Guidance.help

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

The occupation Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse covers people who manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. O*NET rates it as some preparation, which usually means a few months to a year of learning on the job. It leans on speaking, operations monitoring, and active listening. One core duty is to record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs. The strongest interest signal is Realistic (7.0 of 7), then Conventional (3.4) and Enterprising, which gives it the code RCE. The job can ask you to direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting. People who want hands-on work with tools, machines or the physical world usually fit better here than those who need creative work with room for original expression.

What they do

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.

Main 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.

Skills

  • Speaking
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Active Listening
  • Writing
  • Time Management
  • Social Perceptiveness

Who this career fits

May suit you if

  • You like ending the day with a physical result you can point to.
  • You want to start work after a short stretch of training.
  • You are comfortable relying on speaking and operations monitoring.

May not suit you if

  • You would rather stay away from physical, hands-on tasks.
  • You need creative expression to be a big part of your day. Artistic rates 1.3 out of 7 here.
  • You want a career built on years of advanced study.

Interest profile

O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code RCE takes the three highest, and Realistic comes first here.

Preparation

Some preparation. Most people start with a high school diploma, then learn from experienced coworkers over a few months to a year.

Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Less than a High School Diploma. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.

Also called

  • Farm Laborer
  • Farmer
  • Field Irrigation Worker
  • Gardener
  • Greenhouse Worker

Related careers

Is this your direction?

See how your interests line up with RCE and 906 other careers.

Take the career test

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.