1. Have 2 strong D allies
2. Have a country that doesn't look like new player (has decent SPAL, has good jet/turret ratio, has good BPT, not a rainbow)
3. Always stay above half the NW of the rank 1 guy
4. Maintain over 200% Agri, even if it means not grabbing land for the day - last reset, this was easy, this reset a bit harder.
5. Be of a government type that compliments playing a farmer (Demo, Fascist), though this isn't a requirement, its just less efficient otherwise.
6. Do not look land fat in the SCORES page. This is important.
7. Grab for your land, don't batch explore past 2k or 3k land. Join GDI and don't attack anyone more than once. This allows you to grow faster, because the turns are being spent more efficiently (less turns to gain same amount of land).

But really, the key to not becoming landfarm is to grow and show capability in retalling. This applies to all strategies.

Farmer's weakness is in the low food price for te entirety of the first month, so to compensate, you need high Agricultural tech.