DIanthus I do the same thing - elders of both sexes in white, farmers in green - builders in blue - researchers in red - parents in purples and healers in brown (it seemed earthy) it made all the difference for me in trying to get my villagers to stay on task. It's a great way to keep it in order!

Liatha - I'm not sure but 300 minutes is a long time for any crop unless you've been time travelling. I know when we had our event that wiped our food we moved all our people to farming and it helped. Good luck!