YaelleG,

You need level 2 farming for growing crops - to keep them from running out of food have one person forage the berry tree then one or two farming then keep the rest on the research table the faster you can get to level 2 farming the better and as i just learnt level 3 farming is even better -lol.

As far as training goes try mixing it up if one person is skilled in one area switch it so they learn something new some babysitting will be required though if they wander off just pick them up and put them back where there supposed to be.

Hope that helps