Inexperienced farm worker wage

[Strangelybrown]

Hello,

I am looking for my first farm worker job to kickstart my career. Obviously, I have no farming experience but I'm willing to learn and graft. What kind of wage/salary could I expect to earn?

 

[Strangelybrown]

Apologies, I should add that I meet the NLW age and I'm based in the West Mids

 

[steveR]

Hello,

I am looking for my first farm worker job to kickstart my career. Obviously, I have no farming experience but I'm willing to learn and graft. What kind of wage/salary could I expect to earn?

Have you thought about Kickstart, or whatever it is called?

Speak to a local Ag college about their training options and they will often help with a Placement if you don't have one handy to you.

Best of luck anyway. Good to hear some still want to get into farming.

 

[Brisel]

There used to be a minimum wage structure for agriculture that was abolished when the national minimum wage was introduced. Pay rates vary with responsibility and sector, and what you can negotiate, but I wouldn't be looking at much over NLW just yet.

As above, agricultural colleges can help you get started. There are still apprenticeships available. The pay for these is very poor but it will get you a better wage at the end of it.

 

[Cowmansam]

Just be careful who you work for obviously expect to start near minimum as your likely to be costing you employer at first until they have you trained up to there standards but some will just keep you at a crap wage I started at 16 on 3.80 an hour which was below minimum and got a small pay rise every couple of months for the first couple years as and when he felt i was coming in and improving conversely friend of mine started at minimum and was still on it 2 years later

 

[Strangelybrown]

Have you thought about Kickstart, or whatever it is called?

Speak to a local Ag college about their training options and they will often help with a Placement if you don't have one handy to you.

Best of luck anyway. Good to hear some still want to get into farming.

Just looked into Kickstart. Unfortunately, I'm above the cut-off age (I'm 26). Thank you for the suggestion though!

 

[Strangelybrown]

There used to be a minimum wage structure for agriculture that was abolished when the national minimum wage was introduced. Pay rates vary with responsibility and sector, and what you can negotiate, but I wouldn't be looking at much over NLW just yet.

As above, agricultural colleges can help you get started. There are still apprenticeships available. The pay for these is very poor but it will get you a better wage at the end of it.

If I was a bit younger and didn't have responsibilities then an apprenticeship would be ideal. However, having a family to support means it wouldn't be viable for me to earn apprentice wages for any length of time. Again, thank you for your input!

 

[Scholsey]

what sort of jobs have you been doing up til now?

 

[Brisel]

If I was a bit younger and didn't have responsibilities then an apprenticeship would be ideal. However, having a family to support means it wouldn't be viable for me to earn apprentice wages for any length of time. Again, thank you for your input!

Sorry. When you said about kickstarting your career, I made the assumption that you were younger than that. My bad.

 

[Strangelybrown]

what sort of jobs have you been doing up til now?

Some office work, pub jobs. Just about to finish a psych degree

 

[nick...]

Good luck with your quest for work and I hope you get a good wage and not taken advantage off.
nick...

 

[betweenthelines]

Some office work, pub jobs. Just about to finish a psych degree

Probably more literate and numerate than lots of farmers

 

[Scholsey]

Probably more literate and numerate than lots of farmers

probably not a great thing to mention when he is approaching farmers for a job.

Some office work, pub jobs. Just about to finish a psych degree

You’ll be surprised on what skills you have from previous jobs could be transferred to agriculture, are you into DIY, tinkering with cars etc, practical interests such as these would help, example, lad doing apprenticeship here is keen on field sports etc and have discovered he is a dab hand with moletraps which is a really handy skill to have on a dairy farm!

 

[kiwi pom]

Whatever minimum wage is I would have thought.
If you get experience and are worth hiring it should go up after a year or so.
You might need to bounce around jobs for a while to get a feel for the industry and find a good boss/fit.

What sort of farming are you interested in?

 

[steveR]

Just looked into Kickstart. Unfortunately, I'm above the cut-off age (I'm 26). Thank you for the suggestion though!

Ag college then.

26 should not be a barrier, it's not as if you are a Pensionable age!!

 

[neilo]

If I was a bit younger and didn't have responsibilities then an apprenticeship would be ideal. However, having a family to support means it wouldn't be viable for me to earn apprentice wages for any length of time. Again, thank you for your input!

When you employ an apprentice (in Wales anyway) you sign to say that you will pay at least the minimum wage.
Obviously min wage for you would be higher than that for a 16 year old, so I wouldn’t dismiss the idea without investigating further.

 

[Strangelybrown]

Whatever minimum wage is I would have thought.
If you get experience and are worth hiring it should go up after a year or so.
You might need to bounce around jobs for a while to get a feel for the industry and find a good boss/fit.

What sort of farming are you interested in?

Livestock preferably but I'd be willing to try my hand at most things to get that initial bit of experience

 

[Strangelybrown]

When you employ an apprentice (in Wales anyway) you sign to say that you will pay at least the minimum wage.
Obviously min wage for you would be higher than that for a 16 year old, so I wouldn’t dismiss the idea without investigating further.

Just had a further look into it and it says 'Apprentices who are under 19, or who are 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship, will be paid a minimum of £4.15 per hour'. So I'd still be paid £4.15 an hour for the first year (unless the employer wanted to offer more)

 

[steveR]

Where are you located @Strangelybrown ?

Might be useful for any lurkers.

 

[Strangelybrown]

South Staffs. I've posted an ad on the jobs page too