The update on July 27, 2011 introduces the farms. "There are many Islands that can be obtained as your private production hub. With your private farm, you can yield various production lines on your own. In order to have one, you need to explore the ocean to discover the suitable island, and simply declare the “possession.” Same as the apartment system, all characters are eligible to own private farm." Although it says many, several is probably a better word. There are 4 known islands, and possibly a 5th one in Alaska.
Private farms are the private property of the character, and each character can have only one farm. You do not need a port permit for the area the farm is in. It had been rumored that people can also work together to build a farm, however, this does not seem to be the case. You can develop once a day (same as quarters), and the output is calculated once a day. No skills are required to manage a farm.
When you first claim a farm, 30 days will be added to your number of days sailing. You can change the location of your farm, but if you do you will need to start over, there are no costs involved in moving, and once you confirm that you want to move, you will be moved immediately.
You can restore vigour (but not fatigue) by resting at the island, and supplies can be replenished for free in port. The number of days is not affected by docking at a farm (same as landings). A farm will not produce without development. In private farms, you can develop a total of 14 facilities. Development can be done either from the bank or at the farm. The amount of development increases with the total level of the player. The formula is 15 + (total level / 30). Round the answer down. If you develop from the bank you only get 80 percent of the development, as with your quarters.
As your total development increases, more recipes become available from the workers at the farm. There are tools you can buy or make for your farm which will allow development to increase faster, and prevent the total development from decreasing. The total development will decrease a little each day unless you have at least one tool in the farm.
Location[]
Island Names
Waters
Coordinate
Farmland
Vein
Fishing
Pasture
Facility
Dev.
Facility
Dev.
Facility
Dev.
Facility
Dev.
Ascension Island
Off the Gold Coast
16182,5044
Five
75
Four
75
Five
75
Four
75
Abidjan south, being found geographic queries
Diego Garcia
Central Indian Ocean
3315,5004
Five
100
Five
50
Four
75
Four
75
Kozhikode South, the southernmost Chagos Archipelago
Saint Lucia Island
Southern Caribbean
13721,4240
Six
50
Three
100
Five
75
Four
75
Three south of San Juan Islands
Savaii * 1
Samoa Basin
8520,5250
Four
50
Three
100
Five
100
Six
50
Northeast New Zealand, far east Samarai
Unalaska
East Bering Sea
8695, 2401
Five
50
Five
50
Five
50
Three
75
Southwest Alaska, last island of the Aleutian Islands
Tools[]
The +1 tools can be found at Faro, Cochin, Jakarta, Panama, Lima, and Acapulco at the Item Shop.
the +3 tools can only be gotten through the New Year's box, or plundering.
They are Reserve Sickle (Farm), Reserve Rake (Fish), Reserve Pickaxe (Mine), and Reserve Trough (Ranch)
More Info[]
Be sure to choose wisely, as location matters. The GameDB wiki has a lot more info, so be sure to check it out. Also, if you have trouble reading it translated into English, try several translation engines and put together the results. That should give you a clearer picture. Google Translate is the best, but the others add different bits of information that Google is not clear on. I wasn't able to get Yahoo Babelfish to translate it, but Bing Translator worked great.
There are several pages on the internet describing them.