Farm Workers And Laborers, Crop
Employer
651 Clover Rd
Rocky Mount, NC 27801
United States
Job description
Tobacco Planting: Workers are to first load up the tobacco machines with trays of tobacco plant, 6-8 tobacco trays depending on the machine, and a few extra on top if needed. Workers will ride on tobacco machine and pull a bunch of tobacco plants from the tobacco trays and drop one tobacco plant in each cup in front of you as it spins in a circle. There are approximately 6 to 10 cups you must continuously drop a tobacco plant inside after it has emptied the previous tobacco plant. When setting tobacco by machine the worker must drop one plant in each cone repeatedly every two seconds without missing a cone. Any cone missed will be then set out by hand. Once a tobacco tray has emptied out you must turn the tobacco tray holder to continue onto the rest of the tobacco trays until finished. Once you have finished the tobacco trays you will come to a stop and you will unload the empty trays and load 6-8 or how many are need to continue throughout the day.
Workers that are resetting tobacco by hand where it was missed must first carry tobacco plant in a tray and walk behind the machine observing two or three different rows where a tobacco plant was missed or not planted by the machine. The worker will quickly make a 4-inch-deep hole in the ground, place the plant in the hole and cover the hole firmly. If more than two or 3 plants were missed in sequence you must space each hole about 12 inches apart repeatedly.
Tobacco Harvesting: Workers will start in a row with the first tobacco plant cutting off the top flower by hand properly without damaging leafs below. The worker must then use both hands in order to remove all the suckers that are in between the tobacco leaf and the stem of the tobacco plant. The worker will walk down his designated row working on every tobacco plant taking no more than 4 to 5 seconds. When this is finished the workers will again walk down the tobacco field on his designated row pulling off the bottom 3 to 5 ripe leafs off of every stock. If the leaf is not ripe you must leave it alone. The worker must stay down moving forward placing each leaf on his side until the worker has no more room and must walk over to unload his bundle of tobacco leafs into the tobacco trailer. Workers will put tobacco leafs in boxes and will take the boxes into the barn, once the tobacco is cured it needs to be sorted and put in bails. Any leafs dropped by the worker must be picked up. The tobacco tractor and trailer will always be in the middle of a group moving forward. The worker must due this process 3 to 4 different period of times as leafs ripen on every stock.
Sweet Potatoes Planting: Workers will select large sweet potato plant from the sweet potato beds; they will cut the plants and place into a basket. Once the basket is full and tight the process will be done again. The worker must be able to complete four to six baskets every hour. Worker must place each full basket onto truck or trailer to be taken to the field. Workers will then plant sweet potato by machine and by hand. When planting by machine the worker must first load up their trays with sweet potato plants. Then the worker will be instructed how to place a plant on the butterfly device of the machine. As the machine turns in a circle you must place a sweet potato plant without missing. The plant end must stick out of the butterfly device at least 3-4 inches in order to be planted correctly. The process is continued until you must reload with plant and continue where left off. When done by hand the worker will walk down the field behind the tractor and make a 3-4 inch hole in the ground, place the plant in the hole, cover the hole firmly, and space each hole about 10 inches apart repeatedly throughout the daily shift. You must stay closely behind the tractor incase you need more plant.
Special Requirements
This type of work, involves working conditions that require tremendous stamina, a high level of physical activity in cold or extremely hot conditions in direct sunlight and in adverse weather such as rain. The work requires a high level of physical conditioning.