Farm/nursery Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, trees.
Jobs may include any combination of planting, cultivating, hoeing, propagating, transplanting, fertilizing, pruning, spacing, preparing soil, weeding, spraying and watering, tagging, mowing. Uncover and/or recover winter storage houses. Loads/unloads trucks and wagons. Performs any other duties involved in the maintenance of plant materials and nursery stock. Workers will require minimal supervision.

Take inventory and grade plants, prepare trees and shrubs for digging by tying or wrapping as necessary; dig; wrap burlap or other covering around root balls and securing with twine and/or staples; crimping wire baskets; lift, carry and load nursery stock; and unload, move or load supplies, including wire baskets. Prepare fields for planting by clearing cull stock, brush and debris; plant seedlings or ‘liners' by hand (including riding and inserting liners in a mechanical planter); hand dig, load, unload or transplant bare-root nursery stock; straighten, tie, prune and shear trees and shrubs; cut, pull or remove and mow weeds or grass; move irrigation equipment; apply agricultural chemicals: herbicides and insecticides and apply fertilizer.

Plants, cultivates, harvests and packs vegetables and fruit. Works on planter, plants roots, seeds, and bulbs. Workers may spread or remove plastic or other groundcovering and drip tape from fields. Weeds, thins, plants. Transplants plants, riding on transplanter or by hand. May set poles and wires for vine plants. Workers must also stake/tie plants. Workers will trellis and prune plants. Picks, cuts, lifts, or pulls crops to harvest them. May tie vegetables in bunches or top them. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants. May assist with irrigation; apply agricultural chemicals: herbicides and insecticides and applying fertilizer. May operate and help maintain tractors or hand-operated equipment. May assist with general farm building maintenance.

Work is to be done in the field for long periods of time. Workers are expected to perform duties including boxing, weighing and loading of nursery products. Workers may assist in loading trucks with products weighing up to and including 60 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers' ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations.

In addition, workers may be required to perform variable tasks such as the following: irrigation, ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation, weeding and other tasks related to a nursery operation.

Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, cultivators, tree spades and other equipment. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction.

Workers with a clean driving record (no major moving violations such as but not limited to Driving While Intoxicated or Reckless Driving) and able to obtain an insurable driver's license may drive company vehicles, such as a pick-up truck or van. Workers with appropriate licenses and a valid doctor's certificate may transport other workers in these vehicles between the worksites, that are within 3-miles of each other, and/or to town. Workers may be required to make deliveries/pickups in pick-up trucks only.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three months of verifiable prior experience working in a vegetable/fruit farm and nursery, with extensive ball and burlap (B&B) field harvesting. Workers must be able to perform all duties of entry level workers as well as perform additional mechanized activities with accuracy and efficiency. Applicants must be able to furnish verifiable job reference(s) or comparable third party documentation from recent employer(s) establishing acceptable prior experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. Employer-paid post-hire upon suspicion and post-accident drug testing required.