Field Workers

Job description

Harvest: Employee picks strawberries in varying weather conditions, while adhering to quality standards determined by Company, using physical body motions, including picking fruit, pushing carts and carrying cardboard crates (organic or conventional) weighing up to 10-13 lbs. and plastic crates (freezer and juice) weighing up to 22 lbs. when full.

Employees will be required to perform the responsibilities of Strawberry Ground crew. The employee will harvest by walking in the furrow from the middle of the block towards the road where the harvest trailer is located. Once the worker completes the full box of strawberries, he/she will walk to the harvest trailer to place the harvested box on the table for quality inspection and will take an empty box to repeat the process.

When harvesting juice or freezer, the employee will be required to perform this manually or in the case of freezer, it may require the use of a blade to remove berries from the plant.

Crew Lead/Team Lead: responsible for assisting the Foreman in directing and monitoring the work of other farmworkers in harvesting crop. Under the direction of the Foreman, provide directions to other workers regarding harvest activities. Record information about crops such as quality and quantity and assist with monitoring performance targets for the assigned commodity. Under the direction of the Foreman, monitor crew production, employee and food safety, employee retention, and administrative duties, such as recording harvest yield and quality; establishes and follows a packaging review system that ensures harvested product meet company standards in quality and appearance and assigns identification stickers to each respective harvester and ensures that all crates are accurately tracked.

Under the direction of the Foreman, assists with directing a crew of strawberry harvesters and punchers to ensure harvesting is being done in a safe, compliant, and efficient manner.

All duties are performed under the direction of the Foreman:

• Ensures harvesters are picking quantity and quality fruit per Driscoll’s standards (appearance and weight).
• Trains harvesters on proper harvesting and packaging methods.
• Ensures harvesters are not leaving ripe fruit behind and that over ripe fruit is being removed from the plant.
• Promotes a pleasant and healthy work environment by:

• Conducts daily communication of work orders, safety reminders and motivational pep talk.
• Ensures employees take their rest and meal breaks per state regulations.
• Addresses employee suggestions and concerns in a timely and fair fashion
• Informs employees of pesticide application and follows proper protocol to avoid having them come in contact with pesticides.
• Maintains break areas and bathrooms clean and stocked. Mitigates safety risk by complying with safety policies and addressing safety concerns in a timely manner.
• Leads daily warm-up exercises
• Ensures harvesters do not run in the field
• Maintains work area clean and free of objects that may cause accidents
• Handles work-related injuries per Company policy.
• Delivers monthly safety tailgate meeting.
• Inspects equipment such as bathroom trailers, farm vehicles, first aid kits and water containers are in safe and operable conditions.
• Ensures clean and fresh water and shaded rest areas are always available.
• Participates in safety trainings and obtains required certification.
• Ensures that all employees wear the proper work attire to avoid work-related accident or food safety violations.
• Accounts for all harvesters via daily attendance tracking and monitoring of leaves of absences.
• Distributes employee badges and harvest stickers.
• Reviews and handles personal leaves of absence requests and paperwork and monitors return to work dates in timely fashion.
• Submits sick time requests for processing in timely fashion.

Special Requirements

Three months of experience in harvesting strawberries. Cannot be color blind due to the need to distinguish colors of crops for proper ripeness and maturity, no smoking, illegal drugs, alcohol, or weapons of any sort in the housing or work fields. Ability to communicate in English or Spanish is required for training and safety purposes. Work is performed outdoors in open fields and can involve exposure to sun, wind, mud, dust, heat, cold and other elements of the normal field environment. Temperatures can range from 50 degrees F to over 90 degrees F during the period of employment. Workers should come prepared with appropriate clothing and footwear for the work and working conditions described.