What is the chunk update radius in single player Minecraft?

Question

I'm new to Minecraft, and I'm looking to see how far away from my crops I can get before it starts causing problems. I know that wheat has to be within the chunk update radius of at least one player to keep growing, which lead me to this question: Within how many blocks do I have to be for wheat to grow?

So I understand now what the system is for determining the chunk update radius in multiplayer, but what about single player? All I've seen is the following sentence from the wiki:

The exact number of generated chunks varies in single player mode, depending on view distance and movement.

Alright, but there has to be a system for determining what it is at any given moment. What is it? If it's too long of a story or something, then what's a good approximation? Thanks!

Answer 1

As @09stephenb stated correctly, on Single Player Minecraft, only chunks in render distance are updated. This begs the question: what is the render distance for Single Player? You can adjust it in the Options > Video Options page, at the Render Distance option.

_{(source: cursecdn.com)}

The higher the number of chunks, the farther you can see. Hence, more blocks are rendered, which might lower the game's performance. For the picture's example of 12 chunks (which is the default), you can see blocks in a 192 block radius (give or take).

Note however that chunks are 16 blocks wide, 16 blocks long, and 256 blocks deep. If you are mining very far below your farm, it will continue to be calculated. What matters most is horizontal distance.

Answer 2

Only chunks in render distance are are updated. You can boost this by increasing your render distance but this is more resource intensive. Render distance is just what you can see.