Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop

Job description

Citrus Harvesting: Harvesting citrus fruit by hand under supervisor’s instructions, the worker will place a picking sack over his shoulder and carry an 18’ to 20’ ladder from the field truck to the particular area of the grove to be harvested. The picking sack is a canvas bag equipped with a shoulder strap for support, an opening for the insertion of fruit, and an opening to remove fruit. A full loaded sack weighs between approximately 80 and 100 pounds, depending upon the size, condition and variety of fruit. Worker positions ladder against the tree and within reach of the fruit in a leaning position, taking care not to break limbs, damage the tree, knock of fruit or interfere with other workers, in a secure position to prevent slipping or falling and possible injury to themselves or other workers. Worker will remove fruit from the tree and place into pick sack. When pick sack is full take full sack to fruit tub.
General grove caretaking: Irrigation system maintenance and operation of agriculture equipment.
Hand weeding: Workers will walk through the fields pooling the weeds around the plants using their hand or a hoe.
Harvesting Blueberry by hand, the worker will walk down the blueberry field rows where the blueberry will be harvested. The worker will place a 1 gallon picking bucket with a strap over his shoulder from the field truck to the particular area of the field where the fruit will be harvested. The 1 gallon picking bucket is a canvas, equipped with a shoulder strap for support. Worker positions himself in front of the blueberry tree and will remove the fruit from the tree and place into the 1 gallon picking bucket taking care not to break any limbs, damage the tree, or knock off the fruit. When the 1 gallon picking bucket is full he will take it to the truck at the end of the row where he will unload his fruit into a small tub or container.
Strawberry Harvest: Workers will move down assigned rows picking all ripe berries, grading berries while harvesting, taking care to sort and pack containers by size, shape, color, quality and quantity as directed. Each worker must pick the plants clean of all ripe fruit, sort and pack all good berries into specified containers, within the box, according to very high quality standards as set forth in the Company Production and Quality Standard. Bad berries will be packed or disposed of as determined by the Supervisor. Each worker shall handle berries carefully to avoid bruising. Bruising will weaken the berry. Each harvesting worker is expected to move with the crew from row to row to maintain the efficiency level. Upon completion of each box picked, the worker will place their assigned numeric sticker on the box, take his/her packed box to the crate shed to be viewed for grade, receive credit on his/her assigned numeric sticker, and receive a new box with containers. Any containers that are over or under packed, or consist of poor quality fruit, will be returned to the worker for repacking. Upon completion of an assigned row, the worker will move to the next vacant row to be picked. Harvester may receive disciplinary notice if quality standards are an issue.

The worker in order to perform this kind of work must be able to work outside for at least 6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and be in a possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance, working quickly and skillfully with their hands repeatedly, The employer will provides the tools necessary (if applicable) to perform the described job duties without charge to the worker. Employer may deduct the reasonable cost of damages and/or replacement of tools and/or equipment if such repair or replacement results from willful neglect or gross negligence after the damage has occurred and after gaining the employee's written authorization to make the deduction.

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.