Farm Worker

Job description

Cabbage, beets, apples, cherries, and radishes.
This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working in a tree fruit orchard or row crop farming, handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Workers must be able to perform all work activities with accuracy and efficiency.

General
Workers will perform any of the following duties: Orchard and field clean-up, building and repairing tree trellises, and other hand tasks. Training of apple and peach trees to trellises including limb positioning, clipping and tying limbs and shoots to wire. Must be able to train trees to trellis without constant management supervision. Propping and tying of apple and peach trees and limbs. Cultivating the
fields and mending the soils for row crops to be planted. Workers may also operate tractors. Workers will be instructed in safety and operation of the tractor before driving tractor. Tractors should be driven in a manner to protect operator, other workers, products, trees, crops and equipment. Repeated failure to obey safety requirements and operating instructions may result in termination.

Planting
Workers will prepare fields for planting by clearing cull stock, brush, and debris; dig holes, plant seedlings or ‘liners’ by hand (including riding on the planting machine, reaching and grabbing a tree and dropping it in the hole and inserting liners in a mechanical planter); shovel dirt around newly-planted trees or seedlings.

Thinning
Thinning is a manual process used to control the size and fruit quality of grown fruit. Employees will be given appropriate training by supervisors. Ability to pick up, use and safely handle a 12 foot orchard ladder weighing approximately 40 lbs. is necessary for performance of thinning tasks. For row crops, thinning employees must be capable of bending over for long periods of time. This process requires the employee to be able to appropriately remove the smallest fruit blossom, bud, and/or identifiable fruit from within a cluster of other fruits. Workers will be expected to be able to identify and remove fruit that is misshapen, damaged, and/or have other quality problems as directed by supervisors. For row crops, workers must be able to identify and remove the smallest seedlings.

Pruning
Pruning numerous varieties of apple and peach trees according to established company procedures based on the difference in the treatment of different varieties. Work will be performed on trees for long periods of time using a variety of pruning equipment including hand shears, hand loppers, hand saws and 12-foot ladders. Pruning and thinning may be done from the ground or ladder up to 12 feet in height or from a motorized platform. Workers pruning trees may be required to selectively prune only trees of a certain size as instructed by the crew boss. Workers are expected to have requisite pruning skills to be able to identify and remove stubs or broken branches, downward-growing branches, branches which rub against each other, shaded interior branches, dead wood and shoots/suckers with hand pruning saws and clippers, mechanized clippers and pole pruners. Occasionally, workers may be required to use chain saws and other mechanized equipment in pruning activities. Careful pruning requires knowledge of what to prune, how much to prune, and fruit trees’ growth habits. The primary reason for pruning fruit trees is to improve fruit quality and thus increase crop marketability and value.

Apple/Peach Harvest
Maximization of fruit quality is of paramount importance. Different varieties of apples and peaches will be picked according to established company procedures based on the end use (spot picking for fresh; small percentage of culls for processing.) Workers must be able to differentiate between colors accurately in order to perform color-specific picking.

Special Requirements

When necessary, workers are required to handle and pick from ladders up to 12 ft. in length and weighing 20 to 40 lbs. with 60lbs. pack on back. Three (3) month of tree fruit orchard or row crop farming experience is required.
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Cuando sea necesario, los trabajadores deben manipular y recoger escaleras de hasta 12 pies de largo y que pesen de 20 a 40 libras. con 60 libras. paquete en la espalda. Se requieren tres (3) meses de experiencia en huertos de rboles frutales o cultivos en hileras.