A fair salary.

[Jon Feetham]

What dose a sprayer operator on 30k a year do in the winter ??? count money ?

You laugh, but I know of one local to me that was on £30k a few years ago, so what is he on now? He is not involved in any other farm duties, and when there is no spraying to do he does not have to turn up, mind you, when there is spraying to do he is at it all the hours god sends!

 

[Hilly]

Hilly
Did you say farming is 'hardly a skilled labour''?????
You need to get out more. The arable and livestock guys are using the latest technology in a very fast moving industry!!!
chap that earns £26k per year. is driving £150k sprayer. Probably applying £200-300k per year in chemicals. Which if he mis applies will cause approx £200-300 k per year in lost yield/damage.
Every farm is different. some have huge acres and make little money. some are tiny and make good profit.
The one thing that is unique to all farms is the labour they employ. Every employee is different....

I sort of agree with you but on another hand he is just a driver, a bus driver would have just as much value on board /responsibility and the owner has the ultimate responsibility the worst that could happen to the employee is the sack. Farming is just semi skilled its not officially a trade or a profession, although I do think we should be classed as trades men but we are not and probably never will be.

 

[Brisel]

I think that you are selling yourself short. All my tractor drivers are craftsmen & are paid one AWO grade above that level although their pay rise is in line with everyone else's in the company now.

A farmer has to be the following:

Logistician
Agronomist
Vet
Accountant
HR manager
Engineer
Operator
Grain/stock/produce trader
Drain specialist
Lavatory attendant
Meteorologist!

A farm worker like the OP is:

Mechanic
Complex machinery operator
Mathematician for working out sprays/fert/seed
Self reliant
Self starter
Occasional supervisor
And many of the above too.

 

[Hilly]

I think that you are selling yourself short. All my tractor drivers are craftsmen & are paid one AWO grade above that level although their pay rise is in line with everyone else's in the company now.

A farmer has to be the following:

Logistician
Agronomist
Vet
Accountant
HR manager
Engineer
Operator
Grain/stock/produce trader
Drain specialist
Lavatory attendant
Meteorologist!

A farm worker like the OP is:

Mechanic
Complex machinery operator
Mathematician for working out sprays/fert/seed
Self reliant
Self starter
Occasional supervisor
And many of the above too.

Again I kind of agree, however I do my own VAT it dosent make me an Accountant, jack of all trades master of none.??

 

[FarmyStu]

One has to remember that the median full time salary in the UK is c. £25k/year. Ie half of people are above that line and half below it. So £26k puts you in the top half already.

I'm no statistics expert but are you sure about that? I don't mean (no pun intended!) the £25k figure but the statement that half of people earn more and half less. Wouldn't that figure be the mode and therefore quite a bit less?

 

[Goweresque]

I'm no statistics expert but are you sure about that? I don't mean (no pun intended!) the £25k figure but the statement that half of people earn more and half less. Wouldn't that figure be the mode and therefore quite a bit less?

Median is the middle person in the list. Ie if you put every full time employee in line in the UK and counted halfway along the line, the median wage would be what that middle person earned. The mode would be the most common value in the data set. I would hazard a guess that the modal UK income is less than the median, but that purely a guess without a great deal of thought or analysis.

 

[FarmyStu]

Median is the middle person in the list. Ie if you put every full time employee in line in the UK and counted halfway along the line, the median wage would be what that middle person earned. The mode would be the most common value in the data set. I would hazard a guess that the modal UK income is less than the median, but that purely a guess without a great deal of thought or analysis.

One has to remember that the median full time salary in the UK is c. £25k/year. Ie half of people are above that line and half below it. So £26k puts you in the top half already.

Just done a bit of checking and you are right. But although the median wage for all full time workers for the last full financial year is £26.5k, the figure for men only (surely more relevant to most farm workers, certainly to the OP) is £28.7k. Even more interesting for farm workers, given the enormous hours most do, is the fact that the median hourly rate for men, NOT including overtime is £13.27. How many farm workers come anywhere close?

 

[Thick Farmer]

How much would it cost to get a contractor to do all the spraying and cultivating on the farm? The OP's wages should be around 33% of that figure to allow the employer to run the kit and make some kind of profit.

If the contractor works out cheaper, then if I was the employer I know what I'd do!

 

[gone up the hill]

OP : Firstly do you actually think you can do all this work in peak periods.... as I think not ( unless you prepared to do 18 hour day's 7 days a week for weeks on end in peak periods when spraying/harvesting etc )

Secondly you say that their is a pool car/truck that you can use if available to get parts etc... so what happen's when one of the half dozen managers has gone off for a jaunt for the day with that and you need to pick up parts asap... if you use your own car/truck do they pay you the mileage etc for using it???

Thirdly : assuming you can do all this work..... ( and stay awake in the meantime ) then you need to be on 35/40k a year, anything less and your better off getting a HGV licence and doing that so you can have some sort of life as you wont see your family much for much of the year from the sounds of what they are asking/expecting you to do..

 

[Ben M]

For what its worth, my opinion is your worth 35k min salary without a house. And I think you can do all the jobs your describing, not sure why people are suggesting u cant? And I also dont understand why people are saying you need to do x amount of hours to earn x amount, its a salary ffs...you do the hrs required.

 

[GTB]

Different World !

 

[yorkie]

Interested on your thoughts! What would be a fair salary for someone on a 800ha farm expected to do an average of 40-60hrs a week 50-70 peak times. Weekends as required. No house or vehicle although poole car available if required to pick up parts/bits etc, basic company phone (no e.mail or net access). Roles including all veg and cereal spraying, most veg and cereal land prep, all cereal drilling, backup to veg drilling. Workshop repairs/servicing and organising/ordering all tractor and machinery parts, responsible for all h&s in workshop, make decisions when farm manager away. With following qualifications, 14 years on farm experience, clean full license, pa1-2, tele an counterbalance forklift tickets, ipaf trained ( cherry-pickers/man-platforms) abrasive wheels, welding, iosh health and safety, expired 360 ticket, + various others.

that just sounds like a normal job these days,most large farms I have worked on wage doesn't make any difference whether you are in there house or yours and was always told overtime makes up the wage,hrs you quote are nothing for some veg farms would have been nice to have a minimum week at what you quote,was doing 30grand 10 years ago on craftsmans rate and overtime but you get to stage where you need a life after 20 od years of them hours,there is plenty of Easton Europeans willing to do it for less,if you don't like things you just pack your bags

 

[smcapstick]

30k.

 

[gone up the hill]

For what its worth, my opinion is your worth 35k min salary without a house. And I think you can do all the jobs your describing, not sure why people are suggesting u cant? And I also dont understand why people are saying you need to do x amount of hours to earn x amount, its a salary ffs...you do the hrs required.

The amount of hours in the day is why people are thinking he cant do all that they want him to do... spraying is very weather/time dependent and what happens when he needs to be spraying but has three big urgent breakdowns on harvesting machinery to deal with..... you can only be in one place at once...

From what the OP posted in his first post all that will happen in the long term is that he will be working non stop for next to nothing and it will all end in tears ( or an early grave/massive stress for the OP )...

 

[Deerejon]

Lots of interesting answers.... Well our irrigation manager is in charge of 8-10 reels and booms, with 2 drivers during season. An this time of year he is servicing those machines. We are not like average farms, we are strictly tied to health an safety, risk assessments, swp's etc, an run a thorough winter service program to try to eliminate breakdowns in peak times. Yes it is hectic at times, an we do get it done. I was just interested what others thoughts were, I feel that now we are doing our own spraying I feel i'm worth a little more as more responsibilities bearing in mind more washouts required changing crops etc. Interesting your different views on pay ranging 15k difference.

 

[roscoe erf]

Where can my husband apply?

India Pakistan china think thats where all the manufacturing jobs ended up

 

[roscoe erf]

OP :can

Thirdly : assuming you can do all this work..... ( and stay awake in the meantime ) then you need to be on 35/40k a year, anything less and your better off getting a HGV licence and doing that so you can have some sort of life as you wont see your family much for much of the year from the sounds of what they are asking/expecting you to do..

and be prepared for a cut in wage

 

[Chae1]

OP : Firstly do you actually think you can do all this work in peak periods.... as I think not ( unless you prepared to do 18 hour day's 7 days a week for weeks on end in peak periods when spraying/harvesting etc )

Secondly you say that their is a pool car/truck that you can use if available to get parts etc... so what happen's when one of the half dozen managers has gone off for a jaunt for the day with that and you need to pick up parts asap... if you use your own car/truck do they pay you the mileage etc for using it???

Thirdly : assuming you can do all this work..... ( and stay awake in the meantime ) then you need to be on 35/40k a year, anything less and your better off getting a HGV licence and doing that so you can have some sort of life as you wont see your family much for much of the year from the sounds of what they are asking/expecting you to do..

OP : Firstly do you actually think you can do all this work in peak periods.... as I think not ( unless you prepared to do 18 hour day's 7 days a week for weeks on end in peak periods when spraying/harvesting etc )

Secondly you say that their is a pool car/truck that you can use if available to get parts etc... so what happen's when one of the half dozen managers has gone off for a jaunt for the day with that and you need to pick up parts asap... if you use your own car/truck do they pay you the mileage etc for using it???

Thirdly : assuming you can do all this work..... ( and stay awake in the meantime ) then you need to be on 35/40k a year, anything less and your better off getting a HGV licence and doing that so you can have some sort of life as you wont see your family much for much of the year from the sounds of what they are asking/expecting you to do..

Do you really think driving an hgv better lifestyle!? I used to think the same but have spoken to a few who have come back to farms. There work isnt seasonal like farm work. Away at 6 home at 8 if you get home. All year round.

 

[Brisel]

Most HGV drivers for bigger firms live out all week. Leave home in the wee small hours of Monday morning & sometimes not home again until mid Saturday. The grass ain't greener on the other side...

 

[GTB]

Most HGV drivers for bigger firms live out all week. Leave home in the wee small hours of Monday morning & sometimes not home again until mid Saturday. The grass ain't greener on the other side...

I agree, but I know a few farmers sons who do agency driving or just the odd day here and there and they get home most nights. £100 per day minimum