Rotterham

So me and my friends built a base in the first year. We've successfully survived winter and are now looking forward to expand our base. Our base is located in a "Rainfall in the area: Common". However during my travels I discovered a land with "Almost all the time" rainfall. It is located roughly 1000 blocks away from the base though. As the main farmer of the group, it would be nice if I was not tending to the crops all the time watering them. There is a water system of rivers and small lakes that I would like to connect so I can travel between the base and farmlands by ship afterwards. The question then is... Will the crops grow hundreds of blocks away while no one is near them? Does the game just calculate the progress of growing or does the process freeze?