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Hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland?


FarmerBoy1
15 May 2020   #1
Hi all, I've long known I'm not suited for desk jobs. I prefer doing something active like to do with nature/outdoors. I studied in a very highly regarded uni in agriculture. I miss the cows and the endless green fields. Are there hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland where you can pay your rent? Are there startups and NGOs in organic farming or ecology? My other option is a tour guide with English. I've heard that such jobs don't pay well in Poland though and farmers are considered second class even compared to your typical call center worker bee/desk clerk.

It's bad for my health sitting all day and staring at a screen. For me such jobs are a terrible fit, I hated each one of them and always keep remembering my rural experience in uni.
Zlatko
26 May 2020   #2
Merged:

How's life in Elk, Slupsk and Gdansk?



Tell me about Ełk, Słupsk and Gdanks. What can one work there? I'm an actor/singer and also interested in farm work or ecology NGOs.

Try using just one username, 23 and still counting
Dirk diggler  10 | 4452
5 Jun 2020   #3
Yes you can easily find a job in agriculture. However, don't expect to be paid much. Right now it's mostly low wage Ukrainians doing the work so you'd have to compete with Ukranian migrants. You can do it and find work easily, you just won't make much money. Perhaps look into co-ops or NGOs in the agricultural sector.

In terms of being a tour guide, that's a possibility. Lot of students do that kind of work. Again though, you'd be competing with bilingual Poles for a low wage job.
Zlatko
5 Jun 2020   #4
What about theatre, music or dancing? Which are the cities or towns where you can have a side job as a singer/choreographer/actor? Also are there variety theaters in Poland? I found Krakowski Teatr Variete but are there others?
jon357  72 | 22850
5 Jun 2020   #5
Very few.
Dirk diggler  10 | 4452
8 Jun 2020   #6
Unless you are in IT, have a small business and/or real estate, consulting, or a good remote/transfer type job from a western company you're not going to make much money in Poland. Most the jobs you're describing are going to pay 2-3k, maybe up to 4k zloty a month. You'd be lucky to get the equivalent of $1,000 a month with that kind of work unless of course you're famous, talented, etc. or work for some famous theater company or whatever.
Turbowicz  4 | 13
12 Jun 2020   #7
Do what you love; the money will follow. Ag is marvelous and important as it feeds humanity though not without risk. I remember babcia and dziadzia's worries when rain didn't fall. As long as you're open-minded and flexible, even if you start at the business end of a shovel, you'll soon see higher-valued opportunities. ‎Löb Strauß (Levi Strauss) in San Francisco was shrewd enough to avoid risky gold mining in the 1850s and saw the demand for denim clothing. If you're handy with tools, you can grow into farm-equipment maintenance that is more high-tech than ever, what with electronic diagnostic systems. Consider the whole food supply chain: Starts with the farmer and ends at our meal table. Governments support ag in almost every nation. Maybe there's a job for you helping farmers, from crop or livestock management, to insurance, to land sales, to farm construction, to shipping of crops and livestock, to produce brokerage-the list is long. The keys are passion and persistence. Szczęśliwej podróży!
kaprys  3 | 2076
13 Jun 2020   #8
There are jobs available in farming this year as corona closed the borders.
But I honestly don't think it will be easy to mix working in farming and entertainment.
Zlatko
14 Jun 2020   #9
Well I can combine my love for countrylife & arts with a restaurant / theatre venue located in a converted barn or being a normal restaurant but just having rural-themed plays like "Oklahoma!". Wizard of Oz and Broadway Rhythm also have rural scenes and bales of hay.

I mean it's hard to go wrong with a restaurant or a bar but I feel having a scene for variety shows in there would be better than a bog standard restaurant. Thus art will be more accessible to the public that wouldn't otherwise go to a theatre.

I don't know if there's a niche for Bulgarian food with so many Turk or Greek places (Bulgarian is less exotic). Would Poles dig a Hungarian/Bulgarian/Croatian with some Scandinavian treats mix (my other favorite cultures in Europe)?

Or maybe cone up with some Polish/Bulgarian fusion?
kaprys  3 | 2076
15 Jun 2020   #10
@Zlatko
Whatever you want to do you need to know how to do it. So you either need proper education, experience or a plan. Or all of them. And some luck.

Do you have experience in acting or agriculture?
How do you plan to perform in a play and collect the crops in one place. Unless it's a village culture centre? Nothing wrong within them but you need to know the language. I doubt they do musicals.

If you want to open a restaurant, again you need to have experience, know how to start a business in Poland, hire people, rent a place, find good suppliers etc.
Zlatko
16 Jun 2020   #11
Yes, I do have experience in both of them. Just finished filming a TV commercial.
Zlatko
19 Jun 2020   #12
Actually doing things like these is how my perfect dream job looks like (dancing with women with shapely legs is highly desirable but optional, I love doing this by myself as well):

youtube.com/watch?v=KmUEeBaD_UQ&fbclid=IwAR1099K2uf6ySALFHYVW4x_Ci7nDJTxk_gtFBOUrSK0JY0yjDJUc1F-yl5w

It's really a great match for my personality.
You sell illusions and dreams, not a particular product (usually at least). There's some distance betwen you and the public. Yet they see you so you don't do the back office. There's lots of physical motion, you develop your muscles and bones. Yet you don't use tools or work with electricity/machinery. No screens or deskd so it's good for my back and eyes.
kaprys  3 | 2076
21 Jun 2020   #13
@Zlatko
Do you expect to dance like that while harvesting in Poland? ;)
Atch  21 | 4141
21 Jun 2020   #14
@ Zlatko, you might enjoy this if you haven't seen it before, 1942 dance footage, 1967 music, Fred and Rita:

youtube.com/watch?v=8AXkfhqvO44
pawian  219 | 24692
21 Jun 2020   #15
Are there hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland where you can pay your rent?

Yes, farmers always need workers. But they pay peanuts for drudgery in the field.

A good article though in Polish

finanse.wp.pl/pracowalem-przy-zbiorze-truskawek-ciezko-o-gorsza-robote-a-moja-dniowka-to-27-zl-6260183545579649a
cms neuf  1 | 1737
21 Jun 2020   #16
A disgrace and farmers paying below minimum wage should be investigated.
pawian  219 | 24692
21 Jun 2020   #17
Yes, an interesting issue: are private farmers who hire people on piecework basis required to provide minimum wage which is now around 15 zlotys/hour AFAIK ?
cms neuf  1 | 1737
21 Jun 2020   #18
If it's Genuine piecework then no but if it's Something that has the characteristics of work e.g turning up at the same time each day, having to request days off etc then yes minimum wage applies.

That's the way it was explained to me a few years ago but not sure how it's enforced
delphiandomine  86 | 17823
21 Jun 2020   #19
required to provide minimum wage which is now around 15 zlotys/hour AFAIK

I can't find the article now, but I found an article by one moaning farmer who was complaining that workers these days expect reasonable accommodation and three decent meals a day as well as a reasonable amount of money. Apparently 'in the good old days', it was enough to give them a mattress in the barn and some very basic food.
pawian  219 | 24692
21 Jun 2020   #20
Yes, that`s what it was like 10, 15 years ago - I remember reading reports describing such cases and they were widespread.

Now Poland is richer than it was around 2004 so the wages had to grow, like everything else. Such farming labour mostly concerns Ukrainian workers and it`s good they started to demand better conditions at last. I can pay more for strawberries which aren`t picked by slave workers.


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