17 weeks (4 months) of payslips from a strawberry farm are tabled: wage, days and hours worked and ratio.
In strawberry farms, when is the best period to make money and when is the easiest to finish 88 days? Well, I have worked from May first to mid-August (the high-season), so, I’m revealing all the 17 weeks of payslips’ data as a table.
They are from the former Sunray farm (now the QFMT) of 2018 which is known as one of the greatest and legal strawberry farm in the Caboolture region.
Things to know before you look into the data
- This year, it is said that the former Sunray farm started planting comparatively late and the high-season came late.
It is also said that they didn’t pick strawberries as much as they had picked in the previous year. That might be one of the reasons that the former Sunray farm was sold to another company and the original managers started new farm called the QFMT. - I was fast as a newbie, but I ranked at the 40th among 120 and earned approximately 23 dollars/h usually.
On the other hand, top pickers earned 1.5 times higher than me, which means if you multiply the wage below by 1.5, then that’s how much the top pickers earned. - Note that, the data below is just a example from a farm of 2018. The amount you would actually earn would be affected by the situations of a farm you work, for years and the number of employees in the farm.
Annotations for the data
- Cu…Cutting
- We…Weeding（hourly）
- H.P.…Hourly Picking（walk and pick）
- T.P.…Trolley Picking（contract）
- (1.6-1.8)… the range of the ratio: minimum $1.6/kg-maximum $1.8/kg
- <150kg>… the amount of the strawberries I picked in a day
- Average hours worked a day doesn’t include break time.
| Period | Days worked | Average hours worked a day | The wage (A$) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30/4-06/5 | 6 | 5.0 | 663 | Mainly Cu then H.P., We |
| 07/5-13/5 | 4 | 5.3 | 322 | First T.P. (1.6-1.8) <50kg> We |
| 14/5-20/5 | 5 | 3.7 | 410 | Finish in the morning Mainly Cu Then T.P. (1.20-1.25) <70kg> |
| 21/5-27/5 | 7 | 3.7 | 574 | worked 6:00-9:00 Free in the afternoon Maiinly Cu & H.P. |
| 28/5-03/6 | 6 | 5.3 | 701 | Mainly We Then H.P & T.P. (1.1-1.3) |
| 04/6-10/6 | 5 | 5.0 | 556 | Mainly T.P. (0.95-1.55) <90kg> Then Cu |
| 11/6-17/6 | 5 | 6.0 | 654 | Mainly T.P. (0.9-1.0) <120kg> |
| 18/6-27/6 | 6 | 5.0 | 676 | Mainly T.P. (0.95-1.15) Then Cu |
| 25/6-01/7 | 5 | 5.4 | 601 | Mainly T.P. (0.88-0.9) <140kg> We × 1 |
| 02/7-08/7 | 6 | 6.6 | 876 | Mainly T.P. (0.72-0.85) <200kg> We × 1 |
| 09/7-15/7 | 6 | 5.6 | 737 | Mainly T.P. (0.78-0.90) Cu × 1 |
| 16/7-22/7 | 4 | 5.5 | 491 | All T.P. (0.73-0.92) |
| 23/7-29/7 | 5 | 6.5 | 711 | All T.P. (0.70-0.85) |
| 30/7-05/8 | 5 | 7.3 | 805 | All T.P. (0.75-0.82) |
| 06/8-12/8 | 4 | 9.1 | 807 | All T.P. (0.70-0.85) <250kg> |
| 13/8-19/8 | 6 | 9.2 | 1,223 | High-Season! Mainly T.P. (0.66-0.84) <300kg> We × 1 I left the farm here. |
| 20/8-26/8 | 6 | 9.3 | 1,230 | For the reason above, this is the data of my friends’ payslip. |
| 27/8- | … | … | … | to be continued |
| Sum | 85 | 5.7 | 10,807 | Aside from the data I worked three days |
- Other that the wage, we could get superannuation from 9.5% of all the wage (in my case, $1,027).
- Also, if we worked until the end of the season, we could get a bonus. The bonus is calculated at 4 cents per kilogram picked. (If I were there until the end, then I could have got $400.)
Consideration
When is the high-season to earn a lot?
I unfortunately left the farm in the 19/8, the very day the High-Season started! In the week, I earned $1,233/w and the top pickers earned 1.5 times higher, which is $1,800.
According to my friend who lasted in the farm, they worked till the night over a week without day-off after the day I left. Surely, they earned more, but I do not know the actual amount atm. Will be updated.
According to a friend, in 2017, they worked more like until they couldn’t even see because of no sun light, without breaks for 20 days.
The period of High-Season depends on when the farm started planting, the amount of the employees and the year. In this year of 2018, they started late, so, the High-Season came in the mid-August, but if they start earlier, then it might come in the early August or the end of July.
When can we finish 88 days easily?
According to the table, we often worked for less than 5 hours until the end of May. This 5 hours of work usually considered to be 1 working day, so, it might be easier to get 88 days in this period.
If you have a car, you have enough time to play around outside of the farm, then come back for the work tomorrow.
Conclusion
Did you get it? Let me repeat that it was just an example from the former Sunray farm of 2018. The amount you earn and the hours you work highly depends on the year and the number of employees.
It would be my pleasure if that helped you better understand strawberry farms.
It would be better if you stay in a farm well ahead of the high-season because many people ask to work in the high-season, so you may need to wait to work there.
I have written another article about “【video】the speed of the TOP PICKER“, so, please check that out.
Also, I have a Facebook Group for the farm and information for working-holiday makers. Please feel free to get in and post!
Thanks.
Important
I have wrote about the FORMER Sunray Farm in this post, but the former Sunray farm is sold to another company in 2018 and the boss of the former Sunray is now working at the QFMT. I’m not sure if the Sunray is still good or not, but I recommend you to join the QFMT (contact this Facebook page to work here) this time if you like this post. Thanks.