Farmworker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
peppers, Pecans.
Plant, cultivate and harvest peppers. Use farm equipment to cut, pull, dig, thresh, clean, chop, bag, or bundle harvested crops. Load/unload harvested peppers or other materials manually or with mechanized equipment such as conveyors, or handtrucks. Use hand tools including, but not limited to: shovels, hoes and knives. Plant roots, seeds and bulbs. Spread plastic or other groundcovering. Clean plastic by hand from ground upon removal. Till soil. Weed and thin plants. Transplant plants by hand. Stake/tie plants, trellis/prune plants, and set poles and wires for vine plants. Pick, cut, lift, or pull crops. Tie peppers in bunches. Grade, size and field pack product. Take care to prevent damaging produce and plants.

Grade, size, and sort product according to color, shape, size, appearance, feel, and/or quality, in accordance with supervisor's instructions and employer standards. Inspect products for damage/defects and discard inferior products and foreign matter. Place product in bins/trays and other containers according to grade and mark grades on containers. Weigh products and record weight and/or grade. Handle product carefully to prevent damage. Operate equipment safely, with or without direction. Must follow quality control standards and production procedures. Clean/sanitize work station and equipment.

Work on production line to pack product by hand or with mechanized equipment, including but not limited to bagging machines, bin feeders, box machines, labeling machines, regular and high stacking forklifts. Pack/bunch/bundle product pursuant to supervisor instructions. Fill bins/trays and other containers with product, level bins, and prepare product for shipment to market or storage. Perform quality control on inbound/outbound loads. Follow quality control standards and production procedures. Handle product carefully to prevent damage. Lift, carry, and load/unload products or supplies. Palletize and stack boxes/containers. Move product to storage areas and/or loading areas to prepare for shipping. Keep material and product records accurately. Assist with regular maintenance on equipment. Clean/sanitize work station and equipment.

Must have sufficient hand and finger dexterity to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. Must be able to differentiate colors, textures, and other attributes of product to distinguish varieties and identify defects.

Plant, cultivate, and harvest pecans. Use farm equipment to cut, pull, dig, thresh, clean, chop, bag, or bundle harvested crops. Load/unload harvested pecans or other materials manually or with mechanized equipment such as conveyors, or handtrucks. Spot and/or strip pick nuts based on seasonal need. Fill buckets and place in bins. Follow supervisor/foreman's instructions on color/size requirements. Must be able to differentiate between colors and varieties accurately. Hand thin to control the size and quality of pecans.Must accurately identify and remove misshapen, damaged or otherwise unmarketable crop. Hand prune based on variety. Use manual and mechanized pruning tools and equipment. Identify and remove stubs or broken branches, downward-growing branches, branches rubbing against each other, shaded interior branches, dead wood and shoots-suckers.

Workers injured on the job and unable to perform the full range of duties may be offered light duty, if available. Light duty tasks may vary depending on availability of task, nature of worker's injury, and instructions from worker's physician. Light duty tasks may include blight checking, fruit checking/quality control, light picking/pruning/thinning/sorting, or tree counting.

Install/maintain irrigation systems and water lines. Move and install irrigation pipes and equipment. Dig and maintain ditches. Install and remove levee gates.

Apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other crop protectants.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of 3 months of agricultural field work experience working on a vegetable farm handling both manual and mechanized tasks associated with production of peppers or other vegetables. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs.