Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse

Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse 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. The role reports a median annual salary of $35,690 in the US and is projected to decline by 3% over the next decade. Entry typically requires a No formal educational credential, and shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include Speaking, Operations Monitoring, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Operation and Control.

Pay in India (occupation group)

No official India pay figure for this career: it falls in more than one occupation group, and the Government of India's labour survey (PLFS) publishes pay only by occupation group.

Top skills

Knowledge you'll build

• Biology
• Food Production
• Mechanical
• Administration and Management
• Chemistry
• Mathematics
• English Language
• Production and Processing

A day in the life

You start at first light, when it is still cool, checking the irrigation lines and adjusting the valves so each field or greenhouse bed gets the right amount of water. By mid-morning you are picking ripe vegetables and fruit by hand, placing them gently in crates so they do not bruise. When the seasonal helpers arrive, you show them what to pick and how, and keep an eye on their work. After lunch you move to the potting shed, transplanting seedlings into pots and labelling them for sale. You then help sort and grade the harvest, setting aside damaged produce and moving the best into cold storage. Late in the afternoon you grease and repair a tractor attachment that has been giving trouble. Before leaving you write down what was sprayed, what was picked and what was used, so the records stay accurate. The work is physically hard and depends on the weather, but watching crops you tended grow and ripen is deeply satisfying.

Illustrative: one typical day, written from the O*NET task statements for this occupation. Real days vary by employer and seniority.

What you'd actually do

• 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.

Tools & technology you'd use

Frequently asked questions