Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop
Employer
8990 Peach Ridge Ave
Sparta, MI 49345
United States
Job description
The farm work position includes duties associated with the planting, cultivation, harvesting of apples. This work can require standing, walking, stooping, bending, and lifting 50 pounds for long periods of time outdoors in all weather conditions. This work requires adherence to important food safety and quality standard operating procedures and the ability to work quickly and consistently alongside fellow workers , harvested, packed, and shipped from the farm. Crops Contained in Request: Apples. Workers may perform the following job duties Tree Fruit (Apples) General Info Workers will perform various tasks involved in planting, cultivating, and harvesting fruit, according to supervisors instructions. Workers may till soil, plant stock, pick up rocks/roots/debris, and do pruning activities using a variety of non-mechanical tools. Workers will also perform irrigation work and assist with deer repellent. Duties may include training of vines and trees, removing blossoms to improve yield and quality, aid in irrigation duties, aid in minor repair of wooden fruit containers and thin and/or harvest fruit in 18-bushel box. Workers will harvest fruit according to color, size and degree of maturity as specified by supervisor and place it into half-bushel baskets taking the extra time, care, and effort not to bruise or scar the fruit. Workers may carry full containers weighing approximately 50 lbs. to truck or trailer and stack according to supervisor's specifications. Fruit thinners will thin fruit using hands to remove excess fruit, taking care to walk around entire tree before moving onto next. Workers will be required to stay on their assigned row. Tree Pruning While pruning trees, workers will receive proper tools for the job, i.e., saw, pruners, chain saws, loppers, and hand snips. These tools will be returned to the employer at the end of the task. The cost of tools destroyed maliciously or lost carelessly will be deducted from worker's wages. Workers will be assigned rows of trees and must prune each tree according to the size of the tree and the need for pruning. Workers must take care not to damage limbs that are not being pruned. Workers must prune trees according to the above referenced requirements. In some instances, pruning will be done from a 16-foot ladder weighing up to 30 lbs. All workers must be able to lift and carry ladder, as well as work from the top of the ladder. Workers must remove all resulting materials from the tree rendered from performing pruning tasks. When pruning is complete on each tree, each worker is required to rake and scatter the resulting brush in the center of the tractor/equipment middles. When pruning just about just about any tree, including apple trees, you always want to prune out suckers, stubs or broken branches, downward growing branches, rubbing or crisscrossing branches, upward growing interior branches, competing leaders, narrow crotches and whorls.
Tree Thinning Workers will start with one branch and work systematically around the tree, leaving the largest and healthiest fruit (looking for fruit that is poorly developed, insect damaged, or with scabs, and scars). For clusters, select the smallest least healthy fruit and thin to one or two fruits. Clusters growing under the branch are removed, as these will not get the sunlight and airflow required for developing a quality fruit.
Special Requirements
Season Commitment: Job offered requires worker be available for and worker agrees to work every day that work is available for entire employment period. Worker must be able to perform job description duties in safe manner consistent with established safety procedures. Worker must possess requisite physical strength and endurance to repeat harvest process throughout workday. Worker
must work at sustained pace and make good faith efforts to work efficiently as reasonable under working conditions and consistent with amount, quality and efficiency of three-fourths of 18 bushel box per hour for apple hand harvest of strip pick and color pick.