Cotton Farm Worker
A cotton farm worker performs manual and semi-skilled labour on cotton farms across Australia, primarily in Queensland and New South Wales. They prepare land, plant cotton seeds, apply pesticides and fertilisers, monitor crop health, operate farm machinery, and harvest cotton at seasonal peaks.
What this job is
A cotton farm worker performs manual and semi-skilled labour on cotton farms across Australia, primarily in Queensland and New South Wales. They prepare land, plant cotton seeds, apply pesticides and fertilisers, monitor crop health, operate farm machinery, and harvest cotton at seasonal peaks. The role requires knowledge of cotton agronomy, machinery operation, and compliance with agricultural safety and chemical handling regulations.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 78.1% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Prepare soil by ploughing, cultivating, and levelling fields to Australian farm standards. Plant cotton seeds using mechanical planters and adjust spacing and depth settings. Apply herbicides, insecticides, and fertilisers using boom sprayers and hand-held equipment in accordance with product labels and chemical safety data sheets. Monitor crop growth stages and identify pest infestations, fungal diseases, and nutrient deficiencies. Operate tractors, cotton pickers, and baling equipment during harvest season. Calibrate spray equipment and pesticide dispensers to ensure correct application rates. Maintain irrigation systems including checking water flow, repairing hoses, and adjusting furrow channels. Record crop inputs, pesticide applications, and yield data in farm records or digital systems.
Who does this now
About 240 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll be handling pesticides and herbicides regularly, which means chemical exposure risk and strict compliance requirements. The work is heavily seasonal with intense harvest periods followed by quieter months, making year-round income unreliable. Pay caps out quickly without moving into management, and mechanisation may keep reducing the number of manual labour roles.
Where the jobs are
Work is on-farm and not remote. Regional towns near cotton growing areas offer the most opportunities, though seasonal work means many farms hire temporary workers during harvest.
Skills
- Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Active Listening
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Inventory Tracking
- Multitasking
- Quality Assurance and Checking
- Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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