Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

What the job really is

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.

At a glance

• Sector: Farming, Fishing & Forestry
• O*NET-SOC code: 45-2092
• O*NET job zone: 2 — some preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
• 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.
• Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.
• Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.
• Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.

Tools and technology

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Adjustable hand wrenches, Adjustable widemouth pliers, Air compressors, All terrain vehicles ATV, Allen wrenches, Anvil pruners, Arborist saws

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Agricultural Equipment Operators
• Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
• Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
• Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
• Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation
• Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Forest and Conservation Workers
• Tree Trimmers and Pruners

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 2 (some preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.