Casual Fruit Picker, What to Know
In Australia there are many Fruit Farms employing a high volume of casual summer Fruit Pickers. Many of these staff members are tourists and travellers. Work in this area has decreased because of the El Nino drought in the past few years, however should pick up again now that meteorologists believe that we can expect more rain in the coming years.
Fruit pickers, as the name suggests, pick fruit from plantations and orchids and pack them ready to be sold to retail and independent fruit sellers. Fruit pickers need to be able to operate machinery, pick out ripe fruit, be able to do repetitive manual work and often be able to operate tractors and forklifts.
Fruit Pickers need to have no significant skin allergies as fruit picking in an environment that involves a lot of dirt, insects, pesticides and plants. They also need to work quickly and efficiently in order to collect enough fruit by a specific time. Some properties offer accommodation however sometimes accommodation and transport needs to be pre-arranged.
For anyone wanting to enter this area permanently or with the intention of career progression to orchid owner or agricultural expert, courses such as horticulture or Rural operations will help expand the knowledge base and improve ones competitive edge.
This work is not highly paid thus the reason why it attracts tourists and casual workers. A full time worker may earn around $36K, but for those working only over the summer period, expected earnings are around $8500.
Search for Fruit Picking opportunities and more information about the field, here!