Rustic worker by the vegetables (7)
I believe the answer is:
peasant
'rustic' is the definition.
(peasant is a kind of rustic)
'worker by the vegetables' is the wordplay.
'worker' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the vegetables' becomes 'peas' (I've seen this before).
'ant' put after 'peas' is 'PEASANT'.
(Other definitions for peasant that I've seen before include "Poor country worker" , "Bumpkin" , "Poor smallholder" , "Poor farmworker" , "Yokel" .)