A professional who propagates and grows horticultural-specialty products and crops, such as seeds, bulbs, rootstocks, sod, ornamental plants, and cut flowers. Respnsibilities include:

• Plans acreage utilization and work schedules, according to knowledge of crop culture, climate and market conditions, seed, bulb, or rootstock availability, and employable work force and machinery.
• Attaches farm implements, such as disk and fertilizer spreader, to tractor and drives tractor in fields to till soil and plant and cultivate crop.
• Inspects fields periodically to ascertain nutrient deficiencies, detect insect, disease, and pest infestations, and identify foreign-plant growth, and selects, purchases, and schedules materials, such as fertilizers and herbicides, to ensure quality control.
• Hires field workers; assigns their duties according to scheduled activities, such as planting, irrigating, weeding, and harvesting; and oversees their activities.
• Maintains personnel and production records.
• Arranges with customers for sale of crop.
• May oversee activities, such as product cleaning, grading, and packaging.
• May provide customer services, such as planning and building planters, walls, and patios, and planting and caring for landscape and display arrangements.
• May bud or graft scion stock on plantings to alter growth characteristics.
• May develop new variations of species specialty to produce crops with specialized market-appeal, such as disease resistance or color brilliance.
• May cultivate out-of-season seedlings and crops, using greenhouse.
• May cultivate cover crop, such as hay or rye, in rotation with horticultural specialty to rejuvenate soil.
• May drive and operate self-propelled harvesting machine.
• May lubricate, adjust, and make minor repairs on farm machinery and equipment.
• May build, remove, and repair farm structures, such as fences and sheds.
• May be designated according to crop as Bulb Grower; Flower Grower; Grass Farmer; Rose Grower; Seed Grower; Shrub Grower.