diff --git a/parquet-variant-compute/Cargo.toml b/parquet-variant-compute/Cargo.toml
index cc13810a2971..0aa926ee7fa4 100644
--- a/parquet-variant-compute/Cargo.toml
+++ b/parquet-variant-compute/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ rust-version = { workspace = true }
 [dependencies]
 arrow = { workspace = true }
 arrow-schema = { workspace = true }
+half = { version = "2.1", default-features = false }
 parquet-variant = { workspace = true }
 parquet-variant-json = { workspace = true }
 
@@ -49,4 +50,3 @@ arrow = { workspace = true, features = ["test_utils"] }
 [[bench]]
 name = "variant_kernels"
 harness = false
-
diff --git a/parquet-variant-compute/src/cast_to_variant.rs b/parquet-variant-compute/src/cast_to_variant.rs
index 49bdd30cea6b..cbd16c589c61 100644
--- a/parquet-variant-compute/src/cast_to_variant.rs
+++ b/parquet-variant-compute/src/cast_to_variant.rs
@@ -18,10 +18,11 @@
 use crate::{VariantArray, VariantArrayBuilder};
 use arrow::array::{Array, AsArray};
 use arrow::datatypes::{
-    Float32Type, Float64Type, Int16Type, Int32Type, Int64Type, Int8Type, UInt16Type, UInt32Type,
-    UInt64Type, UInt8Type,
+    Float16Type, Float32Type, Float64Type, Int16Type, Int32Type, Int64Type, Int8Type, UInt16Type,
+    UInt32Type, UInt64Type, UInt8Type,
 };
 use arrow_schema::{ArrowError, DataType};
+use half::f16;
 use parquet_variant::Variant;
 
 /// Convert the input array of a specific primitive type to a `VariantArray`
@@ -39,6 +40,22 @@ macro_rules! primitive_conversion {
     }};
 }
 
+/// Convert the input array to a `VariantArray` row by row,
+/// transforming each element with `cast_fn`
+macro_rules! cast_conversion {
+    ($t:ty, $cast_fn:expr, $input:expr, $builder:expr) => {{
+        let array = $input.as_primitive::<$t>();
+        for i in 0..array.len() {
+            if array.is_null(i) {
+                $builder.append_null();
+                continue;
+            }
+            let cast_value = $cast_fn(array.value(i));
+            $builder.append_variant(Variant::from(cast_value));
+        }
+    }};
+}
+
 /// Casts a typed arrow [`Array`] to a [`VariantArray`]. This is useful when you
 /// need to convert a specific data type
 ///
@@ -92,6 +109,9 @@ pub fn cast_to_variant(input: &dyn Array) -> Result<VariantArray, ArrowError> {
         DataType::UInt64 => {
             primitive_conversion!(UInt64Type, input, builder);
         }
+        DataType::Float16 => {
+            cast_conversion!(Float16Type, |v: f16| -> f32 { v.into() }, input, builder);
+        }
         DataType::Float32 => {
             primitive_conversion!(Float32Type, input, builder);
         }
@@ -115,8 +135,8 @@ pub fn cast_to_variant(input: &dyn Array) -> Result<VariantArray, ArrowError> {
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
     use arrow::array::{
-        ArrayRef, Float32Array, Float64Array, Int16Array, Int32Array, Int64Array, Int8Array,
-        UInt16Array, UInt32Array, UInt64Array, UInt8Array,
+        ArrayRef, Float16Array, Float32Array, Float64Array, Int16Array, Int32Array, Int64Array,
+        Int8Array, UInt16Array, UInt32Array, UInt64Array, UInt8Array,
     };
     use parquet_variant::{Variant, VariantDecimal16};
     use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -284,6 +304,28 @@ mod tests {
         )
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_cast_to_variant_float16() {
+        run_test(
+            Arc::new(Float16Array::from(vec![
+                Some(f16::MIN),
+                None,
+                Some(f16::from_f32(-1.5)),
+                Some(f16::from_f32(0.0)),
+                Some(f16::from_f32(1.5)),
+                Some(f16::MAX),
+            ])),
+            vec![
+                Some(Variant::Float(f16::MIN.into())),
+                None,
+                Some(Variant::Float(-1.5)),
+                Some(Variant::Float(0.0)),
+                Some(Variant::Float(1.5)),
+                Some(Variant::Float(f16::MAX.into())),
+            ],
+        )
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_cast_to_variant_float32() {
         run_test(