Post job

Farmer vs grower

The differences between farmers and growers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a grower has an average salary of $36,332, which is higher than the $30,845 average annual salary of a farmer.

The top three skills for a farmer include beef cattle, farm work and farm machinery. The most important skills for a grower are harvest, cleanliness, and pesticide applications.

Farmer vs grower overview

FarmerGrower
Yearly salary$30,845$36,332
Hourly rate$14.83$17.47
Growth rate-3%1%
Number of jobs500188
Job satisfaction53
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 40%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age4840
Years of experience--

What does a farmer do?

A farmer, also known as an agriculturer, is a person deeply involved in agriculture, raises living organisms for food, produces organic matter, or unprocessed materials for human and animal consumption. There are several types of farmers from those who raise animals, grow crops, and other livestock. At most, due to the advanced economy, most of them are farm owners, but there are still some who work as laborers on land owned by others. Besides having a general knowledge of planting, breeding, and harvesting, they should also need to be familiar with mechanics in order to help them keep their equipment working and running.

What does a grower do?

Growers monitor crop development and substandard plant removal to take care of quality standards. They maintain records of growing techniques and products to be used for review to identify trends and to forecast future space needs. Growers maintain the company's horticultural product by growing and caring to produce retail sales. They apply technical procedures, timing, and metering devices that control frequency, and amount and type of nutrient applications such as regulating the humidity, ventilation, and temperature and light. Additionally, they perform the dispensing of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides.

Farmer vs grower salary

Farmers and growers have different pay scales, as shown below.

FarmerGrower
Average salary$30,845$36,332
Salary rangeBetween $13,000 And $71,000Between $21,000 And $61,000
Highest paying CityKearny, NJAnchorage, AK
Highest paying stateNew JerseyAlaska
Best paying companyL'OréalCornell University
Best paying industryManufacturingManufacturing

Differences between farmer and grower education

There are a few differences between a farmer and a grower in terms of educational background:

FarmerGrower
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 40%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorBusinessPlant Sciences
Most common college--

Farmer vs grower demographics

Here are the differences between farmers' and growers' demographics:

FarmerGrower
Average age4840
Gender ratioMale, 73.6% Female, 26.4%Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 1.1% Unknown, 2.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 1.5% White, 86.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 3.0% Hispanic or Latino, 22.9% Asian, 1.8% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage4%3%

Differences between farmer and grower duties and responsibilities

Farmer example responsibilities.

  • Manage and conduct the baling, hauling, advertising, and selling of 2000 straw square bales a year from 2002-2006.
  • Work on dairy farm and do everything from milking cows to working on equipment.
  • Can operate excellent with or without GPS
  • Work on hydroponic production of tomato crops.
  • Discuss and help with farm growth CSA expansion.
  • bush hogging baling hay planting seed cow castration and immunization
  • Show more

Grower example responsibilities.

  • Manage controlled environments and greenhouses for research on corn, soy, and wheat plants.
  • Provide back-up for lab crew with assisting in PCR, DNA extraction, seed plating and stocking solutions.
  • Work on plants, clone, up pot, feed, water.
  • Propagate cannabis plants from seed and clone.
  • Supervise the safety and cleanliness of the work environment.
  • Create hanging baskets and planters for sales and special orders.
  • Show more

Farmer vs grower skills

Common farmer skills
  • Beef Cattle, 13%
  • Farm Work, 8%
  • Farm Machinery, 6%
  • Milking, 6%
  • Mowing, 6%
  • Farm Animals, 5%
Common grower skills
  • Harvest, 25%
  • Cleanliness, 12%
  • Pesticide Applications, 7%
  • Marijuana, 6%
  • Greenhouse Environment, 6%
  • IPM, 6%

Browse executive management jobs