Decorated pots can store items! I'm always excited for more storage options, although I wish it was less gimicky. Having to break the pots like a piggy bank really limits their utility.
Ooo, like [hopper -> pot -> hopper -> chest] for farms dropping multiple items? I've never done anything beyond basic crop/mob farming, so I'm just guessing.
So it turns out they can't pull from hoppers, the hoppers have to be facing into the pot so it doesn't really work. The hopper above the pot just fills up with items. If the pot could pull items from sidways facing hoppers it would work. But so far hoppers are the only thing that can pull from other storage containers.