farming is indeed one of the first systems that had been discussed as having (eventually) multiple options for efficiently… the basic idea being, the player can at one end, plop down a “simple” farm and get “average” yields…
while another player who wants to maximize their farming could opt for implementing irrigation systems and/or other farming related steps above and beyond the “simple” farm, in order to increase the crop returns…
we don’t yet know the specifics, but we do know this was one of the early design intentions… 
edit: had to blow the dust off this one… 