Working on a farm abroad: what is it, where is the best place to go, and are you insured?

What does working on a farm abroad involve?

Working on a farm means that you work temporarily as a seasonal or summer worker for an agricultural company. This can range from working as a fruit picker in France to herding cattle in Australia and from milking organic goats in Chile to working together within a permaculture community in the tropics.
Employment: There is always a chance of work when you knock on a farmer's door. Many farms, especially in Europe, but certainly also in Australia and New Zealand, are usually looking for assistance, especially during the busy seasons. Small-scale farms often have work for unskilled (or non-agriculturally trained) people and will also be more open to a construction with room and board.
Activities: There is a huge variety of seasonal jobs within agriculture and livestock farming. It can help to have experience with driving a tractor, horse riding, or other work on a farm, or to have at least some feeling for working with machinery or farm animals.

To stimulate your sense of involvement: sometimes you work very intensively with the same people on a farm for a long time, you often also sleep in a room with the same people. You have to like that, but you also make friends for life.
To make the world around you more sustainable: by looking for work in organic farming, permaculture, or for example in the production of goat cheese, you can nicely combine your work and interests.
To be profitable in a creative way: some small farmers will not be able to pay you a wage but will offer a place to sleep and food in exchange for work.
To gain new experiences: during your stay on a farm and when you go to work, you experience much more than when you travel around alone.
To increase your self-awareness: further away from your familiar environment, you discover more quickly what you can actually do and what you actually want. By going to work, you encounter yourself more often; you get to know yourself better and accept who you are and want to be.
To test your environmental awareness: living and working in rural areas allows you to experience a foreign culture in an entirely different and more authentic way than, for example, working in tourism.

Professionalism: you often have to work hard and hard, which is why the average slacker usually doesn't last long on a farm.
Flexibility: weather conditions, animal behavior, and plant growth do not always go according to plan, which means that your flexibility will often be called upon.
Collaborative skills: being able to learn to work together with a group of seasonal workers or with the farm family will always be necessary.

There may be several reasons why you need separate insurance for (paid) farm work and agricultural work abroad.
During work, internship, or volunteer work abroad, your local health insurance normally lapses. You then need special insurance to remain insured against illness and accidents.
Local employers generally do not offer any, or limited, additional insurance.
The chance of accidents is somewhat greater on farms than with other types of work. A number of specialized insurances offer opportunities to do (temporary) paid work abroad where you run a bit more risk, such as working on a farm.
Read more: Travel insurances and insurances for long term abroad - Theme
Read more: Risicovol werk in het buitenland verzekeren: van sportinstructeur tot boerderijmedewerker (NL)

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