Farm Workers

Job description

Perform manual labor to harvest, grade and pack onions. Harvest onions by picking up onions, clipping top and roots using shears, placing in bucket, walking to bin and/or truck and dumping bucket into bin and/or truck, or handing bucket to a dumper. Dumpers will empty buckets and give the harvester back the empty bucket with a token/ticket. Onions are unloaded at the packinghouse to be graded and packed. Unload and load boxes of onions by hand and using machinery. Throw boxes off truck. Use hand tools, such as shears, shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, and knives. Open fields by moving onions from one row to another row to open up a driveway for the machinery. Pull/move onions to lay on ground to dry. Grade, sort or classify harvested onions on an assembly line according to factors such as color, species, length, width, appearance, feel, smell and quality to ensure correct processing and usage. Place products in containers according to grade and mark grades on containers. Make and close containers/boxes and record grade and/or identification numbers. Measure, weigh, count and check harvested products and materials. Stack boxes/containers onto pallet. Clean, load and unload harvested products. Pull weeds, pick up roots, mow grass, clean and maintain field and work areas. Perform manual labor to plant, harvest, pack, sort and load watermelons. Harvest watermelon by cutting stems from the vine using knives. During the cutting process, a farm worker walks in a designated area selecting mature watermelons to be harvested based on appearance considering the variances in shape, size, weight, and external color while also considering other factors such as location of vine, age of crop, number of times crop has been cut, growing conditions of crop, as well as variety of watermelons. Workers will then pick up harvested watermelons and pitch them to another worker who will either gently place into bins or pitch it to another worker within an assembly line. Move vines and fruit in the field in order to prevent damage by cultivation or harvest. During the loading process, a farm worker walks in a designated area while lifting preselected watermelons, then pitches the watermelons to another farm worker who catches the watermelons and pitches them to another farm worker or gently places them in the designated area or transport vehicle. Watermelons are unloaded and packed by hand using aid of conveyor belts and sizing machines. In the packing process, watermelons are unloaded from harvest transport vehicle where employees lift watermelons from harvest vehicle and pass to another employee who gently places the watermelon on the in feed conveyer. An employee then lifts the fruit from the sizing station and gently places watermelons in bin while assuring count and pack layout for each bin is correct for their sizing station. Workers are responsible for farm and field sanitation including picking up trash and cleaning bathrooms and other farm sanitation duties. Transport drinking water to field workers. Inform supervisors of crop progress. As a minor activity, workers may operate farm vehicles and equipment, including forklifts, tractors and tractor-trailers on the farm. Workers who apply for and obtain an FLC or FLC employee certificate of registration with driving authorized by the USDOL Wage and Hour Division during the employment period may drive multi-purpose vehicles including vans and/or buses to haul crops, supplies, tools, and/or farm workers. Assist with Good Agricultural Practices policies.

Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker's ability to perform the job. Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer.

Special Requirements

One month of verifiable farm work experience is required. Walk, bend, reach, stoop, push, pull, lift, carry and load up to 50 lbs. for prolonged periods of time. Perform repetitive movements. Most job duties require workers to work in extremely hot and/or wet weather.