Is there anyway to get my farmers to stop gathering coconuts? They have plenty of crops to gather, but keep going back to the trees. It's infuriating!!

My villagers tried the same thing, I just kept taking them away from the trees and putting them in the field. They soon get the message....

on my 3rd village I tried to avoid level 2 farming to avoid the coconuts
I had level 3 medicine and level 2 everything and still avoided the coconuts, but as the kids grew I succumbed to the finding collectables and bought it,because i needed more kids and more kids meant the food ran out but No one died and eventually I was able to buy level 3 farming!! so try it , see how far you can last without level 2 farming, I lasted to after the briar was cleared and hut 2 completed I could have lasted longer I think but with no kids to get mushrooms It was getting desperate!

i babysit my villagers, especially during scarcity. i get all the food i can get. if crops are available, i make them all harvest until it gets depleted. and then the coconuts. and fishing. but i help them concentrate with work and minimize their walking time. i pick them up one by one right after they drop the food in the food bin and drag them back to the farm, the coconut tree or the ocean. i am watching their actions and pick them up when they try to do something else, other than what i want them to do.

I try to go without level 2 farming. Effectively L3 costs me 91,500, as I have to get L2 before L3, but otherwise I wouldn't bother with it. Provided the population is kept under control (around 15) a village can survive quite well without coconuts until the algae are cleared.

I started a second villiage and my alge like the first one came when I had ten 9 villagers

well you should still have enough food to support them and get the dam built in time so youdon't need the coconuts, with that small population.

That's interesting - I thought you needed Level 2 farming to get the crops - I didn't know that it was just for coconuts so maybe the next village I do I will forgo L2 farming and just buy L2 and L3 farming at the same time.