---
title: "First-Line Supervisor of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers"
description: "Directly supervise and coordinate the activities of agricultural, forestry, aquacultural, and related workers."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-farming-fishing-and-forestry-workers"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# First-Line Supervisor of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers

**Category:** Farming, Fishing, and Forestry · **SOC code:** 45-1011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 45-1011.00

Directly supervise and coordinate the activities of agricultural, forestry, aquacultural, and related workers.

Also advertised as: Animal Research Facility Supervisor; Cattle Manager; Farm Supervisor; Fish Hatchery Manager; Harvesting Supervisor; Hatchery Manager; Logging Crew Foreman; Logging Supervisor.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $59,320 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.52/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $38,990 to $91,770, with the middle half between $46,670 and $75,290
- **Total US employment:** 27,960
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 7,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 57/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 27,960 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $38,990 |
| 25th | $46,670 |
| 50th (median) | $59,320 |
| 75th | $75,290 |
| 90th | $91,770 |
| Mean (average) | $62,730 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MN | $81,480 | $82,619 | 230 |
| IN | $75,460 | $80,854 | 220 |
| NH | $74,420 | $71,444 | 40 |
| GA | $70,560 | $73,276 | 770 |
| ID | $69,360 | $72,633 | 530 |
| VT | $68,630 | $70,061 | 40 |
| DE | $66,550 | $66,678 | 70 |
| NY | $66,460 | $61,582 | 520 |
| WA | $66,200 | $61,862 | 1,220 |
| CO | $66,030 | $64,074 | 640 |
| MT | $64,990 | $68,667 | 260 |
| AZ | $64,900 | $64,464 | 480 |
| ME | $64,290 | $66,244 | 100 |
| AR | $62,790 | $72,225 | 240 |
| NE | $62,620 | $69,498 | 90 |

34 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 49 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-farming-fishing-and-forestry-workers/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-farming-fishing-and-forestry-workers.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 57,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 59,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,200 jobs, or +3.8%. About as fast as average: 3.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 7,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** Less than 5 years.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 32.9% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 31.5% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 13.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 9.7% |
| Some College Courses | 6.1% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 4.1% |

## What the work involves

- Train workers in techniques such as planting, harvesting, weeding, or insect identification and in the use of safety measures.
- Train workers in spawning, rearing, cultivating, and harvesting methods, and in the use of equipment.
- Observe animals for signs of illness, injury, or unusual behavior, notifying veterinarians or managers as warranted.
- Monitor workers to ensure that safety regulations are followed, warning or disciplining those who violate safety regulations.
- Perform both supervisory and management functions, such as accounting, marketing, and personnel work.
- Inspect crops, fields, or plant stock to determine conditions and need for cultivating, spraying, weeding, or harvesting.
- Record the numbers and types of fish or shellfish reared, harvested, released, sold, and shipped.
- Confer with managers to evaluate weather or soil conditions, to develop plans or procedures, or to discuss issues such as changes in fertilizers, herbicides, or cultivating techniques.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Administration and Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 6.01 |
| R — Realistic | 5.53 |
| C — Conventional | 4.66 |
| S — Social | 2.89 |
| I — Investigative | 2.23 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 88.3 |
| ISTJ | 77.1 |
| ESFJ | 75.2 |
| ISFJ | 68.2 |
| ESTP | 68.1 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [First-Line Supervisor of Production and Operating Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-production-and-operating-workers) — median $74,450
- [First-Line Supervisor of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-mechanics-installers-and-repairers) — median $79,860
- [First-Line Supervisor of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-construction-trades-and-extraction-workers) — median $79,920
- [First-Line Supervisor of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-landscaping-lawn-service-and-groundskeeping-workers) — median $58,430
- [First-Line Supervisor of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-material-moving-machine-and-vehicle-operators) — median $62,840
- [First-Line Supervisor of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-helpers-laborers-and-material-movers-hand) — median $62,840
- [First-Line Supervisor of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-entertainment-and-recreation-workers) — median $48,560
- [First-Line Supervisor of Food Preparation and Serving Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-food-preparation-and-serving-workers) — median $44,080
- [First-Line Supervisor of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-housekeeping-and-janitorial-workers) — median $49,100
- [First-Line Supervisor of Passenger Attendants](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-passenger-attendants) — median $62,840

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-farming-fishing-and-forestry-workers