ok, so i know that you need a master farmer for a certain quest, however i have not been able to really discern any difference between any of my farmers with varying skill.

what is the benefit of being more skilled in farming? does it mean that they will have less failed attempts? do they harvest food faster with more skill? just curious if anyone knows.

When they harvest food the value is higher, and when fishing they are the only ones who can catch crabs which have a higher value than fish.

I am having trouble getting any one of my villagers to fish, what do i need to do?

And one of my guys moves so quickly, while the rest just stroll along, why is that?

clayton, you need to have farming eh 3 and a highly skilled villager.
Laylani, if you check the runner's details, you'll see he/she likes running. Runners only come along once in a while.

Treasure your runners they will build,farm,heal,etc. faster than anybody else. But they also change their minds faster too so they have to be watched until they are adepts.

Runners that are farmers also have pathing issues and are more likly to get stuck and lose what they are carring. Like the kids that get stuck on huts or rocks do. Be prepared to lose at least 5 baskets of veges every harvest due to this. I haven't seen lost fish though but I can't say I watch them that often. If you use the harvest trick where everybody picks veges when you only have 2-9 left keep an eye on the runners for the "lost" baskets so you can drop them back in time. They do harvest faster then the others do.

You should note that you don't actually lose the contents of the basket. This is because the game only discounts the quantity from the field when the basket is actually delivered to the food stock. This is also applicable to berries, and areas that require "clearing".