Farm worker pay rate in Australia: what the Horticulture and Pastoral Awards set

The Horticulture Award covers employers throughout Australia in the horticulture industry: sowing, planting, raising, cultivating, harvesting, picking, washing, packing, storing, grading and treating horticultural crops, and clearing or preparing land in connection with those activities. It does not cover the wine industry, silviculture, sugar, cotton or plant nurseries. The Pastoral Award covers employers in the pastoral industry: managing, breeding, rearing or grazing livestock or poultry, shearing and crutching, dairying, hatchery work and broadacre field crops, and it says it does not cover employees who are covered by the Horticulture Award. An enterprise agreement can replace either award, and both awards cover businesses that supply workers on an on-hire basis in the industry. If an employer is covered by more than one award, the classification most appropriate to the work applies. Ask in writing which instrument covers the role. Fair Work award MA000028 and MA000035, read 6 October 2026.

The Horticulture Award has five levels. Level 1 is for a new employee under direct supervision, with duties such as fruit or vegetable picking, thinning or pruning, and the employee should progress to Level 2 after no more than three months of industry experience. Level 2 adds skills such as operating tractors up to 70 kW. Level 3 covers duties such as driving motor lorries, mechanical harvesters or forklifts and operating tractors over 70 kW, and irrigation, spraying and pruning without supervision. Level 4 covers licensed operation of materials handling equipment and quality checks, and Level 5 is for an employee who uses a trade qualification. The table above prints each level. Because the level sets the minimum, make sure your written classification matches your duties and experience. Superannuation is paid on top of these rates. The super guarantee rate is 12% of ordinary time earnings from 1 July 2025 (Australian Taxation Office: Super guarantee).

The Pastoral Award pays farm and livestock hands at eight levels, FLH1 to FLH8, which depend on experience and the task. FLH1 includes a station hand or cattle farm worker with less than six months in the industry and a dairy operator grade 1A with less than six months, and FLH2 covers people with six to twelve months. Higher levels cover senior station hands, feedlot employees and senior dairy operators. The award prints $978.10 a week ($25.74 an hour) at level 1 and $1,202.50 a week ($31.64 an hour) at level 8 from 1 July 2026. The award has no classification titled farm manager, so a manager's package is often set by contract. Fair Work award MA000035, read 6 October 2026.

A casual farm worker receives the ordinary hourly rate for their classification plus a 25 percent loading, and the loading is paid instead of annual leave, personal leave, notice and redundancy. The Fair Work Ombudsman gives an example: an adult casual picking fruit or vegetables and paid an hourly rate should be paid at least $32.18 an hour as of 1 July 2026, which is the Level 1 rate with the loading, and more depending on the work. A casual must be paid for at least two consecutive hours each time under the Horticulture Award and three under the Pastoral Award. Juniors are paid a percentage of the adult rate by age, from 50 percent under 16 to 100 percent at 20.

An employer under the Horticulture Award may pay an hourly rate, a piece rate or both. The award says the rate must be fixed so that a pieceworker competent at the task, with at least 76 hours of experience, earns at least 15 percent more per hour than the hourly rate for their classification, including the casual loading for a casual. Every pieceworker also has a minimum wage guarantee: they must be paid no less than the hourly rate multiplied by the hours worked each day. The employer must give a signed piecework record before the task starts, stating the task, the rate and the hourly rate, and must give a new record before changing the rate. Keep your own record of the hours you work.

Full-time ordinary hours average 38 a week under both awards. The Horticulture Award pays overtime at 150 percent from Monday to Saturday and 200 percent on a Sunday, with special rules in the harvest period, and the Pastoral Award pays 150 percent, with casuals at 175 percent, and 200 percent on a Sunday other than for feeding and watering stock. Allowances sit on top: a leading hand allowance that depends on how many people are in charge, a first aid allowance, and in the Pastoral Award a horse and saddle allowance for a station hand who must find their own. Travel time required by the employer counts as time worked under the Horticulture Award, and the employer reimburses the cost of suitable accommodation when an employee must sleep away from home.

The Fair Work Ombudsman says workers must be paid money for the work they do and cannot be paid in goods or services such as board or transport. You can decide to use employer-provided accommodation or transport, but an employer can deduct the cost only if you agree in writing and it is principally for your benefit, or if an award, agreement or law allows it. Under the Pastoral Award, where an employee is engaged on the with keep rate, the award limits the weekly deduction. Employers cannot ask you to pay money to receive a job offer or to keep a job.

They are award minimums for full-time employees, not averages, offers or what CrossNation candidates earn. An employer can pay more, and an enterprise agreement can apply instead. Rates change each year and apply from the first pay period on or after 1 July, so always check the date beside a figure. Visa holders have the same entitlements under the Fair Work Act as other employees, and some visas limit the hours or the type of work. This is not legal, employment or migration advice.