Agricultural Equipment Operators
Employer
A & E FARMS
3902 LONE OAK ROAD
PLANT CITY, FL 33567
United States
Job description
Workers will perform duties such as drive, operate machinery for planting/harvesting, loading, unloading, stacking, and shipping fruits and vegetables, while also may be working in the greenhouses. The worker’s main responsibility is to handle food products and follow directions for proper cleanliness standards. Inspect equipment or facilities to determine condition or maintenance needs. Workers may be asked to operate vehicles, farm equipment, and drive all tractors in the fields. Workers will check vehicles to ensure mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order. Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions. Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery. Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment. Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools. Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops. Workers will replace fuel, oils and fluids and perform general equipment services on equipment in the field. Simple repair, maintain and clean all farm and mechanical equipment prior to and after use. Workers may also be required to wash, clean, and polish equipment to remove dirt and debris. Workers may drive a company vehicle from farm to farm to repair farm equipment. Workers who show an aptitude to drive equipment will be trained and certified to drive farm tractors, yard dog, and/or warehouse forklift. The ability of an employee to safely operate machinery and vehicles will be left up to the discretion of management. Monitor the activities of workers engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities. Helping other workers clock in and out and maintain job quality. Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information, include keeping up with piece rates (if applicable), provide harvest tickets, and check daily that workers have access to adequate supplies, such as, food, water, tools, and bathrooms. Workers may also be asked to help with tablets/scanners. Drivetime will be minimal, all other time will be spent completing other farm work and helping other workers. Workers may drive trucks to haul crops (on the farm), supplies, tools, or farm workers to/from field (s), housing, and grocery store. Employees are required to cleanse their hands by washing them thoroughly with soap and water after using the bathroom and before entering the field, greenhouses, and packing houses. All packing houses are located on each growers’ farm with 100% of their products being processed. Workers will perform crop mowing weekly during growing time to bulk up plant barrels. May also be asked to push either side of a six-foot wide mower that spans the width of the greenhouses sub-irrigation beds. Workers will also inspect field irrigation systems; replace damaged pipes, valves, water jets, sprinklers, etc. using necessary equipment. Duties may include tilling soil, applying fertilizers/pesticides, transplanting, pulling weeds, raking, cleaning around shed area, thinning or pruning crops, cleaning, grading, and packing harvested product. Workers will clear ground of rocks, sticks, roots, brush, and trees. Manually weeding fields using hand tools & other farm tools. Workers must perform manual labor to pull plastic from the field and load onto trailer. To decrease the amount of walking time spent by the worker in taking their filled boxes back to the crate shed located at the end of the row, the employer may utilize a mechanical harvester aide. This machine has a conveyor belt wings that move ahead of the workers as they walk down their row filling their containers. When the containers in the boxes are filled, the worker places the filled box on the conveyor belt and retrieves a new box with containers. Empty boxes and containers are stored on the
Special Requirements
Must be 18 years or older. Valid drivers license will be required to drive company vehicles. Three months experience required in use of mechanical harvesting equipment, cultivating, grading, sorting, loading strawberries, and pruning blueberries. Workers must accurately and efficiently be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks. At the expense of the employer/owner: (1) criminal background checks may be conducted on all new applicants for employment (2) pre- and post hire drug testing may be required, and all tools, supplies, and equipment will be provided. The majority of the day is spent on ones feet and outdoors and involves exposure to sun, wind, rain, soil, mud, dust, heat, cold and natural elements. Workers may be required to work at night due to heat. Workers must be able to stand for long periods, sit, squat, kneel, crouch, bend (from waist), push, pull, reach, and lift. Carrying/Lifting requirement is 5 100 lbs. The worker must be able to meet the standard