Once you unlock this high-tech structure (pink science level), you will be able to literally, plant crops in the map and harvest them in a way much more efficient than the early specific farms. If space isn't a issue for you, you may opt for this instead. Or, you may stay with leveled specific farms in your compact setup.
This building will plot a crop field right above itself (so, make sure you have space or it will plant only in the available space) and allow you to put harvesters to gather the crop. Once they are finished, you can always seed again and again. The amount of each crop field will deliver is directly linked to the recipe you pick, so, better recipes means better yields and more ingredients.
For now, these smart farms will support the vegetables, such Ralesias, Renneas, Grods,Tuuphras, Yotois, and Kicalks (if pyHT is present), maybe even wood, If we find a way to plant trees (it´s a very hard coded building :/). Later, in further releases we may add the fungus class too.