Farm Jobs in Australia

Farm Jobs Australia

If you are looking for work in regional Australia to secure your second-year visa, what’s better than harvesting or farm jobs? Not only are they both excellent ways of meeting friends, enhancing your experience in Australia, and learning new tasks, but harvesting and farm jobs can also help you extend your working holiday visa in Australia for a second year. Read on to find out more.

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Fruit picking jobs in regional Australia

Want to get out and experience the real regional Australia, and earn some money simultaneously? Then farming jobs could be for you! A typical day in farming jobs on the “harvest trail” could see you picking fruit and vegetables, packing, pruning, trimming, thinning flowers and bunches, and doing other odd jobs around a farm. Work could include climbing ladders, standing, kneeling, or sitting while moving around the crop. Farming work can be repetitive and tiring; produce is often placed in buckets, tubs, or lugs. It can be cut, clipped, picked, and put into a bag strapped to the shoulders.

Here’s what Vicki had to say about her farm work in Australia

Farm jobs can be rewarding. “It’s a pretty scary and daunting experience being in a different country on your own at 21”, wrote Vicki, of her recent visit to Australia. “I would love to thank the call centre staff (at the National Harvest Labour Information Service) for all their help and direction on finding me a seasonal work vacancy”.

Vicki’s experience is common for backpackers who have made contact with the friendly call centre staff of the National Harvest Labour Information Service. It is a one-stop shop when you are looking for farm jobs while travelling around this vast continent. Call centre staff have an excellent knowledge of the different growing regions throughout Australia,  and they can direct farm workers towards a place to stay and places of interest in the area you are visiting. “The centre staff gave me so much help and advice, despite searching for weeks through other companies and farmers, who were, in comparison, no help! The staff even advised me on how to sort out my forms for my second-year working holiday visa from the UK, giving me step-by-step instructions over the phone on how to retain the correct applications online”, claims Vicki.

Where to Find Backpacker Farm Work in NSW 🌾

Accommodation for farm jobs in Australia

Securing work is easier for the traveller with their transport and accommodation, but both may be available at different locations, particularly during peak harvest times. Some farm jobs provide on-farm accommodation, and some have also been known to dish up great food! Getting to each area at the right time is crucial. Being too early or too late can mean limited work and money, so it is essential to contact the National Harvest Labour Information Service before moving to a harvest area to look for farm jobs.

Stories and Tips: Farm Work Opportunities Across Australia

Cost of Accommodation: average rates as of 4th July, 2024

1. Farm-provided Accommodation:
   • Often subsidised or free.
   • Typically, it ranges from subsidised to $150 per week, depending on the location and amenities.
2. Hostels:
   • Dormitory beds: $20 to $40 per night.
   • Private rooms: $60 to $120 per night.
3. Shared Rentals:
   • Renting a shared house or apartment room: $100 to $300 per week.
4. Campsites and Caravan Parks:
   • Tent sites: $10 to $30 per night.
   • Caravan sites: $20 to $50 per night.
5. Other Considerations:
   • Rural and remote areas might have fewer options, leading to higher costs.
   • Some accommodations might include meals, laundry facilities, or transport to the farm, affecting overall costs.

What are the pay rates and hours for farm jobs in Australia?

Pay rates and working conditions can vary from crop to crop and may include:
• Wages paid on a 40-hour weekly basis
• Casual work is paid hourly
• Piecework paid on a per unit harvested basis
• Negotiation agreed on a start-to-finish basis

During peak harvest periods, you can be expected to work up to six days a week, and there is no doubt that it can be tough, back-breaking work with no protection from the outside elements.

Australian Tax File Numbers

Before you can get started, you must get yourself an Australian Tax File Number (TFN): like any job in Australia, you need one of these. While taxes vary because of personal pay arrangements, you must supply your TFN; otherwise, you’re automatically taxed at the highest rate, which is a very high 45 cents in the dollar. Grab one from the Australian Taxation Office via their website www.ato.gov.au.

Also, if you are visiting Australia and want to work, you’ll need a current and appropriate Working Visa. Get some advice from the Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs. For online service, visit the website www.immi.gov.au.

Harvest Trail

Following a “Harvest Trail” to find farm jobs can be a great adventure by yourself, as a couple, or with friends. It can be anything you want it to be. Search for short-haul flights close to your home base, or a long journey that can take a year to travel and work in Australia. You can find farm jobs wherever you are and whatever the season, but first, contact us before moving on. Please use the FREECALL 1800 062 332 to reach our farm work Call Centre staff.

Follow these steps and you too will have an experience like Vicki, who left these parting words: “Thank you NHLIS staff, you are a credit to your team and I will be recommending the company to other friends that come to Australia on Working Holiday Visas”.

Read Omar’s feature on Alternative Regional Work Opportunities in Australia.

FARM JOBS Australia (working in a rural area)

Looking for a real adventure?
Working towards a Second Visa?
Ever thought of learning some new life skills?
Wanting well-paid rural work?
Want to save for future holiday activities?

Look no further than here, Visitoz.

Visitor has a great selection of farm jobs available to working holiday, work and holiday, and student visa holders in rural Australia – not one farm job is tedious, not one is back-breaking and in every case, you can save so much money that after three months you can go to the coast or the cities and have a great party – and qualify for the second visa.

• Driving a tractor, driving a chaser bin, and working as a module builder.
• Ride a motorbike or drive an ute, mustering and working on a sheep station.
• Ride a horse or drive a bull catcher or bike, mustering and working on a cattle station.
• Help with fencing, irrigation, shed building, and other construction tasks on a farm or station.
• Feed and help with sheep or cattle care on a farm or station.
• Prepare the paddocks, seed, or harvest the crops of wheat, maize, cotton, rice, or other grains.
• Working on a dairy farm, milking twice or three times daily, feeding and bringing in the cows.
• Caring for the newborn calves and lambs on sheep and cattle stations, and feeding orphaned animals.
• Working with horses, on stud farms and equestrian establishments, caring for mares and foals.
• Work with race horses, polo horses, events, dressage, show jumpers, and polo horses.

Your Ultimate Guide to Finding Jobs in Australia

Training

A short training course, which starts every Monday, will equip you to start work in one of these well-paid farm jobs. If possible, please book plenty of time because some arrival dates get full. The course comprises horse work, cattle work, mustering and in the yards, driving tractors and using machinery, riding motorbikes and mustering on bikes, using chain saws and learning how to make fences, simple vehicle maintenance, and outback and farm safety. During the course, you will receive farm job offers and, having decided which one to accept, travel to this farm, leaving on Saturday morning.

Like a dive course, anything worth doing has to be paid for, and there are often ‘specials’ available in the quieter months of the year.

Paid Farm Work in Queensland

Suppose you are not concerned with getting a second visa but still want to experience the lifestyle Visitoz can offer. In that case, you will have opportunities in one of these – all well-paid and with the opportunity to save significant sums of money …….

• Rural hospitality, in pubs, roadhouses, hotels, motels, and rural resorts.
• Working on a farm or station, helping with the minor children, or a homestead helper job.
• Helping in a station store on a large outback property.
• Working in a famous rural museum, an art gallery, or a rural supermarket.
• Working as a cook, chef on a station, or camp cook in the mustering season.
• Anyone with good skills is like ‘gold dust’ in the outback.
• Helping the children living on the cattle and sheep station with their education.
• Distance Learning Tutor of Governess – available to anyone with a good education.

So Work Hard, Play Hard and Have Fun

To join Visitoz, call 0741 686 185

Farm jobs in Perth

Perth and its surrounding areas offer a variety of farm jobs, especially suitable for backpackers and seasonal workers. Here are some popular options:

Fruit Picking and Harvesting

Grapes: Vineyards in the Swan Valley often require workers for grape picking, pruning, and maintenance, particularly during the harvest season.

Citrus Fruits: Farms around the Perth region grow oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruits, with picking jobs available during the harvest periods.

Stone Fruits: Jobs in picking peaches, plums, and nectarines are common during their respective seasons.

Contact www.visitoz.org or email [email protected]

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