Farmworker/laborer

Job description

FARMWORKERS AND LABORERS:
Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest fruits, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

PLANTING TREES:
Planting trees is a manual process in establishing an orchard to produce high quality fruit. Planting tasks are but not limited to:

1) Plant Trees.
2) Clearing property.
3) Installing Trellis.
4) Installing Irrigation System.
5) Spreading composted materials.
6) Planting may be performed from a mechanized platform and/or from the ground.

TRAINING TREES:
Perform manual horticultural tasks. Training is a manual process in which the fruit tree is manipulated to increase yield and/or quality. Some examples of training tasks are but not limited to:

1) Tying, taping, or clipping apple limbs to wires.
2) Tying up or down apple limbs.
3) Training and limb positioning of apple trees.
4) Shoot thinning, sucker removal, cluster thinning, shoot positioning, hedging, or leaf removal.
5) Propping and supporting apple trees.
6) Possess the ability to pick up, handle a 10 ft. or 12 ft. orchard ladder weighing 40 pounds.
7) Training may be performed from a motorized platform and/or from the ground or ladder.

PRUNING TREES:
Perform manual horticultural tasks. Pruning numerous varieties of apple, pear, and cherry trees according to established company procedures based on the difference in the treatment of different varieties. Work will be performed on trees for long periods of time using a variety of pruning equipment and techniques. Some examples of pruning tasks are but not limited to:

1) Using hand shears, hand loppers, hand saws.
2) Possess the ability to pick up, handle a 10 ft. or 12 ft. orchard ladder weighing 40 pounds.
3) Pruning may be done from the ground or a ladder up to 12 feet in height or from a motorized platform.
4) The Worker may be required to selectively prune only trees of a certain size and color as instructed by the crew supervisor.
5) Possess or acquire pruning skills in order to identify and remove stubs or broken branches, downward-growing branches, branches which rub against each other, shaded interior branches, dead wood and shoots/suckers.
6) Ability to use hand pruning saws, clippers, and mechanized equipment in pruning activities.

THINNING FRUIT:
Perform manual horticultural tasks. Thinning is a manual process used to control the size and quality of grown fruit. Some examples of thinning tasks are but not limited to:

1) Remove, in some cases not limited to the smallest fruit blossom, bud and/or identifiable fruit from within a cluster of other fruits.
2) Identify and remove fruit that is misshapen, damaged and/or with other quality problems as directed by supervisors.
3) Ensure proper fruit load on tree.
4) Use scissors like clippers.
5) Possess the ability to pick up, handle a 10 ft. or 12 ft. orchard ladder weighing 40 pounds.
6) Performed from a motorized platform and/or from the ground or a ladder.

Special Requirements

4e) Must be able to lift and/or load 60lbs.
4f) Work may take place when temperatures are below freezing and above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
4g) May require extensive pulling and/or pushing of tools, wheelbarrows, fruit containers, etc.
4h) May require worker to sit and/or walk for extensive periods of time while sorting, picking, examining, weeding, transporting, pruning, etc.
4i) Workers will be required to stoop and/or bend over while performing farm labor such as weeding, irrigating, pruning, picking, removing debris, etc.
4j) There will be repetitive movements while performing most of the farm labor duties, for example picking, sorting, pruning, shoveling, weeding, etc.