Farm Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
Hops, grapes.
This job requires a minimum of 3 months of verifiable agricultural experience working in a vineyard, perennial crop farm (such as tree fruit) or a commercial hop farm handling both manual and mechanized tasks including commodity production associated with production of grapes or hops. Workers must be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks with accuracy and efficiency.

Twine hop fields, plant by hand potted hop plants, hand weed grape fields, pre-hop harvest equipment and facilities cleaning and preparation, hand train hop shoots onto the string (training), hand weed hop fields.

Specific Job Requirements:

Twining hop fields: The strings that the hop plants travel up during the growing season are new every year. A crew of 7 to 8 workers will hang and clip these new strings every spring. This job consists of the tiers (2 to 3 workers) and clippers (usually 5 workers). The tiers will tie, by hand, the new strings to the row wires. The clippers will push the bottom of the newly hung hop strings into the ground in the middle of the hop plants. A clip gun and clips are used to do this. This job requires a considerable amount of walking. Sufficient work footwear is required, since the stings are attached at the bottom by using the clip gun, which is pushed into the ground by the workers foot. Every crew of 7 to 8 workers must contain at least one crew supervisor/manager for safety and Double R policy reasons.

Plant, by hand, potted hop plants: There are several ways of planting new hop fields. One way is by using potted hop plants. They must be planted by hand. This job consists of hauling the pots to the field, spreading them out in the correct area, and hand planting them.

Hand weed grape fields: This job consists of removing the weeds that have grown around the base of the grape plants. This may be accomplished through the use of hand weeding tools, or by just using the hands. This job requires a considerable amount of walking as well as grasping and pulling.

Pre-hop harvest equipment and facilities cleaning and preparation: This job consists of the cleaning and preparation of the equipment and facilities necessary for the hop harvest operation.

Hand train hop shoots onto the string (Training): Hop plants need help to climb the hop strings in a consistent manner. This job consists of removing vines that climbed the string early and then gently grasping the newly emerged hop shoots and wrapping them clockwise onto that hop string. This job requires a considerable amount of walking and stooping over.

Hand weed hop fields: This job consists of removing the weeds that have grown around the base of the hop plants. This may be accomplished through the use of hand weeding tools, or by just using the hands. This job requires a considerable amount of walking as well as grasping and pulling.

For those in which the company transport van is necessary, occasional driving of said van to and from worksites may be required.

Other Job Specifications Include:

Twining hop fields:

1. Workers must work together in a crew (7-8 total workers with 5 of them poking strings).

2. Pre-hung strings must be poked into the correct plants. (Training will be provided)

3. Every string/group of strings must be pushed into the ground at least 8" with a clip. Strings/groups of strings not pushed in 8" or pushed in without a clip will have to be redone by the crew.

4. One of the crew of 5 poking strings will drive the tractor that pulls the twining trailer. Minimal tractor driving ability is necessary. The crew of 5 will rotate driving the tractor.

5. Twining cannot be done in excessive wind. Flexibility with hours of work is necessary.

6. The crew is required to help load string on to the hop string tying trailer (twining sled).

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of 3 months of verifiable agricultural experience working in a vineyard, perennial crop farm (such as tree fruit) or a commercial hop farm handling both manual and mechanized tasks including commodity production associated with production of grapes or hops. Workers must be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks with accuracy and efficiency. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. Employer-paid post-hire drug testing is required at random and upon reasonable suspicion of use.