Farmworker
Employer
37831 205th Street
Columbus, NE 68601
United States
Job description
Workers will harvest and pack sweet corn, bell peppers, chili peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, mini pumpkins, gourds, pie pumpkins, winter squash, asparagus, cantaloupe, watermelon, onions, tomatoes and other garden vegetables in both open field and greenhouse environments. Workers must be able to perform all duties with accuracy and efficiency. Corn, is harvested utilizing a conveyor system which requires workers to have skill and ability sufficient to keep working pace with the conveyor while maintaining product quality. All grading in terms of size, ripeness, and general overall quality is done in the field; therefore, it is important that workers be familiar with these products to be qualified for the position. Workers will be expected to harvest other vegetable crops by conventional hand harvesting methods. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants. Packed containers of produce can weigh from 50 to 60 lbs and workers will need to be physically able to lift containers repeatedly over their head in order to load it onto vehicles. Workers may stand on top of harvest wagons to receive product from field harvester and dump containers of full product into macro bins. Workers may drive tractors or pickups attached to wagons to haul produce back to the farm. Workers will install or remove plastic mulch, rebar and string. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. In the packing house, workers should also be able to work in standing positions for long periods of time in order to grade, sort and pack product on a packing line conveyer belt. Workers may be asked to stack and band boxes or RPCS onto pallets before loading them onto trucks using a forklift. Workers will receive incoming product from the field and move it into the cooling shed or packing house as needed. Workers may be required to wash and sanitize vehicles and harvesting and packing equipment, utensils and surfaces in accordance with our food safety program. Workers may be responsible for some paperwork relating to food safety documentation and production records. This includes ensuring the crew is supplied from company inventory with sufficient water, disposable cups, hand sanitizer, soap, toilet paper, rubber gloves, hair nets, chlorine, and any other supplies necessary in order for the crew to complete their duties in a manner that is compliant with our food safety program.
Workers may also perform detassling work on field corn. Workers must comprise the ability to interpret the difference between male and female seed plants. Workers are required to remove all tassels from female rows of corn at the minimum rate of 0.10 acres per hour. If a worker does not detassel at the minimum rate of 0.10 acres per hour they will slow down the productivity of other workers who will have to account for the ineffective workers’ negligence. Also, a worker moving at a pace of less than 0.10 acres per hour will fail to meet the federal minimum wage standard. It is important to pull tassels in a timely fashion to avoid the production of pollen. If pollen is allowed to be produced the crop will be jeopardized. Tassels must be pulled straight out of the top of the corn plant, leaving all leaves with the plant. Workers are required to scan each row high and low to make certain all tassels are removed. In some fields, a cutter machine will cut the tips of the tassels from the female plants, followed by a puller machine that will go through and pull 40% - 85% of the tassels. Detasselers will then go through the fields to remove the remaining partial tassels that are not missed by the machine. Detasselers must remove 99. 7% - 100% of the tassels in the female rows to discourage a female corn plant from pollinating itself. Meaning that crews can only miss three (3) of everyone thousand (1,000) plants before the job is deemed complete.
Special Requirements
Drug testing will be Employer-paid, upon suspicion and post-accident, and may include random alcohol testing.