Harvesting in FFXI is a way to obtain grass, cotton, mushrooms and other items that are primarily used by the Clothcraft and Cooking guilds. Harvesting is accomplished by going to one of the zones listed below, and finding one of the Harvesting Points that occur throughout the zone. When a harvesting point is targetted, a Sickle can be used to try to harvest an item. Once a harvesting point is used up, it disappears, and another one appears somewhere else in the zone. In this way the harvesting points change randomly in availability throughout the zone. Sometimes the harvesting point will give nothing, and occasionally a sickle will break while trying to harvest. A harvester can dig at a harvesting point multiple times without obtaining any items; the more times a specific point is dug at before it disappears, the greater the chance that the sickle used will break. The items that are obtained with harvesting are not known to be based in any way on the weather, moon phase, or anything else; the results seem rather random.

There are two sets of equipment that Improve Harvesting, which are worn on three body slots. Wearing these items does not change the type of items that are harvested, but it does lower the chances of a sickle breaking when a harvester uses it, which makes harvesting much more profitable. The higher level armor that improves harvesting has not been shown to improve harvesting any more than the lower level equipment, although it does provide greater defense.

The items are listed below that can potentially be obtained with harvesting in FFXI Gil. All items are listed by the zone that they are available from, and by estimated rarity.
 

Sarutabaruta West
Item Rarity
Moko Grass Very Common
Saruta Cotton Uncommon
Fresh Marjoram Uncommon
Gysahl Greens Rare
Flax Flower Rare
Wijnruit Rare
Vegetable Seeds Rare
Herb Seeds Rare
Grain Seeds Rare
Windurstian Tea Leaves Rare
Red Moko Grass Rare
Fresh Mugwort Very Rare
Crawler Cocoon Very Rare
Skull Locust Very Rare
Giddeus
Item Rarity
Moko Grass Very Common
Saruta Cotton Common
Flax Flower Uncommon
Fresh Marjoram Uncommon
Red Moko Grass Rare
Windurstian Tea Leaves Rare
Gysahl Greens Rare
Vegetable Seeds Rare
Herb Seeds Rare
Grain Seeds Rare
Wijnruit Very Rare
Crawler Cocoon Very Rare
Fresh Mugwort Very Rare
King Locust Very Rare
Skull Locust Very Rare
Yuhtunga Jungle
Item Rarity
Woozyshroom Common
Danceshroom Uncommon
Sleepshroom Uncommon
Scream Fungus Rare
Puffball Rare
King Truffle Very Rare
 

Yhoator Jungle
Item Rarity
Woozyshroom Common
Danceshroom Uncommon
Sleepshroom Uncommon
Scream Fungus Rare
Coral Fungus Rare
Reishi Mushroom Very Rare