What does Genesis 26:12 mean?

While reading this verse, it's important to remember there was a famine in the land (Genesis 26:1). The Lord told Isaac not to go to Egypt to escape the famine but to stay in Gerar, the land of the Philistines, instead. Despite a cowardly lie on Isaac's part (Genesis 26:7), he has been protected and blessed by God (Genesis 26:11).

Isaac obeyed God's command to avoid Egypt, staying instead in Gerar, planting crops there. To reap a hundredfold would have been a good return in a normal year. In a year of famine, and likely and supposed drought, a hundredfold return is simply amazing. The Lord once again is demonstrating to Isaac and his neighbors that He is with him and providing for him. The following verse will explain the extent to which Isaac is blessed.

This is one of the few times we're told directly that one of the patriarchs engaged in the planting and harvesting of crops. Noah was said to have planted a vineyard after the flood, becoming a "man of the soil," but that account made no mention of further farming (Genesis 9:20).