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.

Why should you work on a farm abroad?

• 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.

Where is the best place to go for farm work abroad?

• Australia: working holiday, agricultural work, fruit picking
• Canada: working holiday, agricultural work
• Chile: fruit picking, livestock farming
• France: agricultural work, fruit picking, grape picking
• Italy: agricultural work, fruit picking
• Ecuador: tropical agriculture, coffee, cocoa, and permaculture
• New Zealand: working holiday, fruit picking, agricultural work
• Spain: olive picking, viticulture
• South Africa: ecolodges, ranches

What do you need when you want to work on a farm?

• 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.

To what extent are you insured for the risks of working on a farm or in livestock farming?

• 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)