I am a beginner modder, with around 50 hours of experience being guided by tutorials and chat-gpt. My mod is almost done, but I want to make the plants specifically require sunlight to encourage players to establish structure above ground. After looking at the vanilla code for a few hours, I'm still unsere what the best way to do this would be. I would be happy if someone with more experience could point me in the right direction.

Have you tried using net.minecraft.world.level.BlockAndTintGetter#canSeeSky ?

If anyone is wanting to know, the solution looked like this:

 

// Helper method to check sunlight conditions (including daylight)
private static boolean isSufficientSunlight(Level world, BlockPos pos) {
  int skyLight = world.getBrightness(LightLayer.SKY, pos);
  long dayTime = world.getDayTime() % 24000;

  // Check if it's daytime and if there is enough sunlight
  return dayTime < 12000 && skyLight >= 5;
}

@SubscribeEvent
  public static void onCropGrow(BlockEvent.CropGrowEvent.Post event) {
  Level world = (Level) event.getLevel();
  if (world.isClientSide) return; // Don't run logic on the client side

  BlockPos pos = event.getPos();

  // Check if the block is a glowberry vine, skip destruction if it is
  if (event.getState().getBlock() == Blocks.CAVE_VINES || event.getState().getBlock() == Blocks.CAVE_VINES_PLANT) {
    // Skip glowberry vines
    return;
  }

  // Check sunlight and time restrictions
  if (world.getBrightness(LightLayer.SKY, pos) < 13) {
    // Destroy the crop (turn it into air) if there is not strong sunlight
    world.removeBlock(pos, false);
  }
}

// Doesn't let animals breed if there is no sunlight
@SubscribeEvent
  public static void onAnimalBreed(BabyEntitySpawnEvent event) {
  Level world = event.getParentA().getCommandSenderWorld();
  if (world.isClientSide) return; // Don't run logic on the client side

  if (!(event.getParentA() instanceof Animal) || !(event.getParentB() instanceof Animal)) {
    return; // Ensure it is animals breeding
  }

  Animal parentA = (Animal) event.getParentA();
  Animal parentB = (Animal) event.getParentB();

  // Doesn't let chicken breed
  if (parentA instanceof Chicken || parentB instanceof Chicken){
    event.setCanceled(true); return;
  }

  if (!isSufficientSunlight(world, parentA.blockPosition())) {
    // Cancel the breeding event
    event.setCanceled(true); return;
  }

  if (!isSufficientSunlight(world, parentB.blockPosition())) {
    // Cancel the breeding event
    event.setCanceled(true);
  }
}