I was down to only 6 coconuts on the trees and they still wanted to pick them, instead of harvesting the nice yummy tomatoes right next to the food bin...

Edited to add: Plus, that doesn't help the issue that when they're waiting for the crops to grow, all they're doing is watering, watering, watering, instead of fishing - as I said, I haven't overfished yet. I shouldn't have to babysit them THAT much that they can't even gather food on their own. Isn't that the point of setting their preference so that they can do these sorts of things when you're not there? Right now I have to make sure I set it to 1/2 speed overnight just so I know there will still be food there when I wake up.

I have had this problem also, throughout the game. Currently I have a population of 22, of whom 15 are farming (I took it down to the wire to get enough tech for Farming 3 ). Coconuts are more or less gone, but as soon as they get up to 20 or 30, everyone rushes over there to pick them, despite the fact that I have cleared the algae (thus leaving them a pristine fishing spot) and of course the irrigated cropland.

The cropland, though, is the real problem. As a couple people said above, it seems like all the farmers want to do is water the crops. Now again, I have 15 villagers farming. When the crops were growing, I had to keep babysitting them, dragging them back to the ocean -- at one point I'd stepped away and returned to find 8 of the 15 watering the crops! Now, the crops have come in, and suddenly nobody wanted anything to do with the farming patch. I had four people there, when they first came in, which has rapidly dwindled to one, and the rest of my farmers have suddenly decided they really like to fish!

I, too, am having the same issue here. Im at level 2 farming, I have algae, I have a scarecrow, and I was due for my next batch of crops and went out of the game. i expected that when I came back, I would have a field full and villagers harvesting but to my surprise, the crops were gone, it tells me I have 90 minutes till my next batch and there is no food in the bin. What the heck is going on? I have 22 hungry villagers to feed! Also, is it me or does this game seem to take longer to get tech points than VV1? I feel like it is going to take me days to get to tech farming level 3. Is there anyway to get tech points faster? Then at least I could clear up that algae and fish instead!

The problem I'm having is that unless I drag my farmers over to the ocean they won't fish! I have level 2 everything. Population of 21, out of those I have 2 Master and 1 Adept Farmers. They will pick the coconut trees bare then harvest the crops until they're gone, then they'll water those crops until until they come in, then pick them and the cycle repeats from there. I won't ever get the algae at this rate!

I was growing my population slowly because I don't want to have a food crisis, but I have it anyways, and I shouldn't be having one if they'd only FISH!

Sorry about it taking so long to respond back.

I have level 2 on everything, and have not yet had the algae.

I have 21 villagers, half working on tech the other half as farmers. All the farmers want to do is water the crop. The only way I can get them to harvest is to be playing when the crop comes in and drag them over to it each time.

Then, like others they want to go get the coconuts. They don't want to fish at all anymore, but I've not gotten any island event about having the algae. I've been waiting for it so I could cure it and finish out the farming.

So unless I am playing the won't fish, pick coconuts or farm because the food is always at or near 0.

I, too, seem to have farmers who want only to harvest coconuts, both when fish are available pre-algae, and when crops are available. Of course this is frustrating, as I would like to use the coconuts in a similar fashion as the berries from VVI, to fill gaps while crops grow.

Along the same lines, you are not able to grab a villager off a coconut tree during climbing. I'd like to have the ability to stop their annoying harvesting midway up the tree just as you can any other time until they get the coconut in the bin.

Finally, in VVI and VVII, if you gather all your villagers in the crop patch just as the crops are about to be exhausted, they can all take in a full bushel, so long as they don't shake their head, and they start harvesting before the first villager reaches the bin with the last of the crops. I like this "cheat," as it rewards those who are not time traveling or away from the game. Nevertheless, I have always been curious if this is purposeful or not.

Miscellaneous: I changed villagers names, but the genealogy does not change... will this resolve in time?

You can grab a harvester off a tree. Just grab at the base of the tree they're on and you'll get them.

The genealogy disappears when they turn 18.

I noticed this issue myself, that my farmers wanted to harvest the coconuts before anything else. By the time another child came of age to farm, the coconuts were already being hogged by my first two farmers. My new farmer was perfectly happy to fish though, and leave the coconuts to the first two. Even with the farm and algae, the farmers went for coconuts as soon as they had grown. Now that I'm post-algae, the farmers seem to actually want to fish again, but the coconut-before-farm logic seems a little skewed.

I seem to be having the same problem. I am at level two on everything. There is algae in the ocean so they don't fish. They have depleted the coconuts, and the fields and they only have 615 food points. The next crop is due in 90 minutes. I have 16 villagers. Before this the crops were coming in every 30 minutes or so. Is this a normal occurance? One other thing.. is it normal that reasearchers and farmers become masters quickly, but builders take years. I have one builder that was an apprentice builder as a child, and they still have not become a master even though they are in their twenties, and only work on building.
Thanks for the help, and despite these little problems, I love the game.

Could have been describing my game. I had to leave the game alone all day yesterday due to other responsibilities and this morning found four dead (I think my max population has only been 15 so far). Two dead adults and two dead 9 year olders. I don't get it! Why do I need to babysit them when they have a cleared ocean, the coconut trees and crops? I don't know how to "time travel" as I read many refer to, so to get as far as I have took hours of my time. I still like this game and still have puzzles to solve but I don't have a lot of hope my villages will survive over the long run.