeds - Barley.
- Bushes' Seeds - Whiteberry, Poison Ivy; Redberry, Jangerberry.
- Flower Seeds - Limpwurt.
- Herb Seeds - Ranarr, Toadflax, Avantoe, Kwuarm, Snapdragon, Lantadyme, Dwarf Weed & Torstol.
- Special Seeds - Bittercap mushroom spore, Morchella mushroom spore, Cactus & Belladonna.
Suggested list of unwanted seeds;
- Allotment Seeds - Potato, Onion, Cabbage, Tomato;
- Hops' Seeds - Hammerstone, Asgarnian, Jute*, Yanillian*, Krandorian, Wildblood seed
- Bushes' Seeds - Cadavaberry, Dwellberry
- Flower Seeds- Marigold*, Rosemary*, Nasturtium, Woad;
- Herb Seeds - Guam, Marrentill, Irit,Cadantine, Tarromin, and Harralander (depending on your farming level)
- Seeds with an * are good for sale to the Seed Stall Owner in Draynor Village
Your Inventory;
So in your inventory you should have approximately 19-22 place holder seeds and the rest Gloves of Silence.
Thieving Assistance;
Gloves of Silence & Ardougne Cloak greatly increase your chance of success while Thieving.
Constitution Assistance;
Bunyip or Unicorn are highly recommended when doing any thieving away from Draynor market.
Anti-RSI tip;
When playing on a Windows based computer it can be handy to have mouse keys enabled. See this article in Wikipedia for more details: {{#NewWindowLink:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_keys}}. This feature allows you to rest your mouse and click finger.
Although most people favour the Master Farmer above East Ardougne or in Draynor Village there is another choice. The Master Farmer below Varrock in the sheep pen. This Master Farmer has a very small wandering area and also has at least 5 spots where you can trap him, making him one of the easiest targets for thieving from.
If you choose to train your Thieving skill on a Master Farmer it is recommended that once you steal the rare seeds (ranarr, snapdragon, torstol, etc.) you keep at least one of them in your inventory due to the fact that your pack will fill up very quickly with various types of "junk seeds". If you steal seeds from the Master Farmer whilst your pack is full you still have the chance to successfully steal from the farmer, but you will not receive the seed if it is not currently in your inventory, meaning you could possibly lose out on a valuable seed.
A recommended strategy is to keep one seed of every kind or only the high priced seeds in your bank. When training on the Master Farmer, withdraw one of each of the valuable seeds (for example, watermelon, ranarr, dwarf weed, lantadyme, snapdragon, and torstol), then fill the rest of your inventory with Strawberries (5), commonly known as strawberry baskets. Several pairs of Gloves of silence are recommended also, if you have at least 54 Hunter. If you have your inventory set up this way you can pickpocket the Master Farmer and all the "junk" seed will disappear and you won't have to drop them constantly. As you eat your strawberries you will have to refill your inventory with some sort of placeholder to prevent junk seeds from entering your inventory. If you have a hatchet with you, you can use logs. If near Draynor Village you can buy wine and keep the empty jugs as placeholders. If you are north of Ardougne, cooking apples are available and so are raw potatoes. Using strawberries and inventory placeholders this way will enable you to stay at the Master Farmer for extremely long periods of time.
It may also be a good strategy to pickpocket those in Draynor, banking seeds and replenishing health with wine from Wine stall.
To prevent the Master Farmer from moving around too much, try to surround him with several players or against walls, obstacles. However, if one player moves away or another player runs through him then he will move away, usually in the direction of the player that was moving. When trying to go around him, it's important not to touch him, otherwise he will move again. North of Ardougne the Master Farmer can be trapped inside the house, but he will teleport outside the house if cornered in one square and not allowed to move for approximately 5 or 6 minutes. Some players trap him inside the house, then wait until he is behind the door, then open the door and keep him trapped in one spot for 4 minutes, then close the door to allow him to pace a bit. These techniques can drastically improve your pickpocketing rates.
Multiple Steals
Double loot
- Level 48 Thieving
- Level 38 Agility
Triple loot
- Level 58 Thieving
- Level 48 Agility
Quadruple loot
- Level 68 Thieving
- Level 58 Agility
Seed drops
Allotments
|}
Hops
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Potato seed | 1–3 | Common | 244–732 |
 | Onion seed | 1–3 | Common | 242–726 |
 | Cabbage seed | 1–3 | Common | 207–621 |
 | Tomato seed | 1–2 | Common | 204–408 |
 | Sweetcorn seed | 1–2 | Common | 298–596 |
 | Strawberry seed | 1 | Uncommon | 1,075 |
 | Watermelon seed | 1 | Rare | 3,590 |
|}
Bushes
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Barley seed | 1–4 | Common | 83–332 |
 | Hammerstone seed | 1–3 | Common | 70–210 |
 | Asgarnian seed | 1–2 | Common | 83–166 |
 | Jute seed | 1–3 | Common | 79–237 |
 | Yanillian seed | 1–2 | Uncommon | 96–192 |
 | Krandorian seed | 1 | Uncommon | 101 |
 | Wildblood seed | 1 | Rare | 189 |
|}
Flowers
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Redberry seed | 1 | Common | 77 |
 | Cadavaberry seed | 1 | Common | 99 |
 | Dwellberry seed | 1 | Uncommon | 64 |
 | Jangerberry seed | 1 | Uncommon | 79 |
 | Whiteberry seed | 1 | Uncommon | 136 |
 | Poison ivy seed | 1 | Uncommon | 302 |
|}
Herbs
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Marigold seed | 1 | Common | 318 |
 | Rosemary seed | 1 | Common | 408 |
 | Nasturtium seed | 1 | Common | 224 |
 | Woad seed | 1 | Common | 414 |
 | Limpwurt seed | 1 | Uncommon | 5,207 |
|}
Special
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Guam seed | 1 | Common | 176 |
 | Marrentill seed | 1 | Common | 179 |
 | Tarromin seed | 1 | Common | 137 |
 | Harralander seed | 1 | Common | 196 |
 | Ranarr seed | 1 | Rare | 976 |
 | Toadflax seed | 1 | Rare | 9,872 |
 | Irit seed | 1 | Rare | 1,018 |
 | Avantoe seed | 1 | Very rare | 375 |
 | Kwuarm seed | 1 | Very rare | 12,857 |
 | Snapdragon seed | 1 | Very rare | 293 |
 | Cadantine seed | 1 | Very rare | 1,438 |
 | Lantadyme seed | 1 | Very rare | 726 |
 | Dwarf weed seed | 1 | Very rare | 822 |
 | Torstol seed | 1 | Very rare | 540 |
 | Fellstalk seed | 1 | Very rare | 725 |
|}
Trivia
- A graphics glitch causes the Master farmer's hat shows the front of his head from some angles. This has yet to be fixed.
- Every time you fail to pickpocket a Master farmer they will say "Cor blimey, mate! What are ye doing in me pockets?" This is a reference to Cockney Slang.
- It seems that the rarest loot from pickpocketing Master Farmers is a Fellstalk seed.
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bittercap mushroom spore | 1 | Rare | 1,768 |
 | Belladonna seed | 1 | Rare | 1,007 |
 | Morchella mushroom spore | 1 | Very rare | 132 |
 | Cactus seed | 1 | Very rare | 1,016 |
