Vegetable Grower
What the work is
Plans, organises, controls, coordinates and performs farming, greenhouse and market garden operations to grow vegetables.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Plans and coordinates the production and marketing of vegetable crops from seed selection and soil preparation to harvest, taking into account environmental and market factors
- Organises vegetable farming operations and routines, such as collecting, storing, grading and packaging vegetables
- Plans and coordinates the sale, purchase and dispatch of vegetables
- Directs and oversees general farming activities to maintain vegetable crop health by managing biosecurity and other risks, and controlling pests and weeds
- Plans and oversees the provisions and maintenance of vegetable farming infrastructure, such as equipment, machinery, sheds, and water supply systems and irrigation systems
- Oversees data collection and analysis, and vegetable farm technology systems
- Manages business capital, including budgeting, taxation, debt and loan management for a vegetable farm
- May select and train vegetable farm staff and contractors
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional stone fruit orchard and packing shed in a river valley during peak harvest. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- The first ripe fruit of the season is perfect and a buyer asks for more
- A busy picking day where the crew is in a good rhythm and the fruit is clean
- You get through a frost night without losing the crop
Hard days
- A late frost or hailstorm threatens months of work in a single night
- Not enough pickers when the fruit is ripe, and it will not wait
- A buyer rejects a load and you have to work out why while the next truck is waiting
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 151236, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.