Vegetable Farm Worker

A vegetable farm worker performs routine manual labour on vegetable farms across Australia, including planting, weeding, harvesting, and packing produce. They operate under the supervision of farm managers or senior workers and follow farm protocols for crop management, food safety, and workplace health and safety. The role is seasonal and may involve outdoor work in various climatic conditions.

Plant seedlings and seeds in rows or beds using hand tools such as spades, hoes, and dibbers. Hand-harvest vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, beans, and root vegetables at appropriate maturity stages. Weed crops manually using hand tools or by pulling to reduce competition for nutrients and water. Irrigate crops using hoses, sprinkler systems, or furrow methods according to farm schedules and soil moisture requirements. Apply fertilisers and approved pesticides to crops following farm protocols and product label instructions. Sort and grade harvested vegetables by size, quality, and ripeness for market or processing. Pack vegetables into crates, bins, or packaging materials ready for transport to markets or distribution centres. Maintain farm equipment such as hoes, forks, and hand tools by cleaning and basic maintenance.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5). 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 work is heavily seasonal, so you'll face long gaps between harvest periods with no guaranteed income. Your body takes a beating from repetitive bending, lifting, and kneeling in all weather. Pay is modest and won't improve much without moving into farm management. Automation is slowly replacing hand-harvesting.

Seasonal work follows crop calendars, not regional demand patterns.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Apply health and safety when pickingcore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Carry picking work aidscore
• Execute fertilisationcore
• Harvest cropcore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Load picked fruits and vegetablescore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Active Listening
• Agronomy
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Execute disease and pest control activities
• Fertilisation principles
• Goods Receipt Processing
• Grow plants
• Integrated pest management
• Maintain storage facilities
• Manage environmental impact
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Stock Counting and Stocktake
• Supplier Communication

• 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.

Where our numbers come from.

What Vegetable Farm Worker move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026