Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse
Also called Greenhouse Worker, Grower, Harvester, or Nursery Worker
What Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse do
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse 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.
Who tends to enjoy it
Hands-on
People who like building, fixing, working with tools, machines, plants, or animals.
Organizing
People who like keeping things accurate, orderly, and running on schedule.
Leading
People who like persuading, selling, starting things, and taking charge.
What you'd actually do
- 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.
- Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.
A typical day involves
Skills that matter most
- Speaking
- Operations Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
What you'll need to know
- Food Production
- Biology
- Mechanical
- Administration and Management
- Chemistry
Related careers
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
Agricultural Equipment Operators
Drive and control equipment to support agricultural activities such as tilling soil; planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops; feeding and herding livestock; or removing animal waste. May perform tasks such as crop baling or hay bucking. May operate stationary equipment to perform post-harvest tasks such as husking, shelling, threshing, and ginning.
Little to some preparation
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
Attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, rabbits, finfish, shellfish, and bees. Attend to animals produced for animal products, such as meat, fur, skins, feathers, eggs, milk, and honey. Duties may include feeding, watering, herding, grazing, milking, castrating, branding, de-beaking, weighing, catching, and loading animals. May maintain records on animals; examine animals to detect diseases and injuries; assist in birth deliveries; and administer medications, vaccinations, or insecticides as appropriate. May clean and maintain animal housing areas. Includes workers who shear wool from sheep and collect eggs in hatcheries.
Little to some preparation
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
Grade, sort, or classify unprocessed food and other agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition.
Little to some preparation
Production
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.
Little to some preparation
Transportation and Material Moving
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified.
Little to some preparation
Transportation and Material Moving
Packers and Packagers, Hand
Pack or package by hand a wide variety of products and materials.
Little to some preparation
Production
Food Batchmakers
Set up and operate equipment that mixes or blends ingredients used in the manufacturing of food products. Includes candy makers and cheese makers.
Little to some preparation
Production
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
Little to some preparation
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA), occupation 45-2092.00, used under CC BY 4.0 and modified by Whittle. Program links: NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. How we build these pages.