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Career

Farm Labor Contractors

Typical education: High school diplomaHigh pressure Bright Outlook

What they do

Recruit and hire seasonal or temporary agricultural laborers. May transport, house, and provide meals for workers.

Kinds of work

  • Enterprising: Leading, persuading, selling and starting new projects or businesses.
  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.

High pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $58,460 Median per year · $28.11/hr Most earn $30,930–$84,050

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Employ foremen to deal directly with workers when recruiting, hiring, instructing, assigning tasks, and enforcing work rules.
  • Furnish tools for employee use.
  • Recruit and hire agricultural workers.
  • Pay wages of contracted farm laborers.
  • Direct and transport workers to appropriate work sites.
  • Provide food, drinking water, and field sanitation facilities to contracted workers.

Job outlook

Bright Outlook Rapid Growth

United States
7% more jobs by 2035, faster than average · about 100 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Crop production68.4%
  • Support activities for agriculture and forestry29.4%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 1 to 2 years

Some people start through an apprenticeship: paid training on the job, often with classes. Search apprenticeships on Apprenticeship.gov (opens in a new tab) ↗

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: High school diplomaExperience before this job: 1 to 2 years

Farm labor contractors usually aren't hired straight out of school. Most people first work 1 to 2 years in farm work, learning crops, schedules, and how crews operate, before they take on recruiting and hiring.

  1. High school diploma

    4 years

    Finishing high school gives you the basic education this career expects and keeps you eligible for entry-level farm jobs.

  2. Farmworker

    1-2 years

    Working on a farm or crew teaches you how seasonal work runs, what workers need, and how to keep a crew organized, which is the experience employers look for.

  3. Farm Labor Contractor

    Ongoing

    You recruit, hire, and schedule seasonal workers, and you may arrange transportation, housing, and meals for them.

Where it can lead

  1. First-Line Supervisor of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers

    2-4 years of experience first

    You move from hiring crews to directly supervising daily farm or field work, setting tasks, checking quality, and training workers; a certificate or apprenticeship is common in this role.

  2. General Operations Manager

    2-4 years of experience first

    You take on wider responsibility for running a business or operation, including budgets, staffing, and planning across several areas, which usually requires proven leadership and management experience.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take math and a business or economics classBasic math helps with tracking hours and payroll, and business classes teach how a labor operation is run.
  • Work a summer or part-time farm jobSeasonal farm work shows you how crews function and gives you the first-hand experience this career relies on.
  • Join FFA or a 4-H clubThese groups build leadership, teamwork, and agricultural knowledge, and they're common in many towns.
  • Practice speaking with adults and handling responsibilityContractors deal with workers, growers, and families, so confident communication and reliability matter from the start.
  • Learn a second language if you canMany agricultural crews speak more than one language, and being able to communicate directly with workers is a real advantage.

In college

  • Take courses in agriculture, business, or human resourcesAgronomy or farm management builds knowledge of crops and operations, while HR or business courses help with hiring and employment rules.
  • Hold a campus or seasonal job involving a teamLeading or coordinating a group shows you can organize people, which is central to managing a crew.
  • Get an internship with a farm, agricultural business, or staffing companyReal work with an operation that hires seasonal labor gives you insight into recruiting, scheduling, and worker needs.
  • Join an agricultural or business student organizationClubs like these build networking contacts and leadership experience that can help you find contractor or supervisor jobs later.
  • Learn about farm labor rules and worker safetyKnowing wage, housing, transportation, and safety requirements early helps you run a compliant and responsible operation.

Tips for getting started

  • Get experience on different farms or crops so you understand the seasonal rhythm and can speak to several kinds of work when you apply for contractor jobs.
  • Learn the basics of employment rules, like recordkeeping, pay schedules, and worker safety, since contractors are responsible for how they hire and treat their crews.
  • Build people skills now. Recruiting and managing workers depends on being reliable, fair, and good at communicating in more than one language if your crews need it.

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

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