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Farmers have a really important job. They produce crops, lifestock and dairy products. Sometimes it's just enough to feed their own families, but for career farmers they feed the entire world.

Generally, farmers get by with just a high school diploma, but some get a higher education to learn more about the career. Most of the time farmers are working outside, but there are times where you'll catch them in an office. You can't necessarily coordinate a sale hoeing a row.

What Does a Farmer Do

There are certain skills that many farmers 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 analytical skills, mechanical skills and physical strength.

Learn more about what a Farmer does

How To Become a Farmer

If you're interested in becoming a farmer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 39.6% of farmers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.0% of farmers have master's degrees. Even though some farmers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Career Path For a Farmer

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a farmer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as truck driver, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title service manager.

Farmer

Average Salary for a Farmer

Farmers in America make an average salary of $30,845 per year or $15 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $71,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $13,000 per year.
Average Farmer Salary
$30,845 Yearly
$14.83 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Farmer

There are several types of farmer, including:

Farm Worker

Role:

If you want to be a Farm Worker, you will be employed for labor in agriculture, including harvesting. You will maintain crops such as vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts or look after livestock, and you will work under the supervision of an agricultural manager and receive on-the-job training. You can work on farms of all sizes, from small family farms to large industrial agriculture operations.

You will be responsible for maintaining ditches pipes and pumps, direct and monitoring work crews' activities, operating and service farm machinery, spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control environmental pests, feed livestock, and cleaning and disinfecting the yards. You need to be stable, persistent, genuine, practical, and thrifty. You need to like tasks that are physical, athletic, or mechanical. You must also be communicative and able to follow orders. You will make a salary of $26,000 per year.
  • Average Salary: $26,598
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Farm Labour

Role:

Farm laborers are strong and hard workers who mostly learn new skills while on the field. They are also known as agricultural workers. Apart from inspecting and harvesting crops, farm laborers maintain the pipes and pumps and irrigate soil on the farm. Operating and servicing farm machinery and tools and maintaining the crops in different seasons are some other duties of these workers. Looking after farm animals and keeping them healthy is also a part of their job.

A high school degree is often enough to get into this profession. Farm laborers have knowledge of farm equipment, tractor-trailer, daily operations, CDL, beef cattle, livestock and animal care, front end loader, and manual labor. Normally, they also know how to drive trucks, operate irrigation systems, and work on mechanical equipment.

Despite a lot of hard work, farm laborers averagely earn about $12 an hour and make less than $25,000 per year. The career is slowly growing in the US.
  • Average Salary: $26,720
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Farmer Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active farmer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where farmers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Farmer Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Texas18$27,176
2Montana17$23,619
3Washington11$26,278
4Nebraska9$28,178
5Georgia9$21,955
6California8$29,253
7Illinois6$29,597
8Oregon6$28,313
9Idaho5$26,375
10Minnesota4$30,569
11Utah4$28,253
12Missouri4$28,306
13Florida4$27,377
14Oklahoma3$28,095
15Arkansas3$27,219
16Colorado3$28,107
17Ohio3$26,625
18Kentucky3$23,954
19Pennsylvania2$39,170
20New York2$42,203
21Michigan2$34,022
22Indiana2$27,290
23Nevada2$22,385
24Wisconsin2$23,222
25Iowa1$28,644
26Kansas1$28,303
27Mississippi1$27,658
28Virginia1$29,981
29New Mexico1$27,561
30Maryland1$26,262
31New Jersey0$42,771
32Maine0$39,209
33Rhode Island0$35,401
34Connecticut0$35,043
35New Hampshire0$34,506
36Massachusetts0$35,205
37Vermont0$32,497
38West Virginia0$30,043
39North Dakota0$29,686
40Alabama0$27,612
41Wyoming0$28,022
42North Carolina0$27,917
43Arizona0$28,725
44Delaware0$28,559
45Alaska0$27,390
46Hawaii0$25,118
47South Carolina0$23,327
48South Dakota0$24,060
49Tennessee0$22,247
50Louisiana0$21,470

Farmer Education

Farmer Majors

16.8 %
6.4 %

Farmer Degrees

Bachelors

39.6 %

High School Diploma

28.4 %

Associate

17.2 %

Top Skills For a Farmer

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, 12.6% of farmers listed beef cattle on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and mechanical skills are important as well.

  • Beef Cattle, 12.6%
  • Farm Work, 7.8%
  • Farm Machinery, 6.3%
  • Milking, 5.9%
  • Mowing, 5.8%
  • Other Skills, 61.6%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Farmer Resume templates

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

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Farmer diversity

Farmer Gender Distribution

Male
Male
74%
Female
Female
26%

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

  • Among farmers, 26.4% of them are women, while 73.6% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among farmers is White, which makes up 86.4% of all farmers.

  • The most common foreign language among farmers is Spanish at 50.4%.

Online Courses For Farmer That You May Like

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Best States For a Farmer

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a farmer. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania. Farmers make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $42,771. Whereas in New York and Maine, they would average $42,203 and $39,209, respectively. While farmers would only make an average of $39,170 in Pennsylvania, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Pennsylvania

Total Farmer Jobs: 2
Highest 10% Earn:
$79,000
Location Quotient:
0.36

2. New Jersey

Total Farmer Jobs: 0
Highest 10% Earn:
$87,000
Location Quotient:
0

3. New York

Total Farmer Jobs: 2
Highest 10% Earn:
$85,000
Location Quotient:
0.32
Full List Of Best States For Farmers

How Do Farmers Rate Their Jobs?

5/5

Based On 3 Ratings

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Farmer Reviews

5.0
Jun 2022
Pros

I think farmers are the most good care taker of plants as they are one of the living things which needs to be taken under consideration for their good living because they are the good source of food and living for other living things.

Cons

There’s nothing I dont like about farmers because they are so close to nature and loves nature more than others and are so grateful for that


5.0
Aug 2020
Pros

Fruit Picker. I think that's what i would love and give my best in that area. I am young and i thing that's the right section where young people like me work in that area would be more than okay for me.

Cons

I love doing every thing that is good for my self and the organization as a whole. I don't like to cheat when my boss is not around and i don't like doing unethical thing that will have a negative impact on my life and organisation as a whole too.


5.0
Jul 2019
Pros

Working with Creation.

Cons

hours worked, time spent with family can cause conflict.


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Top Farmer Employers

Most Common Employers For Farmer

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Dean and$86,775$41.723
2Washington State University$50,718$24.385
3Gibson$39,083$18.792
4Morris$38,905$18.703
5Farmers Insurance$34,510$16.595
6Texas Department of Transportation$32,380$15.576
7SunFlower$30,495$14.663
8Homes.com$28,169$13.549
9Wards$28,052$13.493
10Wilson Farm$27,643$13.293

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