Click to Harvest!

In light of the tragedy that has befallen Haiti this week, Zynga has brought back its Sweet Seeds for Haiti charity promotion. The charity drive is very similar to last time’s – buy the White Corn crop for $FV 25 (about $5), and you receive not only a superb Farmville crop, but also are making a charitble donation to Zynga’s Haiti Relief Fund. Zynga has promised that 100% of the proceeds will go to charity.

Zynga is running a similar charity promotion in Mafia Wars, if that is your Facebook game flavor of choice.

If you’re thinking that these types of purchases can’t make a difference, consider that Zynga stated on its official blog that the purchase of virtual goods had already raised $1.2 million for Haitian relief. Amazing.

The latest edition of Zynga’s Official Farmville Podcast (embedded below) went up late last night, and as always, it contains lots of juicy tidbits on upcoming features farmers can expect, as well as plenty of other Farmville-related goodies. We learn, for example, that the Farmville team’s favorite animals are the alien cow, the orange tabby cat, and the ugly duckling.

But enough of that. On to the good stuff! The podcast reveals that that the following features are coming soon:

- The ability to “do something” with unwanted items. Since we can already sell unwanted items, what could it be? The ability to trade/give them with other players seems like a pretty safe bet, but nothing has been confirmed.

- More robust “friend missions” revolving around planting, plowing, & harvesting. Sounds like we’ll soon be able to interact with our friends’ farms in more meaningful ways.

- More general purpose buildings. A General Store, a Post Office, and a Bed & Breakfast are specifically mentioned.

- Mystery Animal boxes. Mystery boxes have been a Farmville staple for a while now. But soon there will be mystery animal boxes, which will contain never-before-seen animals. Maybe the Llama or fabled Dog will finally make an appearance?