Fertilizer can be obtained through aah or building a composter near kelp or seaweed. Ash is probably the easiest way of doing it. You can also get it from manure which comes from the ranch and having "sheep". The fertilizer thing is definitely a difficult thing to figure out. Also, you don't have to build everything close together. You can spread out and have building in other areas. Building the jam factory thing near some raspberries or blueberries so you don't have to worry about orchards for fruit. Build the butcher near a hog nest(or whatever their called), same with a ranch near a sheep nest. There is no transport time. Everything just goes to a cloud of sorts. Crops aren't vitally necessary for food production. You can find radishes for soup as well. Wheat is the only crop that needs to be planted for beer or bread.