Farmworker

Job description

Manually plant, cultivate & harvest apples. Use hand tools such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, knives & saws. Till soil and apply fertilizers; transplant, weed, thin or prune crops (may require the use of chainsaws); apply pesticides; clean, pack & load harvested products. Construct trellis, assemble bins, repair bins, fences & farm buildings, participate in irrigation or drainage activities. Set up and operate irrigation equipment. Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, & self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow & fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, prune, thin, train trees, spray, protect with hail netting, enhance crop light exposure and harvest crops. Use equipment, sanitizers, and hand tools to sanitize bins, machinery and equipment to meet food safety regulations. Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, & mechanical equipment. Harvest apples by hand. Apply hail netting, reflective orchard floor covering, pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers to crops. Remove or move hail netting or reflective orchard floor covering from block to block or to storage building. Inform supervisor of crop progress. Identify plants, pests, & weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers. Clear and maintain drainage ditches. Participate in employer provided and other training for pesticide use & application, food safety practices, equipment operation and safety and general work safety. Follow all food and other safety procedures. Record information about crops such as pesticide use, food safety threats or practices, yields, or costs. Apples injured by bruising during picking shall not exceed 0% (WNY) for fresh and 0% (WNY) for processing. Due to investments in high density plantings and automation, productivity must be at least 6 bins (126 bushels) fresh market and/or 8 bins (160 bushels) processing fruit per day. A few fresh varieties require stem clipping of each apple before placing the apple in the picking bag. Workers are expected to work at least the number of days and hours specified. Depending on weather, crop or other conditions, workers may be requested, but not required, to work up to seven days per week and/or on the Sabbath and up to 12 hours per day. Workers should report to work with their own suitable work clothing and footwear. Field temperatures may range from below 0 (F) to 90+ degrees (F) with possible wet morning conditions. Due to both worker safety and food safety concerns, workers must be able to speak and understand enough English to follow directions and communicate safety threats to the farmer, other workers and supervisors.

Orchard Development & Maintenance: Workers will be required to plant, adjust planting depth by the tree graft union, stomp soil around new plantings, spread fertilizer, pick up roots, stones and limbs, hoe trees, strip suckers or unwanted growth from trees, dig root suckers, rub out buds, remove vines, lay irrigation pipe or tube, repair and maintain irrigation system, strap, paint tree trunks and tie or thin out the crop load on fruit trees. Instructions will be given for each task and standards of performance communicated to workers.

Dormant & Summer Pruning: While pruning trees, workers will receive proper tools for the particular job (i.e., saw, pruners, loppers & hand snips). These tools will be returned to the employer at the end of the task. Workers will be assigned rows of trees and must prune each tree according to the predetermined standard set by the supervisor. In some instances, pruning will be done from an 8- or 18-foot ladder weighing up to forty (40) pounds. All workers must be able to lift and carry a ladder, as well as work from the top of a ladder. Wood cut from the tree must be removed without damaging apples. Workers must remove all resulting materials from the trees rendered from performing pruning tasks without damaging apples, dropping said prunings to the ground between the rows.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three (3) months of verifiable agricultural experience working in fruit handling both manual and mechanized tasks including summer pruning, thinning, and harvesting (picking) activities associated with production of fruit (for both fresh and process markets). Applicants must be able to furnish verifiable job reference(s)/contact information or comparable third-party documentation from recent employer(s) establishing acceptable prior experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry fifty (50) pounds. Employer-paid preemployment and post-hire drug testing required. Criminal background check required. Sex offenders are not hired as children live on the farm and neighbors have children whose backyards abut our orchards. Workers are often scattered throughout the farm and may have no direct supervision at times during work hours nor during their "off" hours. Criminal background checks will be conducted at the employer's expense. Workers referred