As I played a bit of the beta, it seems to me that arable land is a precious commodity; you can get into a situation fairly easily that city growth is limited by food, and if there's no more land that can accept a farm, that city's growth is permanently stunted (unless you invest in the advanced farm researches, and keep pushing that up).  As an alternative to this, what about letting the soveriegn put some essence into making a new plot of arable land where he/she wants to?  We can balance the cost later, but it's one of those things that might drive us to fewer, bigger cities (5 essence to grow the city I've already got, vs. 5 essence to start a new city, say, that might also be limited in growth due to food restrictions).

It may be that food isn't an issue in the late game due to tech advancements, and if that's the case, and it's that way by design, then ignore this suggestion; I haven't had the luck to get a game to go that long.  But if this isn't an intentional game design, how about giving me some flexibility?

Winni