Labour and payment

Owned by Lite Farm
Dec 03, 2020
2 min read

The way farm labour is compensated falls into a few different categories, mainly:

  1. Unpaid, familial labour

  2. Paid based on time worked (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly)

  3. Paid based on type of work and time (e.g. seeding vs. harvesting)

  4. Paid based on volume (e.g. kg / bushels of crop harvested)

LiteFarm approach to labour and payment

When inviting a new user to join a farm, the inviting party can assign them an hourly, daily, or bi-weekly salary. This covers cases 1 and 2. For cases 3 and 4, this would need to be indicated at the invitation stage, but confirmed later in the application when shifts / tasks are recorded.

For case 3, …

For case 4, …

 

Unpaid, familial labour

Many small, diversified farms are operated by families who do not get paid for their work. Instead, they may consume a portion of the food produced (or trade for a greater variety of foodstuffs). When products are sold, the funds are shared within the family and put towards the operations of the farm.

 

Paid based on time worked

A very common method of payment is based on the amount of time worked, regardless of the type of work. For example, it’s very common for workers to be paid based on the hours worked (similar to an employee that uses a timeclock). Workers may sometimes also agree on a daily rate, whereby they are paid a flat rate for the day. Less common are weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly agreements.

 

Paid based on type of work and time

Some activities on the farm are charged at different rates than others. For example, a worker may be paid one hourly rate to seed and another to weed.

 

Paid based on volume

Some types of labour are paid based on the amount of work done rather than a timeframe. Examples of this could be the pounds of sugarcane harvested or the number of hundredweights transported.