ok, so here is my suggestion.
Whilst farming earlier today I noticed that the amount of herbs and vegetables you gain when plants are fully grown seem to random, ranging from as little as 3 herbs to almost a whole inventory full. I also realised that this happens for all herbs/vegetables and is the same for every player no matter what their farming level is. For example, if a player with level 32 farming could gain the same amount of ranarr herbs from a patch as a player with say, 90+ farming.
Here is what I suggest, scale the amount of herbs you can recieve from a patch to the level of farming of the player. This would mean a higher farming level will see a larger return from patches than lower farming levels. It would also allow farming to scale even better in terms of xp as you recieve xp drops from each item you harvest.
thoughts?
-Big Chris
EDIT: level milestones should unlock more patches increasing the amount of herbs you can plant at a time?