Orchard

The Orchard produces based on soil fertility.

Orchards will not flood and will provide a consistent output of Food compared to its counterpart the Farm which can flood and disrupt the supply of Food.

The Orchard has to be built on a 2x2 square of any combination of and. Orchards can't be built on any squares. However, irrigation from a Reservoir allows Orchards to be built on Barren land squares, although irrigated Barren land squares don't provide any bonus Food like Fertile or Very Fertile land.

Efficiency
The Orchard has a base output of per year.

It gains additional output based on the fertility of the 4 squares it's on, the experience of the workers, and squares of irrigation:
 * + for every square
 * + for every square
 * + for Master workers (+1 per square)
 * + for every irrigated square from a Noria / Aqueduct / Reservoir system, up to +

An Orchard built on all squares produces,  with Master workers or irrigation, and  with both Master workers and irrigation.

An Orchard built on all squares with Master workers and irrigation produces a maximum of  or 8.5 Food per square and 11.33 Food per worker.

Compare this to a Farm which can produce a maximum of each if built on  in a 3x3 shape while surrounding a Windmill. This produces 72 to for 7.2 to  per worker or 8 to  per square. An Orchard is exactly more efficient per square if there are exactly 4 irrigated squares available, and less efficient per square once more squares become available. An Orchard with Master workers is always more efficient per worker than an equivalent ratio of Farms and Windmills.

However, Farms occasionally flood and don't produce any Food. Actual flood rates are unknown at this time, but it can have an impact without adequate Food in storage. A combination of Orchards and Farms seems to be the best strategy now. As the developers have mentioned fishing will be added and Peasant health will require a varied diet, this mixture of Farms and orchards may be important to maintain.