Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Career, Salary and Skills

Occupation description

Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

National salary and employment

Top skills

Typical tasks

• Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
• Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.
• Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.
• Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
• Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.
• Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand.
• Set up and operate irrigation equipment.
• Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.

Technology

• BCL Landview Systems WinCrop
• Farm Works Software Trac
• Global positioning system GPS software
• IBM Lotus Notes
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office software
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Web browser software

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse salary by location

Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.

• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in CA
  Median $35,580 · Employment 172,260
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Bakersfield, CA
  Median $34,620 · Employment 32,500
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Fresno, CA
  Median $34,610 · Employment 28,570
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Salinas, CA
  Median $36,700 · Employment 26,830
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Visalia, CA
  Median $34,800 · Employment 21,420
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in WA
  Median $39,170 · Employment 13,490
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Santa Maria, CA
  Median $36,230 · Employment 11,020
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in FL
  Median $30,640 · Employment 9,180
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in AZ
  Median $35,080 · Employment 7,110
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in OR
  Median $34,070 · Employment 6,780
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in MI
  Median $38,680 · Employment 5,410
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Salary in Riverside, CA
  Median $35,240 · Employment 5,310

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