NewRadicals,
No, the industries you want to build are rather inexpensive. (It would be considerably more expensive to build gem mines.) You should be able to build some good export industries while using only a small fraction of the starting funds. If you are playing at Hard difficulty, then you start with 10000 Db, a farm costs 48 Db, a work camp costs 72 Db, a brewery costs 90 Db, a weaver costs 96 Db, a papyrus maker costs 120 Db, a "vacant lot" costs 12 Db, a storage yard costs 84 Db, and a dock costs 120 Db. (At Normal difficulty buildings are even cheaper, while at Very Hard difficulty buildings are more expensive and you start with less money but it still should be possible to make a good start without going into debt.)
No, you should not "settle for like 2 barley farms ... at the start". I'd recommend starting with at least 4 barley farms (unless you are also exporting linen and/or papyrus). Remember, you need to make money!
As peter said, don't bother to export grain, since a) it's so cheap, and b) exporting it may interfere with more lucrative exports. To simplify calculations, let's assume that a farm produces 547/year (the amount of barley that a brewery consumes) and that you build four floodplain farms per work camp. A barley farm, 1/4 of a work camp, and a brewery would cost 156 Db (at Hard difficulty), use 17 workers, and produce beer that could be sold for 766 Db/year. Comparably, 3 grain farms and 3/4 of a work camp would cost 198 Db (somewhat more), use 15 workers (somewhat less), and produce grain that could be sold for 345/year (less that half as much). Relative to export earnings, grain production is much more expensive! (I exported food in a few missions, but only when I was certain that that would not interfere with other exports.)
A city normally needs at least one storage yard (almost always more) and at least one granary (often more). However, that is not the case in Meidum, since it can import grain. Bazaar buyers will obtain a food from storage yards if that food is set to Import, even if the food was produced locally. If the food is set to "Import to maintain 0" then none of the food will actually be imported. (Some of us have built several cities (including Meidum) without granaries, but now I always build a few granaries (for several reasons including aesthetics).)
If you decide that exporting grain is worthwhile, you will need at least one storage yard (for exports) and one granary (to feed your people), unless you extensively micromanage trade orders (which I would find tedious). You can set a granary or storage yard so that only part of it can store a given food or good.
To use roadblocks effectively, learn what they do. A roadblock does not block a walker with a destination (such as a cart pusher, a laborer, a bazaar buyer, or an entertainer going from its "school" to its venue), but blocks a walker who just wanders around (such as a citizen (labor-seeker), a priest, a market trader, or an entertainer generated by a venue). Some players starting to use roadblocks blocked citizens (labor-seekers) and thereby prevented industries from getting labor. Roadblocks are an important part of most "housing block" designs, keeping various walkers that supply goods and services to houses inside, while letting entertainers (from their "schools") in and market buyers out (and back in).
[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 06-18-2005 @ 03:05 PM).]