Seasonal Farm Worker

You start early, usually around 6 in the morning while it is still cool, and the day runs to roughly mid afternoon depending on the harvest. The work changes with the season: planting and weeding in spring, picking apples, pumpkins and field vegetables in late summer and autumn, pruning and tidying the rows in the quieter months. You will be on your feet most of the shift, bending, lifting crates and carrying them to the trailer. Some days you sort and pack produce in the shed; other days you ride along on the tractor trailer and load by hand. The pace picks up hard during harvest weeks, so expect longer days then and shorter ones once the crop is in.

Fit and able to do physical work outdoors all day

Comfortable lifting crates up to 20 kg and bending often

Willing to work weekends during harvest weeks

Basic English or Slovenian, enough to follow simple instructions

Reliable, on time, and steady through a long shift

Shared accommodation near the farm, paid by the employer

Daily transport from the housing to the fields

One warm meal on full shift days

Help with paperwork and registration when you arrive

Steady workers move up quickly here. After one full season you can take on a crew lead role, setting the day's tasks and checking the picking quality, which raises your net pay toward the top of the range. The employer keeps good seasonal people on for the next year and gives them first pick of the better paid jobs.

This is a working family farm with orchards, open fields and a packing shed, set in the flat Drava valley just outside Ptuj. Most of the day is spent outside in all kinds of weather, hot and dusty in summer, cold and muddy in late autumn, so good boots and a hat matter. The crew is small and you work side by side with the same people every day.