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. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Farm Laborer; Farmer; Field Irrigation Worker; Gardener; Greenhouse Worker; Grower; Harvester; Nursery Worker; Orchard Worker; Picker

Tasks

• 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.
• Set up and operate irrigation equipment.
• Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.
• Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.
• Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.
• Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.
• Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.

Skills

• Speaking

Abilities

• Trunk Strength
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Control Precision
• Manual Dexterity
• Multilimb Coordination
• Extent Flexibility
• Finger Dexterity
• Static Strength
• Rate Control
• Dynamic Strength
• Stamina
• Near Vision
• Explosive Strength
• Oral Expression
• Reaction Time
• Oral Comprehension
• Gross Body Coordination
• Far Vision
• Problem Sensitivity
• Deductive Reasoning
• Gross Body Equilibrium
• Speech Recognition
• Speech Clarity