There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a farm helper. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.87 an hour? That's $26,779 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 10,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Farm Helper Do

There are certain skills that many farm helpers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, listening skills and physical strength.

How To Become a Farm Helper

If you're interested in becoming a farm helper, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 28.5% of farm helpers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.9% of farm helpers have master's degrees. Even though some farm helpers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Average Salary for a Farm Helper

Farm Helpers in America make an average salary of $26,779 per year or $13 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $35,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $20,000 per year.
Average Farm Helper Salary
$26,779 Yearly
$12.87 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Farm Helper

There are several types of farm helper, including:

Helper

Role:

A helper gives a hand with domestic chores. Your employer might have a demanding job or one too many children to take care of, or perhaps they do not have the physical strength to keep an organized home.

You could be asked to work in the garden or maintain the lawn, but most of your tasks will revolve around housekeeping. Cooking, cleaning, and running various errands will be on your to-do list, like grocery shopping, picking up kids from school, cleaning the pool, whatever your employer might think of, really. As long as it is legal, you should be up for it.

You will be coming in and out of other people's homes sharing their personal space, sometimes even in a live-in arrangement, so being friendly, clean, and reliable is a must. You need to build a good relationship with the family you help and, as usual, building trust takes time. Just make sure your working hours are respected, and you get the amount of free time you had agreed upon. Painting an image of what an overworked and cranky helper might do will definitely set the grounds for negotiation.

  • Average Salary: $31,331
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Farm Hand

Role:

A farmhand is responsible for assisting farmers in growing plants and feeding livestock on the farm. Your work is basically to ensure a smooth running of the farm by performing various tasks throughout a working day. You are expected to maintain the machinery by fixing it when necessary, cleaning it regularly, and maintaining the condition of building the farm.

Since farming is an unpredictable industry, your work differs per season. Nonetheless, you will be required to do heavy lifts and manual labor throughout the day to help farmers to reduce unforeseen and unpredictable circumstances. Helping out farmers involves a lot of participation in farm activities, which include providing water for the animals, cleaning out pens and closures, and providing fresh straw and hay. You are also responsible for moving animals from one area of the farm to another, planting and spraying crops, and watching them as they grow.

As a farmhand, you have to be very vigilant in every aspect to alert the farmer whenever you observe a problem concerning the animals or the crops. Sensitivity, flexibility, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and a genuine love for farm work are crucial for this role. You must also be physically fit for this role. Plus, you need a bachelor's degree in agriculture or other related fields. The average salary of a farmhand annually is $25,000.

  • Average Salary: $26,594
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Ranch Hand

Role:

A ranch hand works on a farm or ranch, tending to animals and doing menial tasks around the ranch. They either live on the ranch or near it, and work long tedious hours. They attend to live farm or ranch animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, bees, or poultry that produce animal products such as milk, fur, skins, meat, feathers, eggs, and honey. They are responsible for feeding, watering, herding, grazing, castrating, branding, weighing, catching, and loading animals into transport vehicles.

The ranch hand cleans and maintains animal housing areas, shears wool from sheep, collects eggs from hatcheries, and do routine menial tasks such as repairing fences, operating heavy machinery like tractors, and so on. They require physical stamina to do tasks around the ranch. They have to be up very early in the mornings and retire late at night.

Only a high school diploma or GED is necessary. A ranch hand earns an average of $25,368 per year, which translates to $12.20 per hour. Career growth is described as having little or no change at 1% and will produce 10,900 new jobs across the US by 2028.

  • Average Salary: $27,569
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Farm Helper Jobs

Number Of Farm Helper Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Texas333$24,535
2California327$31,384
3Florida317$23,501
4North Carolina188$21,833
5Pennsylvania165$29,465
6Georgia153$28,534
7Illinois153$24,908
8Virginia151$23,392
9Tennessee145$23,853
10Ohio140$31,455
11New York132$30,626
12New Jersey122$26,901
13Washington106$28,323
14South Carolina101$23,879
15Arizona93$23,912
16Minnesota86$19,962
17Michigan82$24,720
18Wisconsin80$24,394
19Colorado75$23,908
20Iowa71$22,963
21Kentucky70$23,058
22Louisiana69$21,276
23Massachusetts68$31,048
24Oregon67$27,269
25Indiana65$22,944
26Maryland63$27,000
27Alabama60$23,222
28Utah55$26,655
29Connecticut51$27,569
30Missouri48$25,428
31Nebraska39$29,766
32Montana37$24,189
33Maine35$35,299
34New Hampshire28$30,157
35Kansas28$28,122
36Idaho26$26,344
37Oklahoma25$24,877
38Arkansas25$22,219
39Nevada23$29,842
40Alaska23$21,713
41Mississippi22$26,778
42West Virginia16$27,783
43North Dakota14$31,557
44Vermont12$35,427
45New Mexico12$30,196
46Rhode Island11$31,125
47South Dakota11$26,987
48Delaware11$27,413
49Hawaii8$32,995
50Wyoming4$26,953

Farm Helper Education

Farm Helper Majors

19.2 %

Farm Helper Degrees

High School Diploma

39.3 %

Bachelors

28.5 %

Associate

21.5 %

Top Skills For a Farm Helper

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 22.0% of farm helpers listed farm animals on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and listening skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Farm Helper Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Farm Helper templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Farm Helper resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Farm Helper diversity

Farm Helper Gender Distribution

Male
Male
64%
Female
Female
36%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among farm helpers, 35.6% of them are women, while 64.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among farm helpers is White, which makes up 68.4% of all farm helpers.

  • The most common foreign language among farm helpers is Spanish at 66.7%.

Online Courses For Farm Helper That You May Like

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1. Discover Best Practice Farming for a Sustainable 2050

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The Discover Best Practice Farming for a Sustainable 2050 Course is based on a clear vision: imagine best practice farming for 2050, start to implement these strategies now, all the while making sure it will still be profitable. At UWA we're doing just that with the Future Farm 2050 Project, set on a mixed-enterprise farm in Western Australia and we want you to learn how it can be done in your part of the world. Although this course is based on agriculture, it's not only about farming. It is a...

2. Chicken Behaviour and Welfare

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This course explains the general principles of chicken behaviour and welfare, and the behavioural and physiological indicators that can be used to assess welfare in chickens kept in hobby flocks through to commercial farms. The focus is primarily on laying hens and meat chickens (broilers) although many of the principles are relevant to other types of poultry. The course is likely to be of interest to people who own chickens as pets or keep a small hobby flock, commercial egg and chicken meat...

3. Aquaponics Farming & Gardening + Design Case Study

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Wether you're thinking of an aquaponics farm or garden this course teaches you the how to's of designing & building one...

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Top Farm Helper Employers

Most Common Employers For Farm Helper

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Aqua$33,731$16.222
2Tyson Foods$32,065$15.421
3Delta Natural Gas Co$31,824$15.302
4Farmers Insurance$31,201$15.002
5Arrow Services$30,487$14.661
6Windmill Intl$30,362$14.602
7Kerr Corporation$29,572$14.221
8TED$27,682$13.312
9PeopleReady$27,475$13.213
10Christmas Tree Shops$27,352$13.152