Tiered farms like that are a pain to harvest since you have to jump to get to the higher crops and if you fail to jump forwards somehow you just end up trampling stuff.
The water elevator is a good idea though. I might add one to my farm just because it's a good idea. I still prefer to use XOXXOXXOXXOXXOX where X is wheat and O is water, because you can stand in the channel to harvest quicker than sneaking and it can be built on multiple layers anyway.
yeah the only downside is the climbing part. i like it because it takes up less space than a standard one, though. behind me in those pictures i have a standard farm that takes up a load of space (11X18) and it doesn't even yield half as much wheat. this farm takes up only 9x9, and it has a gigantic payload. even though i don't even need that much bread. but imagine breeding animals with one of those things, lol.
i like the compact-ness of it, and (this is just me) i don't mind the time it takes harvesting,(or the jumping) as long as it's not too excessive.
which with a bit of editing that farm could be flat, and just take up more downward space, meaning no jumping involved, other than ascending in the watervator.