Citrus Hand Harvesters

Job description

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor. Duties may vary from time to time. Following the Supervisor's instructions, the worker will place a picking sack over their shoulder and carry a 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 fully 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 off 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 a pick sack. When pick sack is full, take full sack to fruit tub located in the grove and drop fruit from pick sack into tub. In order to perform this kind of work, the worker must be able to work outside for at least 6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and be in possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance to repeat the picking process rapidly, working quickly and skillfully with their hands, and carrying a large number of sacks of fruit from the area in which the fruit is being harvested to the location of the tub.

All Berry Harvesting: Workers will receive picking buckets to fill as they move down assigned rows, picking all ripe berries and placing them into the buckets. Once full, workers will carry bucket(s) to designated staging area to receive credit for each bucket harvested. Workers must pick the plants clean of all ripe fruit. If a worker does not fill the bucket completely, they will be returned to the field to finish filling the bucket. Workers will then repeat the process until the end of the work day. They will also be sorting blueberries at the packing house and pulling weeds as needed.

All Berry Harvesting: Each worker will be assigned a picking badge for identification and for clocking in and out during the workday. The worker will keep the picking badge throughout the workday. Each worker will be given 1-2 buckets. Workers will move down assigned rows picking all ripe berries, placing them in buckets. Once full, each bucket weighs approximately 6 lbs. When buckets are filled, the worker will immediately carry the bucket to the picking wagon. At the picking wagon, workers will dump each filled bucket into a lug where the worker will sort through the harvested berries and remove any berries that do not meet the company’s quality/food safety standards. Each lug will then be inspected by worker’s supervisor to see if worker is following the companies operating procedures and quality control requirements. The worker will receive credit for the bucket picked once the Supervisor has inspected and approved the lug. Any lugs that are not approved by the Supervisor will be returned to the worker to be regarded. Harvester may receive disciplinary notice if quality continues to be an issue. At the end of the workday, workers will present their picking badge to the Supervisor to clock out and to get credit for the full amount of production that that worker picking during the day.

Special Requirements

GM Harvesting may conduct criminal background checks at the employer's expense on all new applicants post-employment. Failure to pass criminal background check is grounds for termination.

Per the Department of Labor O-Net survey for job code 45.2092.02, Job Zone 1, SVP <4.0, the employer requires 1 month verifiable harvesting experience.