5 best trades for farming emeralds in Minecraft (2023)

In Minecraft, villagers are a valuable source of items that players can acquire by assigning them a profession using a job site block, making them some of the best mobs in the game for item acquisition. However, this technique won't work on employed villagers or nitwits.

Like real-life currency, Minecraft emeralds function as the game's primary currency for trading with villagers but don't have much use aside from this. There are multiple sources of emeralds, with one of the best being trading.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the writer.

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Best trades to obtain emeralds in Minecraft

Trading allows players to transform traders into zombie villagers by letting one hit them a few times and cure them to lower their trade costs.

To cure a zombie villager in Minecraft, the player must splash it with a Potion of Weakness. Then, the player needs to give the zombie villager a Golden Apple by using it on them. Once the process is complete, the zombie villager will turn into a regular villager and be ready to trade.

5) Emeralds for iron ingots

A toolsmith next to a smithing table (Image via Mojang)

This trade offer is primarily useful for players who have access to an iron farm or have accumulated excess iron ingots. Novice toolsmiths, apprentice weaponsmiths, and novice armorers will offer one emerald in exchange for four iron ingots.

4) Emeralds for rotten flesh

A cleric in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Any Minecrafter who has been playing for even a few weeks will likely have an abundance of rotten flesh. This item is useless as consuming it usually inflicts a Hunger status effect which depletes the hunger bar faster than normal.

Novice-level clerics would happily take 32 pieces of rotten flesh in exchange for an emerald. This trade is ideal for players who own a mob tower with several stacks of rotten flesh. For those unaware, a cleric's job site block is a brewing stand, and it can be crafted using a blaze rod and three cobblestones.

3) Emeralds in exchange for stone

A taiga village stone mason (Image via Mojang)

Similar to cobblestones, stones are some of the most common blocks found in the Overworld. It cannot be directly mined and doing so results in the block dropping only cobblestone. However, players can mine stones using a pickaxe with Silk Touch enchantment.

Cobblestones can also be smelted to acquire stone blocks. Novice-level masons will offer an emerald for twenty blocks of stone. Players can create a mason villager by placing a stonecutter next to an unemployed villager.

2) Emeralds in exchange for wheat

A farmer standing on a composter (Image via Mojang)

Farmer villagers will offer the player an emerald in exchange for 20 wheat, which is decent as the latter can be grown easily.

Players can get wheat seeds simply by punching wild grass and growing them on farmland blocks. It is worth noting that wheat grows only when farmland blocks are in contact with water and the seed receives light.

If the player's village does not have a naturally spawned farmer villager, they can turn an unemployed villager into one by placing a composter next to it. This job site block can be crafted easily by placing seven wooden slabs on the crafting table.

1) Emeralds for sticks

A fletcher in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

In Minecraft, trees are everywhere in the Overworld, so players never have to worry about running out of wood. Players can trade for emeralds with fletchers by making sticks from planks. While giving a fletcher 32 sticks for one emerald may seem expensive, sticks are easy to get, so it's a good deal.

A fletcher's job site block is a fletching table. It can be crafted using two flints and four planks of the same type on the crafting table.