Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Farm, Nursery, or Greenhouse Worker propagates, cultivates and harvests plants, primarily flowers, trees, shrubs and sod, and other crops such as mushrooms that are grown in greenhouses, or grows and harvests farm crops such as grain, fruit or vegetables. Operates and maintains equipment used to grow and harvest plants and crops. Cares for animals including dairy cows or chickens, pigs or other animals raised for meat.
Job Outlook
There were 794 Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 28939 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker industry, which includes the Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $34,448.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $32,163.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $28,403.
Education and Experience
Posted Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 3.34% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 5.71% |
| Master's Degree | 0.84% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.38% |
| Other | 25.5% |
Posted Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 77.39% |
| 3 to 5 years | 20.04% |
| 6 to 8 years | 1.66% |
| 9+ years | 0.91% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Lifting Ability (25.76%)
- Communication (21.08%)
- Operations (14.26%)
- Management (13.97%)
- Detail Oriented (11.88%)
- Loading And Unloading (9.2%)
- Sanitation (8.33%)
- Leadership (7.63%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (7.44%)
- Customer Service (7.19%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Irrigation (Landscaping And Agriculture) (48.03%)
- Transplanting (13.6%)
- Farm Equipment (21.59%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Mowing (14.16%)
- Cannabis (14.28%)
- Pruning (17.26%)
- Weed Control (13.08%)
- Machinery (14.26%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Fertilizer Application (7.32%)
- Tillage (8.71%)
- Cannabis Cultivation (4.73%)
- Agricultural Equipment (8.76%)
- Farming (15.38%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Cannabis Cultivation (39.38%)
- Fertilizer Application (60.93%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Farm Worker
- Irrigation Technician
- Farm Hand
- Agricultural Equipment Operator
- Conservation Technician
- Ranch Hand
- Plant Worker
- Greenhouse Worker
- Farm Equipment Operator
- Farm Laborer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Nursery / Greenhouse Manager
- Farm / Ranch Manager
- Food and Agricultural Scientist / Technologist
- Food / Agricultural Technician
- Landscaping / Grounds Supervisor
- Soil / Plant Scientist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Farm / Nursery / Greenhouse Worker jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Pilgrim's Pride (636)
- Brightview (457)
- State of Michigan (427)
- Tyson Foods (335)
- GPAC (334)
- Smithfield Foods (251)
- Hansen Agri-PLACEMENT (217)
- Ianthus Capital Holdings (208)
- Agricruit LTD (155)
- Idaho Department of Labor (143)
North Carolina
- Smithfield Foods (142)
- Murphy Family Ventures (40)
- Pilgrim's Pride (31)
- Tyson Foods (19)
- Applebee's (14)
- Select Genetics (10)
- Wayne-Sanderson Farms (8)
- Mountaire Farms (8)
- Goodwill (8)
- North Carolina State University (8)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Agricultural Science Undergraduate Degrees
- General Horticulture Undergraduate Certificates
- Horticultural Science Graduate Certificates
- Horticultural Science Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.