What does a farm worker do?
A farmworker is responsible for applying fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides to crops and livestock. You will operate agricultural machinery under the direction of a rancher, farmer, or an agricultural manager. Your duties will typically include harvesting and inspecting crops manually, irrigating farm soil and maintaining pipes, pumps, d ditches, and feeding livestock. As a farmworker, you will operate milking machinery and other farm machinery such as plows and tractors, maintain farm buildings, and trim hedges. You are also expected to mend walls and fences and clear drainage ditches.
Farm worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real farm worker resumes:
- General farm operations including health checks and care of calves, manage cleanliness of barns, milking
- Manage regular routines of dairy calf sector, developing skill in feeding, housing, sanitation, parasite and disease control.
- Care for domestic farm animals, lawn mowing, lifting supplies and feed, general grounds work.
- Adhere to farm procedures for newborn calf management.
- Serve as vacation relief foreman and semi trailer spotter.
- Farm aid carrry trees to customers cars, drive a bobcat.
- Task include milking, parlor cleaning, feeding, calf care, and maternity pen
- Put in charge of feeding the goats, sheep, and occasionally the pigs.
- Perform courtesy tasks that include; locating specific items for customers and bagging groceries.
- Harvest vegetables for the farm's CSA program and gain hands-on experience in organic horticulture and farming.
- Operate various types of industrial equipment including, but not limit to, tractors combines, and augers.
- Learned about pasture management and rotational grazing practices with cows, calves and a flock of Jacob sheep.
- Work loading trucks, cleaning, and using heavy machinery, ie; loader, bobcat, and forklifts.
- Help around the farm with various responsibilities including cattle herding, planting crops, fixing and moving irrigation sprinklers.
- Operate and maintain heavy equipment including tractors, hay bines, balers, rakes, trailers, and vehicles.
Farm worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Farm Workers are proficient in Harvest, Mowing, and Farm Equipment. They’re also known for soft skills such as Dexterity, Listening skills, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Farm Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Harvest, 25%
Monitored and maintained crops to maximize product quality and quantity during harvest.
- Mowing, 11%
Cared for domestic farm animals, lawn mowing, lifting supplies and feed, general grounds work.
- Farm Equipment, 10%
Reduced maintenance costs by performing timely preventive maintenance on farm equipment.
- Farm Machinery, 7%
Operated precision agriculture farm machinery in planting and harvesting crops
- Farm Work, 5%
Conduct qualitative research using various design research methodologies to identify migrant farm worker needs.
- Beef Cattle, 3%
Attended beef cattle, broiler houses, Boer meat goats, performed maintenance on equipment, maintained livestock fencing.
Most farm workers use their skills in "harvest," "mowing," and "farm equipment" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential farm worker responsibilities here:
Dexterity. The most essential soft skill for a farm worker to carry out their responsibilities is dexterity. This skill is important for the role because "agricultural workers need excellent hand-eye coordination to harvest crops and operate farm machinery." Additionally, a farm worker resume shows how their duties depend on dexterity: "learned how to handle all farm equipment (tractors, forklifts, large trucks, cultivators, etc. )"
Listening skills. Many farm worker duties rely on listening skills. "agricultural workers must listen carefully to ensure that they understand instructions from farmers and other agricultural managers and supervisors.," so a farm worker will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways farm worker responsibilities rely on listening skills: "followed safety procedures and communicated with supervisor. "
Physical strength. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of farm workers is physical strength. This skill is critical to many everyday farm worker duties, as "agricultural workers must be strong enough to lift heavy objects, including tools and crops." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "experience using farm equipment physical strength from moving hay bails and other farm related items"
Mechanical skills. A big part of what farm workers do relies on "mechanical skills." You can see how essential it is to farm worker responsibilities because "agricultural workers must be able to operate complex farm machinery." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical farm worker tasks: "set up augers, bin sites, mechanical repairs, and service equipment. "
The three companies that hire the most farm workers are:
- Tyson Foods25 farm workers jobs
- Hormel Foods14 farm workers jobs
- Cobb-Vantress12 farm workers jobs
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Compare different farm workers
Farm worker vs. Cowboy
A ranch hand is a person who takes care of livestock animals in a ranch. Ranch hands perform the ranch husbandry job, which involves keeping them healthy, feeding them, and overseeing breeding. The primary duty they serve is to assist in the day-to-day operations in the ranch. They prepare livestock animals for slaughter or sale. They must have experience in cattle handling and/or animal husbandry. They should also be adaptable, enthusiastic, and know ranch equipment and maintenance.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, farm worker responsibilities require skills like "harvest," "mowing," "farm machinery," and "farm work." Meanwhile a typical cowboy has skills in areas such as "medical treatment," "customer service," "food preparation," and "general maintenance." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Cowboys tend to reach similar levels of education than farm workers. In fact, cowboys are 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Farm worker vs. Stable hand
Each career also uses different skills, according to real farm worker resumes. While farm worker responsibilities can utilize skills like "harvest," "farm machinery," "farm work," and "beef cattle," stable hands use skills like "facility maintenance," "general upkeep," "water," and "water buckets."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Stable hands tend to reach similar levels of education than farm workers. In fact, they're 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Farm worker vs. Ranch hand
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from farm worker resumes include skills like "beef cattle," "milking," "cdl," and "skid loader," whereas a ranch hand is more likely to list skills in "cattle ranch," "perform routine maintenance," "snakes," and "rakes. "
Ranch hands make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $28,651. On the other hand, farm workers are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $27,329.When it comes to education, ranch hands tend to earn similar degree levels compared to farm workers. In fact, they're 0.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Farm worker vs. Field hand
Types of farm worker
Updated January 8, 2025
