Quote Originally Posted by RLucid
Then also, I find towns that may stop growing, without farm upgrades at higher population levels, whilst much general advice is to avoid upgrades due to unmanageable cities, with exploding populations. Perhaps the population growth model got altered somewhat, reducing the problem, in all but the most fertile areas?
No change here that I've noticed. The reason the advice is to avoid farms is that if you make a mistake and miscalculate, you cannot fix the problem if you build too many farms. You'll end up with a city that is permanently overpopulated and restive. If you don't build enough farms and your city won't grow, the solution is pretty obvious, though. It doesn't take any brainpower to decide that a building that improves population growth is the solution to underpopulation, but it takes some brainpower to notice in advance that said building cannot be destroyed and in the long run may cause you serious problems keeping the city under control.

Also, cities that actually need farms to grow are quite rare. THey may grow very slowly, but you'll almost always get enough population growth from base farming and trade buildings and water supplies to get your city as big as you need it to be.